Page 9 of Her Cruel Redemption

‘I’ll join them when they figure out what they want.’ I wasn’t going to waste time being trapped in a negotiating room when there were other things more deserving of my attention.

Without warning, Lester stopped dead. It took me a few paces to realise it, and when I did I considered for a moment if I should just keep walking. But I didn’t. I turned to find him standing with arms folded, looking for all the world like he reallywasmy nursemaid about to scold me. ‘Draven, you’ve always been a pain in the ass,’ he began, which seemed an auspicious beginning, ‘but I’ve followed you without question.’

I arched a brow. ‘Without question?’

‘Well, with some questions,’ he amended. ‘You do make some bloody stupid decisions sometimes, but you’ve always had your priorities right side up. There was reason to the way you did things. Lately I’m not feeling that’s the case.’

‘Are we going to have this same conversation every day?’ Every time he raised the topic he acted like it was the first time he’d mentioned it. It was wearing thin.

‘Maybe we wouldn’t have to if it started sinking in. The others are getting nervous. You know how they like to talk. Khatar’s the worst of them all. For a weather-beaten old fish, he gossips like a milk maid, and I know he’s getting in people’s ears about how this war has lost its focus becauseyou’velost yours. I just want to know you’ve still got your finger on the pulse. You’re supposed to be the bloody king and you’re traipsing about the countryside chasing ghosts.’

I took a few steps towards him. ‘I’m not chasing ghosts.’

He held my eye. ‘It’s been three months. Wherever she’s hiding, it’s a nice and tight spot and she’s not gonna be sticking her head up anytime soon. Maybe you should leave off looking for her so you don’t lose your grip on an entire revolution. Your revenge will keep a few more months.’

Anger was scratching at me for the casual way he spoke ofher, like it was all as simple as putting down something I’d unknowingly picked up. And he didn’t even know that thefindingof her was not the crux of the problem.

Because I already knew where she was.

‘Your concern is misplaced,’ was what I eventually decided on, leaving aside a dressing down for another day. ‘I’ll pull Khatar and the rest of the Morwarians back into line before we strike Port Howl. We need their ships, but after that I don’t care what they do.’

‘So long as what they do isn’t cutting our necks while we sleep,’ he muttered, frowning. ‘Khatar thinks this is his operation.’

‘Then I’ll remind him that it’s not. Anything else?’

His frown deepened. ‘Yeah, actually. Get more sleep. Your eyes are bloodshot to buggery.’

‘Thanks.’ Seemed as good a time as any to leave the conversation. When I walked away this time, he didn’t follow me. I rubbed a hand over my face, as though his words had reminded me of the gritty sting to my eyes, but that didn’t mean anything else he’d said had landed. I still had no intention of joining the negotiations with Creatia. King Theron had come crawling with his tail between his legs, sending a delegation overflowing with gifts and praise in an attempt to keep us from turning our attention to him. He knew he was in trouble; we had the support of the Republic of Yaakandale on one side of his borders, the Morwar Toth patrolling his coast line, and with Oceatold already fighting us he had little hope of help from that quarter if we invaded. He could decide to strike us first, while we were engaged on another front, but he’d grown up in a world of peace. He knew nothing of war, and he wanted to keep it that way.

So my mind wasn’t turned to worrying about the stability of my empire, whatever Lester’s intention had been. I was thinking about my conversation with Leela. My feet took a path I didn’t need to consciously choose as I ran the wordforgivenessthrough my mind. I’d never repented for the wrongs I’d done. I wondered ifshewould when I caught her. Almost on cue, the so recently healed puncture in my stomach twinged, a reminder of the feeling of steel slicing through my flesh, the burn and then growing cold as my veins emptied. Lester liked to remind me that she’d run me through cleanly from stomach to back. That she’d almost killed me. I’d like to see her beg for mercy for that. On her knees, eyes glistening as she whimpered.

And then, what mercy would she offer me for what I'd done to her?

There was no longer a guard stationed at this particular door. I didn’t need anyone tracking how often I was here. When I opened it, the chamber beyond warm, curtains open to the evening light. A fire smouldering in a fireplace in the sitting room. The furniture was clean, polished, and the air smelt fresh, even though the only people who ever came in here were the maids.

And me, though I never stayed for long.

I passed through the still rooms, rolling a key between my fingers, not indulging the desire to linger by a window in the dining room and run my hand down the glass today. The final door was always locked, and I kept the key on me at all times. When I stuck the key in, I paused a moment with my hand on the handle before finally pushing it open.

The room beyond was dark and still. The bed a cold reminder. I crossed the room, approached the dressing table. Picked up a hairbrush, remembered drawing it through her hair as she glared at me in the mirror and pretended it didn’t make her toes curl. Started opening drawers, examining pieces of jewelry, pairs of gloves, a fan, replacing them carefully. I moved to the bedside table and opened it to find the letter written to Leela, begging her to leave the city. I already knew every word, knew the dips and curves of the letters, the way she shaped them. There were no surprises here. It was a little crumpled—I’d found it on the floor of the room, drawer still hanging half open from when she’d grabbed the dagger she’d later plunged into my stomach.

Everything was exactly as she’d left it. Except for the shattered glass. I’d cleaned that up myself. No one else was allowed in here.

I picked up a white stocking, rubbed the silk between my fingers. Endured the flash of memory, of a game board and a chase through the cold night, before I put it back. Closed the drawer. Mulled over my growing impatience with biding my time.

Because it hadn’t taken much to figure out where she’d gone.

She'd taken Princess Gwinellyn and fled the palace on the back of a wyvern. Wyverns weren't exactly prolific in these lands, especially not ones who would take a rider. That, and Orym's initial report on seeing a human girl in the Living Valley that had led me to realise Rhiandra had betrayed me in the first place, suggested the princess had already found refuge in the Yawn once. It was likely that was where they were hiding now. Going after Rhiandra there would draw complications that I wasn’t willing to entertain. Not yet.

But she would grow tired of hiding. So, I was going to wait. I was going to watch and listen for signs that she was on the move. I was going to prepare.

And then I was going to hunt her down.

What was I going to do when I caught her, Leela had asked me. I was looking forward to finding out.

Chapter Five

My vision was unsteady, my stomach churning, my hands trembling as I raised them before me yet again. Valoric had perched himself far from the bank of the lake this time and he was only visible as a glint of yellow eyes and the occasional flicker of a forked tongue beyond the tree line. Which, if I was honest, was a relief, because I seemed to be actually getting worse. I let out a shuddering breath, struggling to keep my hands steady as the heat of the magic built, crackling along my arms and peaking in the centers of my palms. I was trying bigger bolts today. I’d had the bright idea that those little sparks I’d been trying to direct might be more difficult to control somehow because I found myself too easily frustrated with them. But, as I already knew, the amount of magic discharged didn’t seem to make a difference to my level of control. Even knowing that, I couldn’t let it go today. With a scream of frustration, I hurled the magic towards the eye of the tree I was aiming for. Light split the clearing, forking off in every direction except that which I wanted it to go, slamming into the sand in several different places at once with aboom!and forming little molten craters all around the lake.

---