“I don’t hear anything.” She pressed her ear to the shell and drew back with a shrug. “Maybe you hit your head. What were you even doing up here?”

All at once, I slammed back to reality. “Illucia’s threatening to attack, and Caliza’s idea of solving the problem is agreeing to their demands for a marriage between me and Prince Ericen.”

Kiva’s lips parted and closed several times. She swallowed hard, set her jaw. “I’m going to kill her.”

“That’s treason.”

“Seriously injure her.”

“Still treason.”

She threw up her hands. “Hasn’t she heard the rumors about him? He’s as vicious and cruel as Illucians come. Has she lost her mind?”

“Yes.” Even as I said it, guilt swept through me. “No. She did this to protect Rhodaire.” She’d probably fretted about it for days, poring over books looking for another way until her vision blurred, but in the end, she’d chosen the most logical solution to an impossible problem, like she always did.

Meanwhile, I’d done nothing.

Six months ago, no one would have dared threaten our kingdom. The riders were fierce, and the crows fiercer. A battle crow could take on six cavalrymen at once, and an earth crow could open a sinkhole beneath an army. Now, Razel threatened to conquer us like she had Jindae and the Ambriel Islands. She would destroy our culture, level our cities, and funnel our children into her army until everything we were had been forgotten.

“All this because those soldiers chose power over their kingdom.” I clutched the egg closer, seeking its warmth. It still seemed impossible that some of our soldiers had betrayed us. They had sold their loyalty to Razel, providing vital information and allowing Illucian soldiers to slip through their ranks. They’d helped butcher the crows that trusted them.

Illucia had planned everything perfectly.

They’d known that at the end of the Sky Dance, every single crow from across Rhodaire would return to their rookeries. They’d known all the eggs would be gathered in the royal rookery. Instead of facing an army, all they’d had to do was destroy nine towers.

And they’d had help from our own people.

“Those soldiers deserved what they got.” The derision in Kiva’s tone was sharper than a blade.

Executed.

Razel had used the soldiers, making promises she would never keep, and then had them killed.

Scowling, I shifted the egg in my arms and kicked away a chunk of rubble, relishing the solid contact even as my foot ached. “What I want to know is why Razel offered this. Why promise us peace in exchange for this marriage? We’re not in a position to deny them anything. What do they gain?”