The Reluctant Queen (The Queens of Renthia #2)(121)

So she held her power in check and kept the spirits close.

The chancellors had issued orders to her soldiers. She knew they waited as well, as the refugees poured into the capital. Her seneschal was welcoming as many as he could. He'd had tents set up in the gardens. The palace cooks were distributing food, and the caretakers were handing out blankets and other supplies. She'd received word from Hamon that her sister was with him-Arin was safe, at least for now, and if they could keep the invaders out of Mittriel, she'd stay safe.

"I hate waiting," Ven said.

Daleina nearly laughed. He sounded like a grumpy child. A choked giggle burst out of her lips. She swallowed it back in.

From near one of the tower windows, Naelin snorted. "You should like waiting. When the waiting ends, the killing and dying begins. I'd rather wait an eternity."

"You don't feel it? The taste of the air, the beat of your heart-there must be a part of you that wants to release all your coiled energy. Strike out. Let loose your anger and your fear."

"Mostly fear," Naelin said. "How am I supposed to defeat a queen?"

"You just have to hold her and her spirits back until Hamon finds the cure," Ven told her. "You don't need to defeat her; you just need to buy time. Until Daleina can fight too."

Except Merecot was always stronger than me, Daleina thought, but she didn't say it out loud. It was the best and only plan they had. Daleina's advantage was that she was defending her home. Her people. Her sister. She hoped that would be enough.

Daleina leaned out the window and looked across the canopy, across Aratay. The enemy was close enough to see: a thickness in the air, like a fog that hung heavily over the forest. It was a wall that advanced toward them. She wanted to strike at it.

"There's a new mountain." Daleina pointed. A peak, or the shadow of one, rose out of the swirling swarm. Merecot's changing our land. My land.

"We'll fix it," Naelin said. Her voice was kind-she must have seen, or guessed, at Daleina's feelings. "After the killing and the dying will come the cleaning and the recovering." 

"You can't be looking forward to that part?" Ven looked incredulous, like Naelin had just told him that she didn't like his beard. Daleina wondered if he felt fear, underneath all his casual bravery. He must. She wondered if he was hiding it for her sake or his own.

"You can stop trying to glorify battle," Naelin told him. "I won't like it, no matter how exhilarating you claim it is. It's better to avoid a fight than win one. Even Queen Merecot doesn't want a fight. That's why she used Alet."

Daleina widened her eyes. "You're right," she gasped. Queen Merecot didn't want to destroy Aratay; she wanted to rule it. Daleina had realized that when she'd looked at the map with the chancellors. She'd known it when she'd invited the refugees into the palace. But she hadn't fully followed the thought to its logical conclusion. Merecot wanted to become Queen of Aratay as well as Semo. To do that, she needed to claim both the capital and the spirits. "You need to go to the grove. Now."

Both Naelin and Ven stared at her.

"What?" Naelin said.

"We aren't leaving you," Ven said simultaneously.

Naelin nodded. "Your Majesty, we're here to defend you."

"The attack. The grand entrance. Why is she doing this?" Daleina didn't wait for them to answer her. Up until today, Daleina had assumed that Merecot didn't know about her illness-all her strategy had been based on that assumption-but of course Merecot knew about it. She'd caused it. Merecot had always been stronger-in a head-to-head battle, it would take all of Daleina's strength and cleverness to keep her out of the city, which Merecot knew. She was trying to force Daleina to use all her power to defend her capital-she was trying to trigger a false death. And she'd had Alet kill off any candidates who could take the crown. Oh, Alet, how could you? Sister or not, queen or not, you should have refused her! "It's brilliant. She didn't bring her spirits and soldiers to conquer the city. She brought them to protect it."

Ven pointed out the window at the approaching storm of spirits. "That's an invasion."

"Yes, now. But when I fall . . . She plans to use the invasion to force me to trigger a false death, and in the midst of the chaos, she will walk into the Queen's Grove. She'll try to crown herself, during the invasion, not after! And the people will support her because, in the meantime, her spirits will be saving them. She wins the power, the land, the spirits, the people-everything she ever wanted-all at once." Which meant there was one way to outsmart her. One way to win. Daleina fixed both of them with the fiercest expression she could. "She doesn't know Alet failed to kill you. You have to stop her. Go to the grove. Now."