Return of the Vengeful Queen by C. J. Redwine

Author:C. J. Redwine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

THE STORM LASTED for most of the night. About an hour in, Tal had escorted her back to the cabin and watched her fall into bed, where she’d slept, deep and dreamless, for the first time in weeks. She woke feeling focused and clearheaded with no one else in the cabin. It was time to pull herself together, check on her crew, and then figure out how to sneak some poison into a soup bowl or two.

With that plan in mind, she splashed her face with freezing water, subdued her hair into a thick braid, and opened the door to leave the cabin. Holland, however, was standing on the other side, Tal right behind him.

“I’m going to check on the crew,” she said, waiting for them to move.

“You have some explaining to do.” Holland bit off his words as if he was struggling to keep his voice down.

From farther along the corridor, the brittle bones sound of Rakuuna talking to each other drifted down, and the smell of rotting fish stew lay heavy on the air. Charis stepped back to let the two of them into the dubious safety of the cabin. Tal was carrying a rough wooden platter holding what looked like a fish—a proper, baked fish, rather than a bowl of the disgusting stew Charis was usually served for breakfast. Tal settled the tray on the room’s small desk and then pulled out a chair in a clear invitation for her to sit down.

She ignored him and turned to Holland. “What do you mean I have explaining to do?”

“I won’t sugarcoat it.” Holland placed a mug of water onto the desk with a thunk. “You’re too thin, you look terrible, and now the impostor tells me you passed out. Twice.”

She turned on Tal. “You told him?”

“Don’t get mad at him,” Holland snapped, and then paused. “I mean, stay mad at him for all the things he did wrong, of course. No one here is forgetting we owe him a disembowelment. But he was right to bring this to me.”

“I’m fine.”

“You need food.” Tal’s tone didn’t ask for an argument, but she’d never required an invitation.

“I need to check on the crew and then solidify our strategy for the rest of the poison.”

“You can talk while eating.” Tal gestured at the tray. “And the poison has already been handled.”

“Handled by whom?” She patted the satchel she always kept tied to her waist. Did it feel a little lighter than it had yesterday?

“Ayve was in the kitchen, so it just made sense to put a pinch of poison in a few soup bowls.” Tal gestured toward the chair again.

“Did the Rakuuna know Ayve was in the kitchen? Because if something goes wrong, and they can tie it back to us . . .” She stopped at the stricken expression on Tal’s face.

“Risks are part of war,” Holland said firmly.

The room spun, and she reached out to hold on to something for balance. It was unfortunate that the closest object to her was Holland’s arm.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.