This time he drew his sword, but I motioned for him to put it away. Conner hadn’t intended to be insulting. He wanted a different question from me. But I didn’t know what.
Distracted, I used my boot to tap an empty plate on the floor with a napkin folded over it. “Where did this come from?”
Conner smiled. “The betrothed princess said you missed a meal with her this evening. So she brought me your portion.”
Amarinda had been here? I tried to look as if that didn’t bother me, but he knew it did. She’d have no reason to come here, unless . . . Suddenly, I didn’t want to be here anymore.
Gregor stepped forward. “She didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Don’t defend her actions!” I ordered. Of all her friendships, this one was unacceptable.
Silently, Gregor dipped his head and retreated against the wall, though his hand never left his sword.
I turned back to Conner, who was now standing tall with his arms folded, a quiet challenge to my authority. It hadn’t even been a month ago when I’d faced him with a similar look of defiance.
He said, “It’s about time you came to thank me.”
“Thank you?” He was lucky my thanks didn’t come in the form of a noose.
“You are king now, just as I promised,” he said. “Maybe you hate the things I did that got you here, but the fact is you would not be king without me.”
Something exploded inside of me. It was all I could do to hold my temper. When I finally spoke, my words reeked of bitterness. “After what you’ve done, you really expect my gratitude?”
“All of Carthya should be grateful to me!” Conner arched his head. “Your father was weak. Eventually, the countries that surround us would have swallowed Carthya whole. Darius was a risk as well. He was too close to your father to see him for who he was.”
“They were my family!”
“Your family rejected you. Not just once but twice. They made you a nobody, then gave you to the world. But I have given the world back to you. I made you king.”
Still angry, I cocked my head. “Now I have everything. Is that what you think?”
“With one exception.” Conner nodded at the empty plate Amarinda had brought.
I stared again at the dish on the floor. Did she really think I wouldn’t mind her coming here? Of anyone in this castle, she was supposed to be on my side. Conner was absolutely correct in his insinuation that Amarinda and I were not friends. Nor did I have any idea of how to fix things with her, if that was even possible.
Conner lowered his voice and continued, “I’ve paid for my crimes against you. Let me go free and I will serve you now.”
I grinned, feeling my edge again. “You might reconsider those terms. I just got a visit from the pirates. They want you.”
Conner gave me exactly the look of fear I’d expected. His eyes widened and something roughly the size of a boulder seemed to be lodged in his throat. “Don’t let them have me, Jaron. You know what they’d do.”
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’d hurt,” I said coldly. “Maybe I will release you after all.”
I started to leave, then in a panic, Conner called, “Jaron!” Without waiting for my attention, he added, “I betrayed your family, that’s true, but I never betrayed Carthya. I still consider myself a patriot.”
I turned back to him. “How can that be? Do you have any idea what you started when you hired the pirates?”
Conner pressed his lips together, then nodded at my bandaged arm. “Oh. They want you, too.” The long lines of his face softened. “So it’s both our lives at stake.”
“All of Carthya is at stake,” I said. “You opened floodgates I might not be able to shut again.” Now I turned and stepped closer to him, so close that I could see the dilation of his pupils as he returned my stare. “I need the name of the pirate you hired to kill me. Tell me now, or you will go to them tonight.”
Defeated, Conner whispered, “His name was Devlin. He bragged that your death would give him a place of honor with the pirates. The fact that you’re alive will be humiliating to him.”
“And to you, too, I suppose.”
Conner wasn’t fazed. “The truth is that nobody cares about your life but me! I’m the only one here who’s worked with the pirates. You need me.”
I shook my head. “Carthya needs you the way we need the plague.”