Chapter 45
45
Roark
Moonlight split the black sky in silver, but never reached the corners of the old woodsheds in the far edges of the garden.
I waited, never moving, my head shrouded in a thick, woolen cowl. Stav patrols took their routes on the narrow garden paths, this way and that, muttering to their patrol partners about nothing of significance—trysts from the feasts, reprimands from their superiors, one found an odd boil on his cock that had him worried.
All the while, none knew I was crouched in the shadows by the shed.
Unseen until I wanted to be seen.
Footsteps came from one of the bowers at my back. I didn’t turn around, not even when she crouched beside me. “Going to tell me what was so damn important you tore me from Yrsa on the last night before I am made a mistress?”
Thane would never mistreat Emi, but no matter the prince’s thoughts on the arrangement, it was true—Emi would always be a royal mistress.
We have a meet beyond the gates . I’ll need your words . I paused at the door to the shed. The night was silent enough, misplaced sounds would be simple to hear, and the old door was the sort to screech on the hinges.
I managed to pry open a gap wide enough for us to slip through and close the door without more than a small groan. Emi didn’t wait for my word and walked sideways through the maze of old root crates and stale casks until she reached the far corner.
Together we peeled back the thick woven mat and lifted the narrow hatch built into the floor.
The tunnel was simpler to take when we were lanky youth, but we managed to creep through on our bellies well enough. Dug when Emi sent her plea to me for rescue after my uncle nearly snapped her neck, we’d kept the tunnel open and hidden if ever there were a threat.
I never anticipated slinking about in secret, forbidden tunnels to protect a melder.
Then again, I never anticipated a melder to rob me of my heart.
I pulled myself free first, then clasped Emi’s hand and tugged her out. The mouth opened beneath black willows. Silvery buds adorned the drooping limbs and leaves, causing the trees to keep the appearance of frosts throughout the seasons.
I ducked behind a rocky mound with a direct vantage to the path leading away from the fortress, toward the sea road.
“Roark.” Emi pulled her crimson hood up. “What are we doing? Aren’t you supposed to be protecting Lyra?”
I am .
No mistake, I was keen to get this part of the night finished. Whatever I learned in these moments would help us plot our steps for how I’d get Lyra away from those damn soul bones.
No bells rang in warning. Drums and plucking strings were the only sounds from the palace. More revelry, more feasts. The celebrations leading to Thane’s approaching vows had not ceased despite the attack. Damir would not want to allow anything to bring into question his abilities to protect his kingdom. In turn, the king behaved like nothing was ever amiss.
With Damir’s new command for me to protect Lyra, no one would wonder where I’d gone. Thane would be unsettled, but hiding it behind a grin at his father’s side. Through our fealty bond, he might sense my unease if he took the time to draw upon the bone shard.
Soon, I would need to admit hard truths to a man I considered my brother.
I hoped, someday, he might forgive me for what I needed to do.
“Who’s coming, Roark?” Emi peered around the thick trunk, scanning the night road.
If we’re right, Yrsa already sent a summons to the one who opened the gates .
Emi blew out a breath. “Under your name?”
Do you take your lover for a fool, cousin? She suspected a traitor and merely followed her instinct by sending an unsigned meeting place summons. If we’re clever enough, we may find all our answers by asking the right questions.
I handed over Yrsa’s note with the explanation and name she suspected. Emi scanned it in the dim light and murmured a quick “Bastard,” but said nothing more until the crunch and click of hooves over stone came from the road.
I pulled the cowl farther over my brow and stepped out onto the forest path, Emi at my back.
Tomas Grisen reared back on the harness on one of the palace horses. My cousin hissed a curse under her breath.
“Come to deliver on your promise at long last.” Tomas spoke with effort now that his jaw was still fused in some areas. His voice was strained and slurred.
Soon enough, it wouldn’t matter.
I nudged Emi. Speak for me, but do not let on the words come from me.
She stepped forward, standing in a way that allowed her to watch my gestures in the dark and still speak to Tomas.
Emi chuckled. “What is it you think you deserve from us? And, truly, why would we do anything for you?”
Tomas’s misshapen mouth worked side to side, grinding his jagged teeth. “You swore if I caused the distraction, you would fix what that whore did to me.”
