Our butler smirked as Cisco and I entered the palace. My hair was damp and still knotted from my travels earlier that day, and my clothes clung to me uncomfortably. We made it to our rooms with our only observers the guards stationed throughout the palace.
Since it was dark, the only light in the halls were the glowing blue ice crystal lanterns hanging in the ceiling. The hue of the light helped conceal things you normally couldn't hide.
Cisco whispered to me as he went into his room to change, "I have a plan. Baruuk won't suspect a thing."
I silently slipped into my room and braced myself against the wall. Cisco had a plan. Cisco's plans were usually much better than mine, though I'd never admit it to him. My terror about how Baruuk would punish Hetty for my indiscretion was melting my mind. My blood ran cold, and my body grew stiff.
Knowing Cisco took a while to change, and even longer to do his hair, I changed into a simple tunic and pants, and pulled on the fur mantle Baruuk had me wear as I walked down the hall.
When I stood outside the dining room I paused to compose myself, taking several deep breaths and trying to lock everything away that I had pulled out of hiding for Cisco. It was hard to do when six royal guards watched me do it from where they were stationed by the dining room door.
When I finally entered, the first thing Baruuk said was, "I could hear you lurking outside the door." I tensed, and all the anxiety I tried to bury flooded back into my body from the place I'd locked it away. "You only do that when you've disappointed me and don't know how to tell me."
I cursed Baruuk for knowing me so intimately. It was humiliating that the man who caused my sister and I so much pain knew all of my weaknesses. But I had met him before I knew the meaning of the word weakness, never mind that the person I thought had saved me would exploit them. Baruuk was such a hypocrite to make me believe that my closest friend would try to manipulate me when the only person who had ever manipulated me was him.
"I haven't done anything that would disappoint you," I said, as Cisco entered the room.
Cisco looked as dejected as I'd ever seen him, and as disheveled as I'd ever seen him, too. His black curls were tangled, and his shoelaces were hastily tied. "I'm the one she has disappointed, Baruuk, not you."
Baruuk looked like he didn't know what to say but motioned for both of us to take a seat. We served ourselves from the dishes laid out on the table. Since I had no idea where this was going, I created for myself an excuse not to speak by shoveling a large spoonful of mashed potatoes in my mouth.
"I proposed marriage to Lura about a half hour ago, by the lake at sunset." Cisco cast me a forlorn glance, then related to Baruuk, "I thought it would be romantic, and I'm not used to being refused, but she declined my offer in a most humiliating way."
I choked on my mashed potatoes, but once I got them down, I nodded in confirmation. "I pushed him in the lake."
Baruuk looked between the two of us, definitely suspicious of the story, but Cisco had a weary look to him that said he'd been through a lot that day.
Baruuk finally narrowed his eyes at Cisco. "This is why I leave dealing with you to Lura. Why are you really here?"
A shaky sigh escaped my lips. It seemed Cisco's plan had worked in that he knew we were trying to throw him off with a lie, but there was more truth to the nature of the lie than Baruuk realized.
"My father wants to broker a deal regarding your supply of ice crystals."
Baruuk's face flushed red, and I knew this would be one of those times where I'd have to talk some sense into him. If Cisco wasn't careful, Baruuk may be the one to officially break the alliance, and then Cisco's life would be in danger.
"To have an alliance with Calidonica but not have access to your most valuable asset is not advantageous to Espazota."
Baruuk's face turned slightly purple, and I wondered if he was breathing at all until he burst out, "The combined might of our militaries is not enough?" He gestured toward me. "I have even allowed you access to my Grand General to quell Espazotan rebellions."
I ignored the fact that he made me sound more like a commodity than a person and quickly interjected, "We still don't know the ice crystals' full potential, Baruuk. And Espazota is renowned for their scholars."
Baruuk stood from the table, rattling his plates. "Don't you two gang up on me," he yelled. "Espazota is abundant in natural resources. Your land is overflowing with precious stones, in addition to fertile land. Ice crystals could be used to create tools that could rejuvenate our land so that we don't need to rely so heavily on Espazota for goods."
"If you're going to lie to me, Baruuk, at least make it believable," Cisco drawled. "Your land is infertile because you overwork it so you can give large quantities to your needlessly large army. Your people are starving, not because there is not enough food to go around, but because your food supply is completely mismanaged. As far as our precious stones, you are wearing our rubies on three of your fingers. We have not been stingy in our exchange of goods, unlike you."
Cisco stood from his seat and planted his hands on the table, leaning closer to Baruuk, who eyed me. I nodded to him, confirming that I was ready to defend him.
"You're withholding ice crystals because you know their true worth. You know they can be used to create weapons the likes of which our land has never seen." Cisco's voice dripped with venom, and his eyes burned with fervor. "And when you create said super weapons, Espazota will be left vulnerable to your attacks. We want to maintain our alliance with you, Baruuk, but your unwillingness to allow us access to ice crystals is putting a decades-long alliance in jeopardy."
