Page 56 of Her Cruel Redemption

And most importantly, what was Oceatold’s king going to do about it?

When I went in search of the answer to that question, I found the king’s quarters buzzing with activity. He was holding court from a lounge as ministers and lords and clerks and attendants raced around him, handing papers to one another, issuing instructions, sealing letters with hot wax, having tense conversations in corners. Gwinellyn was seated near the king, looking like she didn’t know what to do with her hands.

‘Your Majesty,’ I said, inclining my head to King Esario as I approached. He was halfway through signing a sheet of paper that had been thrust at him. ‘I hear you’ve been invaded. Though I’m not sure how reliable that information is, since I had to hear it from the servants.’

His hand paused mid-signature, his eyes flicking up to meet mine with a mixture of irritation and resignation. ‘Port Howl fell to Ashreign’s forces this morning.’

‘How could they have reached a city so deep in Oceatold territory?’

‘That, we aren’t sure yet. We know there was a fleet of Morwarian ships involved, but the walls are reported to be still standing.’ He resumed signing the paper with a swift, angry flourish, handing it off to a waiting clerk. ‘So they didn’t just shoot their way in.’

‘What’s the importance of Port Howl?’

‘There’s rich farming land around it, so it’s an important food supply, the port is our largest and serves as the departure point for ships crossing the Capricious Ocean, and the Guild stronghold there is one of the best resourced in the kingdom.’

‘Are you going to reclaim it?’

The king smacked his pen down on the table. ‘We are in the middle of managing a crisis. Forgive me if I don’t have time to answer your questions right now.’

‘Fine,’ I replied, folding my arms. ‘I thought perhaps my particular knowledge of your enemy might be useful, but if you don’t want it then don’t let me offend you with my company.’

He sighed, rubbing his brow. ‘I’m sure it’ll be useful, but right now I’m trying to gather forces from several different locations and redirect them at a target no one thought would be struck.’ Then he seemed to consider me, pursing his lips, before picking up a curled roll of paper and thrusting it at me. ‘If you want to be useful, use that knowledge of the enemy and tell me what he means by this.’

I took the paper and stared at it, a shiver brushing down the ladder of my spine. That familiar, spiky script. Just a single line.How about now?

‘It arrived shortly after the news of the attack,’ Esario said, eyes already returned to his papers, pen scribbling. ‘Delivered by one of Port Howl’s civilians. There was nothing else with it. No formalities. No context. Just that single line.’

‘He’s trying to force you into the negotiation he asked for,’ I said slowly.

His pen stilled a moment, before it continued waving again. ‘All the more reason I should refuse then. Not that I’ll have much choice but to agree now.’

Gwinellyn picked this moment to rise to her feet, seeming to think it was time to intervene. ‘I was just about to send for you,’ she said, beckoning me away from the irate and overrun king. ‘What happens now?’ she asked in a quiet voice.

‘I don’t know yet,’ I replied, drawing further away. ‘It might be a good idea to start tallying exactly how many men your lords crossed the border with, and how many able-bodied are among your refugees.’ And raising funds, I mentally added. Armies couldn’t live on hope and rousing speeches.

We watched the churn of frantic officials for a few moments as my mind ticked over, considering why Draven would want Port Howl and what his next move would be. Two children seemed to have snuck into the room and were running between and around the legs of the blustering adults, sending papers flying and towing a few angry words after them. One of them, a little red-headed boy about five or six, barrelled towards Esario, skidding to a slow as he approached the king with an expression trying very hard to be sober and serious for a child. Another, younger boy with the white-blond hair quickly drew up behind him.

‘What are you doing in here, you rascals?’ Esario chuckled as he caught sight of them, beckoning the older boy over.

‘Sadie said the Blood King is going to steal us from our beds,’ the boy said solemnly.

Esario’s smile slipped slightly, his brow creasing. ‘Have you seen the size of the city walls? You’re the safest boys in all of Oceatold. Come here. You too, Logan.’ He beckoned both boys over, and that name,Logan, suddenly chimed in my memory. I drew a little closer, looking at him more carefully, at his lovely blue eyes, as he accepted Esario’s soothing, before being fondly sent away with a harried-looking nurse who had finally caught up with them.

‘Yours?’ I asked the king.

‘The elder one is,’ he said, the smile already fading, replaced with the tight-lipped frown. ‘The younger is my ward.’

‘He’s your brother’s, isn’t he?’

His eyebrows hiked up his forehead. ‘Where did you hear that?’

‘I know his mother,’ I replied, staring after the little boy with the wide blue eyes. ‘Is she in Sarmiers?’

‘I never knew the women,’ Esario replied quietly. ‘I’d appreciate it if you would keep any notions about Logan’s parentage to yourself. As far as anyone is concerned, he was left to my care when his noble parents died. That’s all there is to be said on the matter.’

Accepting the dismissal, I retreated back to Gwinellyn, my mind whirling in several different directions at once. I lingered in the chaotic activity of Esario’s chamber for a while longer, but since it was fairly clear that Oceatold’s king would far prefer it that I didn’t, I left him to his scrambling. I needed to think where it was quiet, especially since he’d called an emergency conference with his council for the afternoon and I needed to decide how I’d prepare Gwinellyn. I returned to the rooms I’d been given and sat on the sill of one of the large, sea-facing windows to stare out at the frothy, grey ocean. I wasn’t sure why so many writers and artists seemed to have love affairs with the ocean. All I’d seen of it so far had inspired more fear than love.

Perhaps that was the point.

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