Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Alina

"Secrets are the lifeblood of every court in the world. Secrets and plots and lies."

-The Complete History of Saroviya's Monarchs, Count Igor Vitsin

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 Marina and Sofiya were silent as Elektra told them what she'd told Alina. Their expressions were grim as Elektra detailed her suspicions and how she'd begun to suspect that the Scourge hadn't originated in Caedland like they'd been told. It was an awful silence that stretched between them, and Alina was sure they would laugh them out of the lab.

When Elektra finished, the silence stretched, terrible and weighted. Marina stared at Elektra, her expression inscrutable. Sofiya frowned at the counter of her workstation, picking at a loose fleck of paint until it peeled away to reveal the sanded wood underneath.

"You think she's right?" Marina asked, just when Alina thought she would go mad if the silence stretched on any longer. "You think this isn't some Caedish bioweapon?"

"Yes," Alina said, and her voice came out more hushed than she'd intended. "Think about it. For years, we've been getting reports of Caedland's technological capabilities. In some fields, they surpassed us a long time ago–those new steam engines, their flying machines–but their biological warfare capabilities were reported to lag far behind ours. How would they have created a disease so advanced it fused multiple viruses with some sort of working if they've shied away from weaponizing any normal diseases over the years?"

"Unlike us, you mean," Marina murmured, her brows furrowed. "We've been experimenting with weaponizing smallpox and scarlet fever for years, trying to worsen their deadliness. So have the Skellans, for that matter."

"But not the Caedish," Elektra pointed out, her voice soft. "They have a full ban on biological warfare, apart from the workings of their Healers. The Biological Warfare and Test Ban Treaty. They co-signed it with the Araiyans and the Rijkeans. It prohibits the creation and testing of biological weapons and the use of biological warfare against anyone, not just each other. If any party that signed the treaty uses biological warfare tactics, they'd be subject to heavy sanctions and possible military intervention by the other signatories."

"I can't see Queen Sara taking that risk," Alina had to add. "She's based her whole reign on the economic prosperity of her kingdom, and trade with Araiya and Rijkelund account for a huge part of their economy. After everything she's worked for since taking the throne, I can't see her jeopardizing everything she's done, especially when it could spark a civil war and her heir's disappeared. Too dangerous for her."

"But it's the kind of risk other rulers wouldn't shy away from," Elektra added, and Alina shot her a grateful smile. She wasn't sure the others would have listened to her argument. "Half the kingdoms in the Northern and Eastern Lands are led by warmongering rulers who built their rule on war and their nation's military strength."

"Like King Mikhail," Sofiya breathed, her gaze troubled. Alina knew she was starting to understand. "Or the Skellan King, what's his name? The Butcher of Alkinen."

"Björn," Marina supplied. "King Björn."

"Right," Sofiya said with a wave of her hand. "Björn the Butcher. I mean, he earned that name somehow, didn't he? Wasn't it something to do with a plague?"

"A rebellion in the town of Alkinen," Elektra said softly. "There was famine, and no one would help them. So, he ordered that dying plague victims be hurled over the town's walls to inject its people, and that they be refused any aid. In a week, half the town was dead, and the rest was dying. He had everyone, even the children, lined up in the town square, and, claiming it was to prevent the spread of disease, he had them all executed and the town put to the torch. Or so the story goes."