âWhat does Baros say?â Amalah asked in a hushed tone.
âHeâs asking for my help.âAmalahâs dark brows shot straight into her hairline.
âYour help? Youâre wanted by the entire Sovran, how can you possibly help him?â
âHe says here that heâs wrangled a full pardon for me so that I can enter, but he needs my help.â Darius stared down at the letter, blindly, as everything he had heard in the past year coalesced into patterns all at once. âAmalah. I told you that because Niotan wrested free of the Sovran, avoided being conquered, that Baros would lose control slowly of the other countries.â
âYes, so you did. Is that happening now? Is that what he wants you to stop?â
âNo. Something worse than that. I should have anticipated this, butââ he swallowed the words down because in truth, he had actively not thought about war much in the past year. âThe Roran barbarians were the first to break free of the Sovran after last year. And now it seems theyâve pulled together, at least most of the clans, perhaps all, and theyâre threatening the northern countries. Baros has battled them to a standstill for now, but he canât find a way to force them back into their territories. If he doesnât do it soon, then theyâll overrun him. Theyâll overrun the Sovran.â