Monica looked just as bewildered, then quickly shook her head. "It has nothing to do with us."
"Interesting..." Manx smiled. "Hasn't Amn always tried to extend its reach into Chult?"
"This is Amn Navy territory. It has nothing to do with our family," Monica said flatly.
"Oh... surely they don't serve Helm?" Manx mused. "But how has a ruling family like yours survived this long when it can't even keep the military under its control?"
"Amn was never a kingdom to begin with," Monica said with complete confidence. "The speakership has changed hands more than once... and it hasn't always gone to someone from our Salem Family."
"So you brought Cyric's forces into Amn to deal with Helm's followers, who had grown too influential in the military?" Manx said lightly. "It worked wonderfully.
"What a marvelous ending. Even devils couldn't have dreamed it up."
Monica immediately grew wary. "Amn has always held the God of Guardians in the highest regard. Why would we do anything improper behind his back?
"These are feuds and entanglements between gods. How could mortals have any part in them?"
She would never accept that accusation. Who knew whether Helm, driven mad, might kill them all first? At a time like this, even if he defied his own divine duty and wiped out every Amnian noble, no one would step in to stop him!
Wasn't Cyric frightening precisely because he was mad enough to do anything?
But at least Cyric was still afraid of dying!
No one dared provoke Helm now.
As long as this woman didn't dare deny that Amn had brought in the Shadow Thieves itself, that was enough.
Heh.
What a fool. Did she really think she could reason with gods?
Being implicated was a sin in itself!
Helm simply hadn't had time