Chapter 5 #2
Rhiain shrugged it off like a tall tale from childhood. “Doesn’t matter if it’s true. Doesn’t matter. None of it does, because we’ll raise an army, like Asterin did before, and it will be over before they can call a woodsmith.”
Jesstin tensed again. She wasn’t hearing him, and she probably never would. “The scaffold doesn’t need to be built. It was never taken down from the last time.”
“The last time? Who allows their loved ones to be murdered by such archaic laws?” Her mouth wrinkled. “Those who don’t love them is who. But you are loved. You’re adored. And we’ll get that upstart to recant his claims, and you’ll be home before noontide, you hear me?”
“He won’t recant,” Sesto said. “And it’s nearly dawn. Should I send for Steward Edevane or Skylark? Both?”
“I already did,” Asterin said. “My brother is still many miles away in the Northerlands, so it will take time to get a response. Mathias has... has not responded to our plea.”
“Fucking monster,” Rhiain hissed. “As, send for the men who stood for us before. They’ll come.”
“I’ve sent ravens, but the men won’t be able to assemble fast enough, Rhiain,” he said quietly. “There may be only one way out of this.”
She lifted a hand. “Say it then.”
“Every other witness present has abstained from testimony, all except Elloven Hawthorne.”
“She’s here?” Jesstin pitched forward. “Send her home. I don’t want her to see this. She’ll blame herself.”
“We can disavow her of such nonsense after she saves you,” Rhiain retorted. “Sesto, find her. Make sure she stays. Offer however much gold she wants to recant.”
“She won’t want your gold, and nothing she says will save me.
Even Taven’s accusation is toothless. The Virtue’s testimony is all they require.
” He didn’t bother explaining why, that the Virtues purportedly carried the pure blood of the Seven Sisters, making them representations of their ancestors incarnate.
They’d sworn their own vows to uphold truth and honor, and while he’d never heard of anyone executing a Virtue, it didn’t seem out of the question that using a lie to condemn a man to death would be cause.
“Then we’ll pay her more!”
“If she recants now,” Jesstin said, “they’ll excommunicate her for dishonesty, and she knows this.
That’s the best she can hope for. There’s nothing more to do, Rhiain.
Nothing except hear me.” The clogging emotion returned.
“I’ve never thanked you enough for everything you’ve done for me, and it’s too late for all the words I’d need to do it now.
I know the reason you didn’t send for Emrys is because his wife has been unwell, so please, tell him he’s always been such a good brother to me.
You have all been so good to me.” He looked past her.
“Asterin, I wish I had known you were my brother years ago, because I feel so fucking cheated. And Sesto... the friend I never knew just how badly I needed until you were there.” As he spoke, he pondered the things he could never say.
That he wasn’t actually scared at all.
That he was ready to die.
That he’d been ready since the day his world had ended almost a decade ago, after learning the truth of who he was, a truth he could never escape. Not through prayer, through kindness, through work, or through love.
He wasn’t even twenty, and he was so cursed tired already.
And though he was struggling to admit it even to himself, meeting someone like Elloven—someone who saw him, could see him, and not simply what they wished he was or some ideal of who he was supposed to be—only confirmed everything he already knew to be true about himself.
“What I need you all to hear is you all and the kids are the only family I have ever needed, and it’s been enough.
I promise you, you’re enough.” Jesstin withdrew from the bars, Rhiain’s teary eyes widening with each step.
Shock, betrayal, fear, grief, it was all there, and he couldn’t do a thing about any of it.
But years from now, she would remember his words.
“No, this is ludicrous,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “You are not just giving up. We will never give up on you, Jess.”
Asterin kissed the top of her head, nodding at Jesstin. “I’m going to sort this before it goes any further. You’ll be a free man before the day’s full light, Jesstin. Know that.”
Poor Asterin. He’d been a “fixer” his whole life, cleaning up the messes of others.
What Rhiain didn’t know, and Jesstin wasn’t supposed to know, was that Asterin was fully aware of Jesstin’s exploits in Mythgarde.
He’d probably allowed it because he understood trying to stop it would lead Jesstin down an even darker path.
Damage mitigation, he would have called it, like allowing a criminal to steal smaller bounties to prevent bigger thefts.
Asterin left.
Sesto sighed.
