Chapter 4They Should Have Killed Me

The Corveth delegation was lodged in Evercairn's royal guesthouse.

That evening, Rosamund came to see me.

She arrived without a carriage or attendants and wore a plain wool dress.

Five years ago, Rosamund had never appeared without jewels in her hair and embroidered silk on her back.

Now her dress had been washed nearly colorless, she wore no ornaments at all, and exhaustion had hollowed her face until she looked like a cut flower left too long in the vase.

She stood at the door of my study, looking at me. Her lips moved several times before sound came.

I set down the treatise on tactics I had been reading. "Sit."

She hesitated, then lowered herself into the chair beside the desk, twisting the edge of her skirt between both hands.

I spoke first. "Why are you here?"

"Elowen..." Her voice was rough. "I came to apologize."

I said nothing.

"What I did five years ago was wrong." Tears ran down her cheeks. "I know that now. About the three cities... could you ask the Dowager Empress to show mercy?"

She wiped her face with the back of one hand, crying harder. "Cedric said that if you agree to help us, he can make you Crown Princess."

"Crown Princess?" The idea was so absurd that I laughed.

I rose slowly and walked toward her.

"Rosamund, has living in Corveth rotted your judgment along with Cedric's?" I caught her chin and forced her to look at me. "I command thirty thousand cavalry. The Dowager Empress trusts me with the empire's defense. His Majesty receives me with every courtesy his court can give, and every minister in Thalenor addresses me as Lord Marshal."

I watched fear spread through her eyes. "What exactly does your defeated prince think he can offer me? The Crown Princess's chair in a court that came here to kneel and pay tribute? He isn't ashamed to offer it. I'm disgusted to have heard it."

Rosamund shook violently, tears falling onto my hand.

"No... Elowen, please..." She stumbled over the words. "Cedric truly regrets what happened. He said that if you would only spare us, Corveth would set you on its throne as queen."

"Stop performing." I released her with disgust, wiped my fingers on a handkerchief, and dropped the cloth into the brazier.

"You didn't come dressed like this because you suddenly grew a conscience. Cedric sent you, didn't he?" I looked at her coldly. "Corveth lost the war, ceded wealth, and now its king is furious. Cedric's place as heir is probably hanging by a thread. He has run out of doors to knock on, so now he remembers me."

Rosamund's face turned bloodless.

I had guessed correctly.

"Do you think I am still the powerless junior daughter you crushed five years ago?" I bent close enough that only she could hear. "You and Cedric destroyed my name with a sentence, threw me into the mud, and handed me to a man who meant to use me as property."

"Corbin Ash didn't live out the night. I put my hairpin through his throat and his blood went all over me." I looked at Rosamund's horrified expression and smiled without warmth.

Rosamund collapsed onto the floor, covered her face, and sobbed. "I was wrong. I was really wrong."

I straightened. My voice hardened. "Guards. See the Crown Princess out."

After she left, Lucan entered carrying a bowl of hot broth and set it in front of me.

I drank it in one swallow, wiped my mouth, and put down the bowl. "Tomorrow I'm going to the palace."

"To plead for them?"

"No," I said. "To prepare a gift for my sister and her prince."