“Fine,” Keita said. “It came to me when I saw who was trying to kill me. I’d always assumed it was the Empress—”

“Because everyone wants you dead?”

“No, Batu. Everyone loves me. I’m Keita.”

Brannie pulled on her shirt and asked Keita, “If it wasn’t the Empress, who was it?”

“I think it was her brother.”

Batu straightened. “Lord Xing? What does he want with you?”

“He wants me dead—”

“I want you dead.”

“Perhaps”—Keita sneered at Batu—“but not for the same reasons I’m sure.”

Brannie pulled her boots on. “What reasons could he have?”

“I think he was afraid I’d find out the truth and get that information to the Empress.”

Tucking her wonderful new weapon back into her boot—Batu had no idea how dangerous her “stick” was—Brannie paused and looked at her cousin. “What truth?”

“That Xing has already made an alliance . . . with Salebiri.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

The Empress’s head tilted to the side. “How do you lose a princess, Mì-runach?”

There had been introductions and a brief update on what had happened in the last few days, but Aidan was still holding much back. He had to. His goal at the moment was the same as it had been hours ago . . . to keep the Empress off Brannie’s and Keita’s back.

“It’s complicated,” he replied.

“Is it?” she asked, not looking terribly convinced.

“My lady, she ran.”

“From you? What did you do to her?” She pointed an accusing finger at Kachka and the others. “Was it these unclean Riders?”

“No. She ran from you. From your army.”

“Keita would never run from me. I adore her more than my own children . . . except for Ren.”

“Really, Ma?” asked her eldest daughter, Fang, the archer they’d originally met. “Really?”

Everyone in the room except the Southlanders and the Riders were kin. Along with Empress Xinyi, there were her two sons, eldest Zhi and third oldest Kang; and her three daughters: second oldest Fang, fourth oldest Ju, and youngest daughter Lei. Ren was the baby of the group. They were all members of the Chosen Dynasty, the royal family of the Eastlands for the last three thousand years.

Aidan had expected all the pomp and circumstance he’d seen in the main hall to continue with the family, but it didn’t.

Fang liked to hunt down her own meat apparently.

Zhi enjoyed reading and was seriously considering becoming a monk in the service of one of the Eastland gods.

Lei had on a dress but it was covered in dirt and leaves and she was currently resting on the floor, her legs up against a wall.

Kang and Ju were warriors, in gold-and-black chain mail, armed to the teeth, and more than ready for any of the Southlanders to test their strength and speed.