Page 63 of Warrior Princess Assassin (Braided Fate #1)

They’re frozen in place. Some appear chastised—while others look more angry. Behind us, Sev and the rest of my soldiers have drawn closer, and it does nothing to dispel the tension. I have no idea how to unravel anything that’s happened here. I certainly don’t think I’ve made anything better .

I look at Jory. “Princess, you have my gratitude for keeping this conversation civil.” I look back to the people.

“The next time you wish to air your grievances, approach me with fewer weapons and more consideration, and I will listen.” To Jory, I add, “We have neared the city of Lastalorre. For your safety, you and your lady should ride.”

Now it’s her jaw that’s set, and I’m not sure what part of that earned her ire.

“Fine,” she says. Her eyes are still cold.

At her shoulder, Asher is studying me, too, but his gaze isn’t cold at all. Instead, he looks curious, intrigued, like he’s stumbled upon a puzzle he can’t figure out.

I can’t make sense of that, and now I’m too twisted up and angry. I turn for my horse.

Someone in the crowd mutters, “We’d be better off if Victoria took the throne.”

No , I want to snap. You wouldn’t be better off at all.

But I can’t say that. Not now. Maybe not ever.

So I set my jaw, give the horse a nudge with my heels, and we set off.

AS WE RIDE up the hill and into the city, my soldiers hang close.

No one is speaking, and the tension between me and the princess is thick .

It’s clear she has thoughts—but she either doesn’t want to voice them or she doesn’t think I’ll give her honest answers.

I remember what Sev said right before the people approached us, and I’m sure she does, too.

Ky. You need to tell her something. Or they’re going to do it for you.

He was right. They did.

Shame won’t stop curling through my gut, hot and unpleasant.

Welcome to Incendar, Princess. Everyone feared me in Astranza, but everyone hates me here.

It wasn’t like this when I was young. When my father would return to Lastalorre, people would line the streets.

He was welcomed like a hero. When my mother died, the people grieved with him.

When he died, they grieved with me . It wasn’t until the weather began to shift, leading to the dry months, that people began to worry.

It wasn’t until fires began to spread that my people began to blame me.

But as Jory discovered, my magic can only call fire. Once it begins, it burns everything in its path. I can’t stop it.

Now I dread coming home.

Dozens of citizens have gathered, but they yield a path as we ride through the gates. I hear muttered comment, but no one says a word to us directly. My people stare—or worse, they glare.

I know the princess sees all of it. Asher rides behind us, but I’m certain he does, too.

My soldiers, of course, are used to it.

Maybe Lady Charlotte can’t take the silence, because she begins chattering to Sev.

“Ah...Captain,” she’s saying. “The architecture here is so unique. Our buildings are not so high in Astranza. Do you have many stonemasons?”

Sev is never one to shy away from attention from a lady, so he navigates his horse closer to hers.

“It’s not the stone,” he says, “it’s our iron.

All the buildings are fortified with it.

They have been for over a century.” Sev points to the corner of a building, where brickwork has chipped away, revealing the ironwork below.

“The wind through the mountains can get fierce. Our cities can take a lot of damage without falling.” He pats the leather armor on his chest. “Iron plates are stitched into the leather, too. Impervious to arrows.”

This seems to have caught Jory’s interest, because she glances at Sev. “Why not steel armor? That’s what soldiers wear in Astranza. Surely it’s simpler to forge.”

“Simpler, yes.” He glances at me. “But if you’re surrounded by fire, plain steel gets hot fast.”

Her eyebrows go up. “Ah.”

“This moves a lot better, too,” Sev adds. He pats his armor again. “It takes longer to make than a plate of steel, but we have no shortage of metalsmiths here.”

Behind us, Callum snorts. “Throw a stick and you’ll hit one.”

“No wonder your weapons are so fine,” Asher says, musing. It’s the first thing he’s said since we left the people near the city gates.

Jory looks at him in surprise. “Are they?”

He nods, then shrugs a little. “Nicer than mine, anyway.”

“Incendrian steel costs a mint in Perriden,” says Lady Charlotte, and there’s a hint of envy in her voice. “One of the courtiers in the palace had a set of hairpins, and she never let us touch them.”

“You can get a dozen hairpins for a few coppers here in Lastalorre,” says Sev, and Lady Charlotte gasps.

“Iron is heavy,” I add. “It’s difficult—and costly—to transport a lot at once.

Incendar does not export much.” I don’t add that we’re often wary of our weapons getting into the hands of Draeg forces.

Sometimes the strength of our steel is the only advantage we have against their army, which has three times as many soldiers as I have.

“But you have a lot here,” Jory says, looking up and around at the buildings as we pass.

Another gust of wind whips through the buildings to tug at the tendrils of her hair that have pulled loose from her braids.

She still looks so fierce and beautiful, and I wish I could erase the tension that has built between us, but I’m not sure how.

“Iron is everywhere in the palace,” I say to her, encouraged by the fact that she’s talking. “Some of the metalwork is centuries old. It’s really quite beautiful.”

She turns cool eyes my way. “Did you know your people were so angry?”

Maybe I shouldn’t have been encouraged at all. I let out a breath. “Princess—”

“You asked me for truth between us. Perhaps I should have asked you for the same thing.”

“I will give you truth,” I say quietly. “Yes. I did know.”

“Did your magic cause these droughts?”

“No.”

Her eyes stare into mine, hard.

I stare right back at her. “I do not have weather magic,” I say. “I can summon flame, but fire is fire—and as you saw, if there is fuel to burn, it will spread and multiply until there is none.”

“Has your magic caused these fires, then?”

I hesitate, thinking of my sister. “No.”

She considers this for a long moment. The horses plod on.

Eventually she turns to look at me again. “Those were simple people. Your soldiers are armed for war. You would have killed those children.”

I nearly flinch. Her voice is very low, very quiet, but I’m very aware of the people in the streets, and she might as well have shouted the words. She might as well be branding them on my skin.

I think of little Hannah’s cool fingers pressing into my palm as she tugged at my hand.

I imagine my soldiers tearing her apart, the way they’d tear apart an opponent on the battlefield. My brain has no trouble imagining it. I’ve seen worse. This will probably haunt my sleep for the next week.

My eyes are fixed ahead, but I don’t see Lastalorre anymore, I see every terrible thing that’s happened on the front lines of the war.

I’ve clenched my right hand into a fist to keep from sketching a sigil, because I don’t want to draw any attention to myself in front of my people.

Not now. But the strain is building in my body, until I feel like I’m going to burst into a ball of flame myself.

I haven’t said anything, and her expression darkens with anger. “They are desperate . You are their king . I know what you’ve gone through with Dane. But your people came to you with complaints, and you nearly turned—”

“Jory. Stop.”

She stops short. To my surprise, it’s Asher’s voice.

I can’t even turn to look at him. Every muscle in my body has gone taut and rigid, and I didn’t even realize it.

The princess is still staring at me. Fury is a lit match in her eyes. Her chest is rising and falling like she wants to resume her tirade.

“ Jory ,” Asher says again, his voice a bit sharper, a bit louder. People on the ground look up, and even Lady Charlotte inhales sharply, like she can’t believe he’d dare.

Jory whips her head in his direction, and I can feel more than see her fury.

But then his voice softens. “He’s had enough,” Asher says. “Leave him be.”

I don’t expect her to listen. But maybe she sees something in his face. Maybe she sees something in mine.

Either way, her mouth clamps shut. Her eyes face forward.

And then we turn a corner, and I’m home.