Page 156 of The Cradle of Ice

She reached up and pulled the sword down. “No. There’s much you still don’t understand, Tazar.”

His captor released Kanthe’s hair and used that arm to scoop Aalia into his embrace. “All I understand is that you’re safe.”

He kissed her deeply, bending her back with his passion.

Kanthe met Rami’s eyes, as stunned as his friend.

From the floor, Jester voiced all their concerns. “What in Hadyss’s blistered, fiery arse is going on?”

62

TAZAR SAVORED HIS victory—but no more so than the sweet taste of Aalia’s lips. It had been far too long. She finally drew back, but she kept her arm possessively around him as she faced her father and brother.

“What is this?” Makar asked, his gaze flickering through hurt, confusion, and fury.

Rami settled on anger. “Sister, you’ve been aligned with the Shayn’ra all this time?”

Aalia firmed her hold on Tazar. “More than aligned. I’ve supported their efforts for the past five years. The empire has been in decline for ages, stagnant and calcified. Only freedom can reverse that course. We must break down the stultifying caste system that has chained the baseborn in place. Rami, you and I have spent months of late on this very subject.”

Rami waved at Kanthe. “I thought it was because you didn’t want to marry him.”

“True. That was problematic. Such an unfortunate arrangement did require me to act sooner than I wanted, forcing me to orchestrate my own abduction. Which unfortunately failed. And with far more bloodshed than I intended.”

Tazar watched Rami struggle to realign events in his head.

“But why?” her brother asked. “How?”

Tazar knew the answer.

Years ago, after Aalia had exposed Tazar in the palace for his duplicitous attempt to co-opt her, he had fled to the streets. He had found himself drawn into the Shayn’ra, stoked by his anger at imri class. Only afterward was he shocked to discover a covert benefactor to their cause. Someone who secretly supplied the Fist with aid, support, and intelligence from within the palace, allowing their order to flourish. Someone who wanted to tear down the order in Kysalimri as fervently as he did.

Aalia, of course, had recognized him right away. She immediately disparaged him, believing he remained as disingenuous as ever. Still, he eventually convinced her, which sharpened her guilt at nearly having him killed back at the palace. Time and purpose drove them closer together, until they could no longer deny their attraction for one another, their affection. She admitted she had been drawn to him from the beginning, when he was a servant in the palace. It was one of the reasons she had exposed him back then. She had been young, fearful of herself, of that first yearning. She needed him gone.

But no longer.

He pulled her closer and pointed his sword at Kanthe. “What of this Hálendiian prince, your former betrothed?”

Llyra stepped in front of Kanthe. “He is with us. None will harm him.”

Tazar winced.

So here were those crossed purposes she had mentioned before.

Llyra was backed up by Saekl. From the shadows, other Rhysians appeared in black leather. Dark cloths wrapped their faces, leaving only their silver-blue eyes exposed. One shed her covering. It was the young woman who had accosted him. She once again held her small quisl, flipping the poisoned dagger between her fingertips.

Tazar lifted a palm. He was not about to challenge any of them.

Aalia supported this decision. “Though the prince is not the brightest, he’s not the enemy.”

Kanthe frowned at the insult but knew better than to protest.

“There is much we must talk about,” Aalia continued. “Concerning a danger larger than any empire or kingdom.”

Kanthe sat straighter. “So we convinced you about moonfall after all?”

She waved disdainfully to another chained man. “Your alchymist did.”

Rami crossed to join them. “I will help. As best I can.” He glanced Tazar up and down, then faced Aalia. “But we will talk later, sister.”