“A knight,” Maiya replied with a frown. This wasn’t the reaction Maiya expected. “Knight Captain Vastav and his men. And Princess Mina.”
Ira winced. “Mina Hiranya… You’ve no doubt heard what became of her?”
Maiya nodded. “I heard she was maimed. That not even healing magic can help her.”
“Yes, she lost some limbs. Quite gruesome. Hiranya has done their best to hide it, but there’s no concealing something like that. Mina is destroyed, Maiya. Fated to live out the rest of her days as a cripple, she has no power anymore. Her brothers have seen to that.”
“She still breathes,” Maiya said through gritted teeth. She knew this was no way to speak to a princess. Maiya didn’t have any right to demand anything from her. The opposite—Ira had given her wealth, power, and status. Everything she’d ever dreamed of. Yet, now that she’d spoken, she couldn’t stop herself. Like a levy that had ruptured, the words flowed—out of control. “That monster deserves a fate worse than death for all the tragedies she’s wrought.”
“Would you not say Fate has given her exactly that?” Ira asked. “Imagine how it must be for someone as highborn, as egomaniacal as Mina, to be brought so low. It must vex her every moment of every day. It must consume her, knowing she’ll never return to the person she once was. Tell me true, is that not worse?”
Maiya went silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her words were more measured. Calmer. The princess had a point.
“I guess I never saw it that way,” she mumbled.
“People like her think differently from you or I, Maiya. Believe me, you’d only be putting her out of her misery by ending her life. She’s best left alone. Let her be a black mark for Hiranya to bear.”
“The knights?”
“I’ll arrange to have Captain Vastav executed, as well as those directly responsible for your parents’ deaths. Is that acceptable?”
“I don’t know what to say,” Maiya replied, hanging her head. “I feel I’m overstepping my bounds. By a lot. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even have mentioned this.”
Ira smiled sadly. “We all carry the demons of our past with us. Most are unable to do anything about it. I know well what it is you feel. You’ve plied yourself for our empire. For me. If this allows you to move on with your life, then I’ll happily have those people killed.”
The princess had single-handedly resolved the darkness in Maiya’s heart. A darkness Vir partially quelled by killing Harak—Hiranya’s Royal Priest—but the storm remained. Until the guilty were held responsible, there would be no true peace in Maiya’s heart. She’d been prepared to sacrifice herself if need be. Now, with just a few words, she’d been freed of that burden. It felt wrong, somehow.
“Would you like to kill them yourself?” Ira asked, casting an appraising gaze at her. Maiya immediately shook her head.
“It’s not really revenge that I’m after. That’s certainly part of it, but I know it won’t bring my parents back. I doubt it’ll make me feel much better; I’m not that naïve. Just the thought of those vermin living their lives unpunished… I can’t stand it. I never have. Knowing they no longer tread upon this realm is enough for me.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thank you for this, Princess Ira. I assume you’ll be wanting a favor in return? Whatever you like, please name it.”
Ira sighed, leaning over the rampart’s crenels. “That’s not it at all, Maiya. If I wanted an ignorant minion, I would’ve simply blackmailed you with treason for leaking sensitive intelligence to that mejai, Tanya. You will notice I never once mentioned it.”
Maiya went pale and her heart threatened to leap out of her mouth. “You knew?”
“I do my due diligence on all my handmaidens, Maiya. Especially those I take under my wing. I’ll admit, I had contingencies, but my faith in you wasn’t misplaced.”
“You had faith? I committed treason!”
Were guards moving in to capture her? Had Ira led her here for that purpose? Maiya’s eyes darted around the ramparts, suspicious of a trap.
But no. The tops of the walls remained empty. It was just her and the princess, who stood with a hand on her hip, brows creased in pity.
“Maiya, I’ll never have a sliver of a copper’s chance at the throne without an eye for good character. I judged you thoroughly and concluded you would cast off whatever shackles that bound you if given a choice. If you didn’t, it would mean you deemed the danger too great to do so.”
“You assumed a lot,” Maiya replied, taken aback at how accurate Ira’s assessment had been.
“And? Were my assumptions not correct? You are hardly the first risk I’ve taken. I wish for my handmaidens to follow me willingly. To believe in my cause. For while help can always be hired, loyalty cannot be bought.”
“But you had a contingency, didn’t you?” Maiya asked.
“Of course. If you hadn’t stopped your spying before learning anything of value, I’d have had you executed in your sleep. Any of several nightshades would have done the task.”
Poison? Maiya’s blood nearly froze, her face deathly turning pale. I suppose that’s only fair…
Traitors usually endured far worse than a painless death.
“S-so, my training,” Maiya said, eager to move the conversation along, trying not to betray the fear in her voice. “It has something to do with the Children of Ash, doesn’t it?”
Ira walked along the rampart, and Maiya matched her pace beside her. She’d normally never have dared, but the princess insisted.
“I’ve sent you all over the Known World. To Hiranya, Rani, and the far corners of Kin’jal. What have you seen?”
“Poverty. Corruption. Strife,” Maiya replied. “Hidden agendas and knives behind everyone’s backs.”
Maiya had shut down smuggling rings, strong-armed the Crown Prince of Matali, and helped the poor. There wasn’t a shred of continuity to her tasks, though she hadn’t complained. Ira’s ideals lined up near-perfectly with her own. Not only was she doing the world a service, she was being paid handsomely for it.
“’Tis an ugly thing, is it not?” the princess asked.
“Yes… But what does this have to do with those cultists?”
“Why, I thought it obvious? In each of your missions, you had an opportunity to interact with their ranks. The smuggling rings all had at least one Children agent amongst them, preaching their twisted cause. Matali is rife with the cultists, as is Hiranya. They even preach to the poor, handing out alms for those who will listen to their ways.”
“They’re just a group of harmless crazies,” Maiya said. “They might be everywhere, but they’re useless as informants.”
“That’s precisely the trouble. I wish for them to be.”
Maiya blinked. “You intend to radicalize them against another country? Others have tried. There’s a reason they answer to no one. They’re quite insane.”
“Oh, I’m aware. I want nothing as crude as that. The Kin’jal intelligence network is vast and deep, and yet there are places even we cannot penetrate. Dark corners, where the Children flourish. Mostly, they are loyal to my father. My goal is not to simply sway the Children—I wish to make them ours. Mine.”
“Er, how, exactly?”
Ira laced her fingers behind her back, upturned her eyes, and gave Maiya such a sweet smile that she came to a halt. The princess gazed into Maiya’s eyes.
“Why, by infiltrating their ranks, rising within the organization, becoming their leader, and turning them to our side, of course!”
Right! Of course!
“Any chance I could just fight Ash Beasts, instead?” Maiya asked meekly.
Ira’s grin broadened. And just like that, all of Maiya’s hopes for the future came crashing splendidly down.