Breaker of Rings

Chapter 2

After finally being able to quiet her magic and catch her breath on the trek to the castle, Bex was ready to launch right into the Horsewomen's worries about the Skull King, but Drew had insisted that they bathe and eat first. "There's nothing more we can do today," he pointed out, "so what difference does it make if you regale us now or later? Relax. Cast off your cares. There will be a feast waiting for you." Glancing over at Paige, he added, "And we will all grant you some space to clear your heads."

Paige gave a simple shrug. "I would be happy to bathe with them and save you the trouble, King. I know your kingdom is struggling. . . ."

"The day my kingdom cannot afford to draw a bath for its allies," Drew retorted, summoning some attendants for the Horsewomen, "is the day I lay down my sword. The bath in your chambers will suffice for you. Let's give our visitors the respect they deserve and a well-earned rest."

"You have our thanks." Bayley hooked her arm in Bex's and tugged her along. "Don't glare at me," she said pre-emptively. "If we didn't accept the bath and the meal, he would have told us to sleep and reconvene in the morning. Baths can be quick, and we can talk while we're eating, at least."

"If Paige will let us get a word in edgewise," Charlotte remarked. As soon as they entered the bathing chamber, she was the first to disrobe, leaving her travelling clothes in a pile near the entrance before stepping into the heated water gratefully. As her Horsewomen sisters loved to remind her—sometimes too often for her liking—she was royalty by birth, a princess waiting for a proper match, and while she loved roaming and fighting, she still enjoyed luxurious comforts too. "Are we sure she's not in league with the Skull King? I thought her family and Queen Stephanie's were aligned once, weren't they?"

Sasha let out a soft snort as she peeled off her salt-stiff clothes. As the water-weaver, she usually ended up the dirtiest after a long voyage at sea. "Your father was too, wasn't he? Who knows? If Stephanie hadn't made her play, perhaps you would be Queen Charlotte right now. . . ."

Charlotte started to rise out of the heated bath, ready to scoop up a handful of water and splash Sasha with it. Then she remembered who she was dealing with—and what she was surrounded by. Sasha had nearly boiled someone alive and barely broken a sweat, so it would be nothing at all to heat the bath water enough to give Charlotte some burns in rather delicate places. "You know that's not the life I want. I understand my duty to my family and my lands, and I know that one day I'll take the throne, but that doesn't mean it won't be on my terms."

Bex and Bayley shared a look. Since they were all as close as sisters, that meant they also had the same level of strife between them, but it seemed worse between Charlotte and Sasha somehow. Bex thought they were too alike for their own good, while Bayley thought the opposite: in Charlotte, Sasha saw someone who had every luxury, every opportunity, and cast them aside like mere trifles while people like her—and Bex and Bayley—had been struggling all their lives. "We're supposed to be relaxing, remember?" Bex felt the soreness and the strain of the flames in every muscle as she took off her clothes, but she still thanked the attendants who whisked away their gear to be cleaned and left comfortable robes for each of them. "If we don't, Drew will simply . . . try making us relax, and then Paige will throw a fit, and we'll accomplish nothing. So let's bathe and eat and then tell our story so we can get some proper rest." Sleeping at sea was difficult at the best of times, but she and Sasha hadn't had much rest on their latest voyage. If Drew had offered her a comfortable bed at that very moment, Bex would have had a difficult time refusing it.

Bayley waited until Bex had eased into the water to follow, but it was hard for her to keep still. The bath was the size of a small pond, giving her room enough to swim around without disturbing the others. After the earth, the water was her favourite element—perhaps because it was Sasha's. "Do we actually think they'll be able to help?" she asked. "Paige and Drew barely get along, and Finn's lands are so far away. By the time he could muster his army and have them set sail, the Skull King would probably have burned down the last forest separating us."

"We'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." Charlotte washed herself with surprising quickness—for her, anyway—and floated over to Bex, who rested against the wall of the bath with her eyes shut. She and Bex were bonded the same way Sasha and Bayley were—maybe even tighter, in her estimation, because of the differences in their background. If she could, she would have given Bex any throne in the world, but Charlotte knew Bex was happiest on their ship, or on her horse—in motion, taking action. If there was anyone ill-suited to the life of a royal, it was Bex. "Turn around," she instructed, tugging at Bex's salt-crusted hair. "Let me work on this mess before Paige tries her hand at it."

"I don't know why you're all so hard on her," Bex murmured, wincing slightly when Charlotte came up against a tangle that didn't want to loosen. She dunked her head under the water for a moment so all her hair would be wet. "Her family took me in when I left Finn's ranks and set out on my own. Her mother taught me as much about fighting as Finn did."

Sasha eased her fingers through her hair, enhancing the blue she had taken from the sea and adding more green from the minerals in the bath. "Her mother did," Sasha emphasized. "Ever since Paige was injured in battle, she just . . . she has this look about her, okay? I don't trust it. I respect the history you two have, Bex. But I just don't think she's as happy on the throne as she lets on. I think she would take the first opportunity she got to stir up a battle again, and the Skull King and his queen are smart enough to find a way to lure her in and make her feel like she's the one in control. She wouldn't see the manipulation until it's too late."

Bex couldn't bring herself to disagree, at least not out loud. There was plenty of truth in Sasha's words, uncomfortable and unnerving truths. She wanted to believe the best of Paige, but even she had to admit there were plenty of reasons to not to. "Then we'll just have to convince her otherwise. If you're right and she wants a battle, convince her to fight on our side. She must know that the Skull King destroys anything and anyone he can't turn to his own ends, and if he doesn't, his queen doesn't bother with subtlety. They would allow Paige to keep her throne only until Stephanie could find someone more to her liking." She felt Sasha's flinty gaze slide her way and was about to protest before she remembered that Charlotte was behind her, curiously quiet. Charlotte hadn't been in contact with her father for years, so who could say what promises and alliances he had made in her absence? If he couldn't marry her off to the Skull King, a throne under the tyrant's reign could be considered the next best option.

Bayley had been the least jaded of the Four Horsewomen, but enough battles and hardships had stripped that cheery veneer away. Some of it returned now, underscored by the sourness of guile, as she met the gaze of each of her sisters in turn. "Let's tell Drew we want to talk over dinner," she suggested. "We can see how Paige reacts to our announcement—if Drew hasn't spoiled it already, that is—and judge from there. And we should be wary of everyone, even Drew. I know he's our ally," she added hastily, "but we've all seen how proud he is of his kingdom. Who knows what he would do to keep it? Maybe the Skull King promised him he would stay on the mainland and leave the islands in peace in exchange for his help."

Charlotte shook her head. "Drew would never. Finn would never. Even . . . even Paige," she said at last, as if it pained her to do so. "I'm not fond of the queen, but I know how proud she is. I know that flavour of pride. You have to nurture that, and you can't do it by eating out of someone else's hand. You have to feed it yourself."

Bex rolled her shoulders in the water, wondering how much of Charlotte's rebuttal was opinion and how much was a confession. It was all going to make for a lively dinner, at any rate.