Page 96 of Bloodwitch

Why did you lie to me?

I did not.

You said you sent 5,000 soldiers and sailors to your northern borders. My scouts report over 10,000 are on the way.

I did not send those forces.

Someone did.

And I can guess who.

“Who did this?” Vivia sent her gaze around the room. Fourteen officers from the Royal Navy and Soil-Bound stared stonily back. At her command, they had gathered at a long table in a fortified room at the Sentries of Noden.

No one had spoken since she had walked in. So she asked her question again: “Who did this? Troops do not move without orders, and I want to know who gave them.”

A soil-bound general at the table’s opposite end was the first to speak up. “We all did,” she said. “Exactly as we were instructed to do.”She withdrew a crumpled letter from her forest green coat and slid it across the table.

The iris blue wax had been torn, but even ten paces away, there was no mistaking the royal seal. Vivia extended a hand, lips pressed thin while she waited for the officers to hand the letter down to her.

When at last it reached her, she tore it open. And as expected, her father’s handwriting glared up at her. It was a detailed missive, listing all the specifics he had described to her.

And it was dated a week ago.

“I did not give you these orders.I,who still maintain the role of Admiral.” She dropped the page to the table. No slamming, no gales of temper. She was the bear in the forest who did not need to roar; whose sheer size and strength cowed lesser animals. “So explain to me why any of you obeyed.”

“The King Regent,” a new general began.

“Is no longer in power,” Vivia finished. “He is no longer Regent, and he has not been Admiral in several months. So tell me why”—she snatched up the paper again and rattled it at them—“did none of you come to me when my father began planning? Why didnoneof you think to inform me of the messages coming from the watchtowers?” Even as she asked this, Vivia knew what the answer would be.

They had not informed her because they had not wanted to.

The armed forces of Nubrevna had followed Serafin Nihar for years. Decades, even. Through war time and truce time, through battle and siege. What was Vivia compared to that?

I am Queen.

“Fix this.” Another shake of the letter. “And fix itfast. Call the troops back, mobilize them to defend Lovats, and pray that we are not too late.”

None of the officers reacted to this command. NoHye, sir!or crisp salutes. No apologies or explanations for why they had so easily, so willingly changed course. In fact, every officer at the table acted as if she had not spoken at all.

In that moment, Vivia realized it was worse than she’d ever feared. She had been so focused on protecting the city—she had been sointent on doing what she felt was right, on what sheknewthe infrastructure of the Lovats plateau would demand—that she hadn’t seen this coming. Now, she had a full mutiny on her hands, and her own father had lit the first match.

Share the glory, share the blame.

Her confirmation came a heartbeat later, when a Second Admiral, black hair streaked with gray, said, “The vizers came to us an hour ago.” No expression. No inflection. “Vizer Quihar, Eltar, and Quintay. They informed us that your crown has been withdrawn and the King Regent rules once more.”

“Ah.” It was all Vivia could say. The only sound or breath she could muster. The world had fallen apart around her and now the Hagfishes were dragging her to Hell.

It mattered none that she had stolen an arsenal of Marstoki weapons for her troops. It mattered none that she had captained a ship of her own and earned the loyalty and love of her crew. It mattered none that she had found the under-city and filled it, and it mattered none that she had been born to her title and the underground lake had chosenher.

When Serafin Nihar, former King Regent and former Admiral to the Navy and Soil-Bound, had beckoned, these soldiers and three vizers had answered that call.

“So,” she said quietly. “You will not call back our forces to defend Lovats?”

Three officers shook their heads. Two said, “No, Your Highness,” and the remaining nine simply regarded her with bored eyes.

“All right then.” She pushed away from the table. “Just know that when the city of Lovats falls to the Raider King, it will be your guilt to bear—and the Fury never forgets.”

No one stopped her and no one saluted when she left the room. If her threat—a promise, really—bothered the officers, none gave any indication. But Vivia knew she had spoken the truth.