Page 70 of Her Cruel Redemption

My breath caught, and then I ran to her. My heart was in my mouth, so big and thumping so fast I could barely breathe around it. I collided with her and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tight, my eyes squeezed shut, relief pumping through my whole body.

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered. ‘I shouldn’t have left you.’

She rubbed my back. ‘It’s alright.’ And the sound of her soft, familiar voice, so full of compassion and empty of resentment, sent some of those tears spilling down my cheeks. I swiped them away as I released her, pulling back, turning her this way and that to examine her. She was bright eyed, clear skinned, well-groomed and healthy-looking enough, dressed in a thick cloak with a hood lined with soft brown fur.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked, because I needed to hear her say it.

‘I am.’ She smiled. ‘Especially now that I‘ve seen you and knowyou’realright.’

‘I’d hoped you’d made it out of Lee Helse. When I heard you were a prisoner—'

‘You did what you had to do,’ she said firmly. ‘You got Princess Gwinellyn away.’

Her ready understanding didn’t make me feel any better, but there seemed little point in lingering on yet another of my litany of wrongs. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of this rain. The mess tent will likely give us something hot to drink.’

Not long after, we were settled at a table in the mess tent, both clutching hot cups of tea. It was between meal times, so there weren’t many others around, which served me just fine. As soon as Esario and the council knew Leela had been returned, they would want to interrogate her. I wanted her to myself before they swept in to steal her away.

‘When were you caught?’ I asked her as I warmed my hands on my mug.

‘Before I even realised you’d run.’

‘Where did they keep you?’

‘In the palace. I had a suite of rooms all to myself, actually. No chores or work to do, just lots of milling around trying to occupy myself. I read a lot. It would have been lovely if it weren’t for the guards at the door keeping me from leaving.’ Her tone was so light, her smile careless, but it made me even more anxious. Was she trying to hide the horror of her imprisonment behind her levity? What was she not telling me?

Taking a deep breath, I braced myself to ask the next question. ‘Did he hurt you?’

She scanned my face, some of the levity falling away. She seemed almost reluctant to answer me. And she didn’t ask me who I meant. ‘No.’

I stared at her, as though I could see behind her unruffled façade if I stared hard enough. ‘Not at all?’

She steadily held my gaze. ‘He mostly asked me questions.’

‘Then he used magic to compel you to answer them.’

‘No. Though I think he often wanted to.’

‘What sort of questions?’

Again, she hesitated as if she didn’t want to answer. ‘Well, mostly he asked about you.’

I burned my mouth taking a gulp of too-hot tea, and it scorched all the way down my throat, hitting my stomach in a blaze of warmth. When I set the mug back on the table, I stared at its murky surface. What had he asked her? What had she said? Why hadn’t he tortured her? It would have been such an easy vengeance to wreak on me. She’d been right there, completely at his mercy, and he knew she mattered to me or he wouldn’t have offered her in exchange for my attending the negotiation.

‘So you essentially lounged around in a fancy room for a few months and the only torture he subjected you to was conversation?’ I summarised, because surely that couldn’t be it.

‘Yes. He had tea with me every day.’

I frowned. Was she joking? Was that code for something else?

‘Don’t look so puzzled, I mean exactly that.’ She blew on her drink, then sipped it. ‘But I think my days of tea drinking are perhaps less interesting than what you’ve been doing since Lee Helse. Will you tell me what led you to fighting with Oceatold’s army?’

‘That’s a long story.’

‘My drink is hot. I’ve got time.’

‘What have you heard?’

‘Some wild things. That Princess Gwinellyn is fighting to retake the throne.’ She sipped her tea again. ‘That you’ve joined her in that fight.’

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