A Brother's Price

wasn’t an impromptu grab and run. Kij had planned it in greater detail than Ren had initially given her credit for. What other plans were set? Did Kij count on their chasing after her?
    Ren uncrumpled the paper and scanned the story. Not surprisingly, there were no mentions of cribs; Kij would want to keep Jerin’s reputation clean of that rumor. Otherwise, though, the text ran close to hysterical over the possible dangers that Jerin faced. Surely, upon reading the story, even the most coldhearted of women would rush after their betrothed. “Where did you get this, Lylia?”
    Lylia was standing on tiptoe, looking over their guard’s heads for Raven. “One of the clerks at the courthouse brought it around. She was concerned that we didn’t know what had happened.” Kij was concerned that they didn’t know. “There’s Raven now!”
    “Good! We can get moving!” Odelia started toward Raven.
    Ren caught Odelia by the elbow and pulled her back. “No. You three aren’t going anywhere.”
    “What?” they cried in dismayed chorus.
    Lylia recovered first. “I’m going after Jerin!”
    “Me too!” Odelia tried to shake loose from Ren’s hold.
    “It’s a wife’s duty to guard and protect her husband,” Trini stated firmly. “You can’t stop me from doing so.”
    “The Porters are behind this! They killed Eldest and the others. They want the throne,” Ren told them. She added in what she knew, and then what she only suspected. “Kij wants us to chase after her. She has some trap in store.”
    “Surely you’re not suggesting letting them keep Jerin!” Trini growled, her eyes narrowed in anger. “Not after all they have done to us!”
    “No!” Ren cried, hurt that they would think her capable of that. “I’m saying that only one of us should go!”
    “Kij doesn’t know that we know it’s her!” Odelia pointed out. “We’ll be on our guard!”
    Ren shook her head. “She can’t trust her luck that we haven’t guessed. She’s in too deep. She has to be sure that when she strikes this time, she gets us all. She’s taken our husband, printed this damn story, and left a trail to follow. It’s a trap!”
    “And we’re supposed to sit back and let you ride off to get killed, and do nothing?” Lylia asked.
    “You’re supposed to stay here and make sure our little sisters are safe, or have you forgotten that they’re between the Porters and the throne too?”
    Her sisters exchanged guilty looks.
    “You think Kij is going to lure us upriver and then attack here?” Trini asked.
    “Quite possibly,” Ren said. “Our mothers might be mostly retired, but they’re still a force to fear. If Kij kills us upriver, unless she counterblows here too, against the palace, then she’ll be facing a very angry Queen Mother Elder.”
    “Go upriver,” Trini said quietly. “We’ll guard against the Porters here.”
    Raven broke her silence. “It would be best if none of you go. I can take a boat and fetch Jerin back.”
    Ren shook her head. “Much as we love Jerin, he figures in this only as bait, and as a royal husband for whoever comes out alive. I need to go upriver and nail Kij to the nearest tree.”
    “You can’t arrest a duchess on her ducal grounds, Captain,” Trini added. “You don’t have the power.”
    Raven’s mouth quirked into a grin. “It might be fun to try, though. She wouldn’t be suspecting it—a common arrest is much below her own sense of self-importance.”
    “I don’t want her warned,” Ren said. “I have a feeling that we’ll have only one shot to get her. I want to make the most of it. Raven, take the boat you just comman-deered to Sparrows Point. Get the Red Dog . Bring it back. I’ll ready a platoon of marines here.”‘
    Raven eyes widened. She controlled a grin, and then bowed slightly. “Yes. Your Highness.”
    As Raven hurried off, Lylia crowed with delight. “A gunboat? Ren, that’s truly evil! Blow that bitch out of the water!”
    Ren grinned, and swatted Odelia with the newspaper. “You! You’re eldest while I’m gone, unless Halley shows her face, which she may once she sees this paper! Kij has done us a favor there. Send troops to the Herald , find Kij’s mole there, and root her out. I don’t want any more articles that smell—ever so mildly—of treason.”
    Odelia gulped at the promotion, and nodded, eyes huge.
    “Trini, have a fast messenger go on to Annaboro and let Jerin’s family there know what’s happened. I’ll send