"Your father's greed will get him nowhere with me," Baruuk hissed. The tension in the room was at a climax, a bubble that needed bursting.
"Both of you," I said, slowly standing and leveling them both with a chilling glare, "need to step away from this and discuss when you've calmed down. Making decisions in anger leads to rash decisions." I eyed Baruuk in particular. "You taught me that, Baruuk."
The tension in the room went from a rolling boil to a simmer as they took their seats once again.
"Baruuk is correct in that ice crystals could be our most valuable asset, but only if we put the greatest minds in Novalya to work to discover their true value. Cisco is correct in that our lands have been mismanaged." I stared Baruuk in the eyes. "We need Espazota. They supplement goods that our realm lacks, primarily grain. Our scholars are decades behind Espazota's. And with Vydon as the most affluent of the realms in Novalya, their soldiers are bigger and stronger than us. We do need every advantage we can get." I cut a glance to Cisco. "But we need Espazotan scholars to discover the ice crystals' full potential."
I knew Baruuk was displeased with what I said, but I also knew he knew my points were valid. "You have no pride in your king or country, do you?" Baruuk spat.
I hunched to meet Baruuk at eye level. "I care deeply about the people of Calidonica. You know this. Which is why I am saying these things that you don't want to hear. We can do better, with or without Espazota's help. But it would be a shame to let a decades-long alliance go to waste because of pride."
"Whose side are you on, Lura?" Baruuk spat.
"I'm on Calidonica's side." I was careful not to say "your side." I didn't want to admit I was on his side, even if it was true. "Let's discuss this tomorrow when we are all thinking more clearly. For now, just finish dinner and sleep on what we've discussed."
We passed the rest of dinner in silence, and Baruuk dismissed us without asking for us to play chess with him. But he asked me to stay behind for a moment after Cisco left.
Baruuk rushed toward me, forcing me several steps back. "If I find out you are colluding with the prince, you can say goodbye to your sister."
My fingers went numb as my soul left my body, leaving my body alone to fend for itself. My soul traveled to the safe space among the stars where I could block out all of his threats. But it was because I was outside of myself that I lost control of my temper.
Briefly, the words I'd said to Cisco earlier that night about me losing control of myself came to mind, but I couldn't stop myself from grabbing Baruuk by the collar and shoving him against the wall. The pictures hanging on the wall rattled, and Baruuk called for his guards like the coward he was.
"If you kill Hetty, I no longer have anything to lose," I growled as guards flooded the room.
Two guards laid their hands on me, but I roundhouse kicked one and slammed my fist into the other, knocking them flat on their backs. Others grabbed me from behind but I slipped from their grip and rammed them in the gut with my elbows. As one doubled over, I used my knee to ram him in the abdomen. I made quick work of the other three, knocking them unconscious.
"My life means nothing to me. If you kill Hetty, you lose me."
I left Baruuk with a haunted look in his eyes, but as I walked down the hall I heard a wicked cackle come to a boil in the dining room. He howled with laughter. His reaction made no sense to me. Surely nothing I had said or done was comical.
When I reached the second floor, Cisco stood outside our bedroom doors.
"Come inside," I whispered, because there were guards stationed at the end of the hall.
Cisco quirked an eyebrow. "Any time."
When I shut the door behind us, I turned to find Cisco standing close. "You are… amazing," he whispered. "You have no idea how much influence you have over Baruuk, do you?"
I was still riding the high of taking out six elite guards with my bare hands and seeing the dumbstruck look on Baruuk's face afterward. In that state, I was inclined to believe him. All I did was take a shaky breath in and shake my fist out. What would result in a bruise for the average person was already healing thanks to my supernatural abilities, but the remnants of the pain remained.
"About what I said about a marriage proposal…" Cisco said, and bit his lower lip as he gathered his thoughts.
"I don't think he bought it, but I don't think he suspects…" I wrung my hands together, my mind now worrying over whether it had truly thrown him off the scent of what… hadn't happened, and would never happen.
"What doesn't he suspect?" he asked, his voice low, his brown eyes glimmering in the moonlight. That current of emotion that flowed beneath the surface of us both would have to remain beneath the surface, understood but not acknowledged. He was looking at me in that way that made my mind go fuzzy, but I couldn't afford to lose control of my life over Cisco.
"I have a proposition for you," I said, and this seemed to take Cisco by surprise. "Help me kill Baruuk, and I'll give Espazota all of the ice crystals you want once I become queen. There is no longer any guarantee I can protect Hetty, even while doing my job as he taught me." His threat of Hetty after giving him sound advice was all the proof I needed.
Cisco's mischievous grin shattered the weight of the moment — a grin that usually precluded getting into way too much trouble. "It's convenient that you ask, because my plan was to kill him on your behalf after you went to bed."