There it was—his motivation. Yrsa’s note gave up her suspicion Tomas had something to do with the attack, but not why.
Emi grinned, shadows from her hood adding a formidable darkness to her features. “And you call what you did a distraction?”
Tomas kicked one leg over the horse, fists clenched in fury. “I risked my life summoning the Dark Watch.”
Emi played the part as indifferent, giving her time to follow my questioning. “And yet I did not get what I wanted.”
“It is no fault of mine if you didn’t kill the woman.”
“The melder?”
“Who else?” Tomas took a step back. Fear edged his voice.
I reached behind me and took hold of the ax handle, ready to pull it free of the sheath. Heat prickled along the scar on my neck.
With my other hand, I directed Emi. Find out how long he’s been aligned with Queen Elisabet .
“You played your role. But I must ask. Ser Grisen, have you always been a traitor to your king?” Emi tossed back her hood, revealing her features. “Aligning with Dravenmoor—”
“You?” Tomas stiffened. He looked into the trees, his face losing color. “You wrote the missive about the gates? But…you’re Draven?”
He summoned the Dark Watch but…was he not working under the demands of the Draven queen? His unease at Emi’s heritage was discomfiting and I didn’t understand it. Who else would want to involve Dravenmoor in Lyra’s slaughter save their queen?
Tomas swallowed thickly. “But you wanted her dead to take her bones and make room for your melder. Why would Draven folk keep a melder?”
I tapped the ground. Emi looked down with the slightest tilt of her head to read my hands. It wasn’t Dravens who wanted Lyra this time .
My stomach cinched. Another melder?
Tomas’s stun was sincere. He believed whoever conspired with him to open the gates had the craft of melding at their disposal to heal his jagged jaw. But his befuddlement hinted to us the missive came from a traitor within the fortress. Not from across the ravines.
The bastard was so desperate to be healed, he allowed the slaughter of innocents and he nearly caused Lyra’s death.
I’d see to it he endured the same.
A slow rumble of a laugh built in my chest until the sound shifted in my throat.
I took hold of the ax and spun the head once, twice. My skin overheated, and rage and violence blurred out conscious thought. Before he had a moment to take note of my movements, the sharp beard of the ax rammed into the back of his shoulder.
He cried out and stumbled forward. The horse nickered and ran off down the road, back to its stables.
Stav would see the beast soon enough and alarms would be sounded. I had plans to be curled against Lyra’s body before the first signal.
Tomas whimpered in the dirt. Fool tried to scramble away on his stomach, blood fountaining from his back. I took slow steps, deliberate, and intended for him to hear each stride. He cried out to the gods when I stepped between his shoulder blades, pinning him to the dirt, and wiggled the ax head free of his bones.
I lowered to one knee, gripped his hair, and wrenched his head back. The night darkened around us the more my disdain for the man boiled in my blood.
One hand gripped his manipulated chin. I tossed back my hood, taking a great deal of pleasure in his wide eyes, wet with fearful stun.
Gods, I’d waited for this from the moment he put his damn hands on Lyra Bien.
Another soft, muffled sound rolled from my chest. The sound shifted into something deeper, something heavier. Until it scrambled with Tomas’s screams of terror and I lunged.
“Finish your meet?” Kael’s chin was propped on the claw of his hand where he sat in front of the inglenook.
I locked Lyra’s chamber door at my back and lowered my chin in a nod, not giving up anything else before striding into the washroom. I placed my bloody ax in the basin, hair lifting on my neck, the burn of eyes on the back of my head.
“Do I get to ask?” Kael filled the doorway.
I shook my head and tore off my tunic.
Darkwin seemed as though he might like to argue, but thought better of it. “She’s been asleep for the better part of a bell toll.”
I clapped him on the shoulder, gestured that I would be keeping watch inside her room, ignored the roll of his eyes, and slipped into the bedchamber.
Lyra hugged one side of the bed. Sleep had taken her with a worried brow. I kicked off my boots and slipped beneath the furs from the other side, careful not to wake her. She let out a sigh when I draped my arm over her waist and curled my body around hers.
I breathed in the sugared scent of her hair until her body sank against mine and her breaths were deep and steady, at peace.
For now.