Wren didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand. “But if you were working together, why didn’t you let me accept his offer in the first place? He requested my services specifically.”

“I didn’t trust you to carry out this mission,” Isabel said. “I knew well what he wanted, and I suspected your feelings would get in the way of your duty. You have one last chance to prove me wrong.”

Wren knew a warning when she heard one, but she couldn’t bring herself to heed it. “Tell me where exactly I’ve failed to carry out my duty as a soldier. With all due respect, Your Majesty, it seems to me that I’ve done better on this mission than you ever could have hoped. I’ve given you all the evidence you need to stop a war and punish Lowry for his crimes against Danu. If you’d just look—”

Isabel rounded on her. “I thought I made myself clear. I have no interest in your evidence. I don’t expect a child like you to understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand! If you pursue this case against Lowry, there will be no war to fight. You won’t need him anymore,” Wren pressed. “We can prove that we’ve committed no acts of war against Vesria. How can you turn your back on that?”

“Because this was our agreement.” Isabel lifted her chin, deepening the shadows on her face. “Lowry would orchestrate a break in the armistice. And with Cernos’s support, we’ll win once and for all.”

It was exactly as Lowry had said. Their evidence meant nothing. And if she executed Hal, it would be the final straw. The war Isabel wanted would finally come.

“You can’t do this!” Wren hated the pleading edge to her voice. “Hal is trying to make amends. If you work with him, you can band together against Lowry. You can finally put this rivalry to rest.”

“And what message would that send?” Isabel’s eyes glittered, as cold as cracked ice. “I will not look weak. The Reaper of Vesria must be brought to justice for what he’s done. Need I remind you of the atrocities he has committed? What are the lives of three soldiers against all those he has already killed? How many families are still grieving because of him? I’ll not deny my people what they are owed.”

“And what are corpses against the living?” Una snarled. “You’ll send us to die for nothing!”

“Enough!”

The clock tick, tick, ticked in the silence.

“You’re a soldier, Captain Dryden,” Isabel said, eerily distant. “Just as those who disappeared were. It is Danu’s divine purpose—my purpose—to crush the Vesrian heathens. It is your purpose to obey, and if the Goddess wills it, it is your purpose to die. I will finish what my ancestors could not.”