Rhiain’s body lifted in a shudder, followed by a sudden, shrill scream that reverberated off the cavern walls and startled all of them.
“Sorry,” she whispered and then sobbed.
Jesstin hated the way this would break her heart.
He pressed a hand to his chest, because any words would come out fragmented.
Rhiain lifted a shaky hand to her own.
Four guards appeared. “It’s time.”
“Fuck you, you beast,” Rhiain spat, wiping tears on her sleeve. “It’s time when I say it is.”
“We give no special treatment to women in this town, madam. I suggest you come with us.”
“Would you like to chance what happens when you lay hands on a Skylark woman?”
“Go,” Jesstin urged. “Please.”
“Jess—”
“Go, Rhiain. I’m telling you to please just go.”
“I’ll bring this entire realm to its knees before I allow you anywhere near a scaffold.”
Jesstin watched her walk away, knowing his pain was both just beginning and nearly at an end.
Elloven hadn’t known Rhiain well when they were girls, only by reputation.
Depending on whether one was coming from the perspective of landed gentry or a peasant, Rhiain was either the sparkling fire-haired darling of Riverchapel or the spoiled daughter of an autocrat.
Everyone in the Easterlands knew the story of her refusal to marry Castien Edevane.
Rhiain and Asterin’s rebellion had dethroned Sestinn Edevane from his position as steward of Oldcastle and sent he and Castien into shameful exile.
She wished Rhiain or Asterin had just killed Castien and rid the world of his filth.
There were many nights Elloven had awakened drenched in the sweat of her terrible memories of him, of his ripe stench, his cold touch, berating herself for being too weak to send him a nightmare when she had still been his plaything.
Once she knew how to harness her magic, she’d send him something far worse.
The rebel who had taken down the Edevanes was who Elloven saw standing at the edge of the scaffold. Rhiain’s cheeks bloomed against the harsh iciness of the too-calm morning. Her eyes were just as cool, the killer in her rising to her irises in a hint of what might come.
Word had traveled fast, almost too fast. After Mathias Skylark learned of what had happened, he’d quietly retired to his chambers and was found an hour later hanging from a rafter, his lifeless body still warm to the touch.
When Rhiain had received word, she’d paused long enough to take a deep breath and make the others promise to say nothing to Jesstin.
Elloven had been trying to get into the jail for hours, but she wasn’t family, and she hadn’t known it was a rule before answering honestly that she was not his wife.
Steward Theocratin Edevane, Jesstin’s half brother, had sent a raven back from the Northerlands ordering the Mythgarde authorities to wait for his return, indicating he was on his way that very morning, but they’d laughed and tossed the letter onto the frozen stones, where it quickly shredded under the wet boots of enthusiastic onlookers gathering to watch a man be hanged for a crime he didn’t commit.
“You should go, Elloven,” Rhiain said. She sounded composed, but Elloven was familiar with that deception herself. “There’s nothing more you can do here.”
“I was a witness, Rhiain. Your brother—”
“Did nothing wrong, I already know. He would never touch a woman without her consent, no matter what else he’s done,” Rhiain snapped, followed by a sharp breath.
“Forgive me. You’ve done us a great kindness.
If not for you, we wouldn’t have...” She hesitated, to glare at a passing guard.
“What passes for lawmen here have assured us that your word means nothing against the word of their precious Virtue, who has clearly been bribed to commit a man to death. The only thing we can do now is fight back, and Asterin has gone to see to that. We’ll handle it.
You needn’t worry. Go on home and rest now. ”
“I’m not leaving. Taven is retaliating because of me.” Elloven stepped around her. “The least I can do is stay and show both Taven and your brother whose side I’m on.”
Rhiain squeezed her arm with a tight, weary smile.
“I’m sure Jesstin will appreciate that.” She squinted into the foggy distance, likely searching for signs of Asterin’s return.
“I know coming home must be bittersweet for you. But no matter what cruelty people sling at you, there are some of us who know it doesn’t matter how your husband and his friends died, only that it’s a blessing they did.
You and I are too aware of the way terrible men rarely suffer.
You’re welcome at the Hermitage any time, day or night.
” She bent a polite nod and excused herself.
“Thank you.” Elloven’s words faded before they could form as she watched Rhiain walk away. It wasn’t surprising a man as honorable as Asterin had chosen a wife who was both fierce and kind.