Page 8 of Her Cruel Redemption

The silence stretched. She would wait until I broke it, would weather my scrutiny with that same serenity that she carried through all our interactions, like she was made of something not quite flesh. If I touched her with magic and read her emotions, I'd find wisps of the anxiety I couldn't see on her face. As always, I wondered what I might find if I broke into her mind, wondered what answers I could glean. Toyed with finally giving in and trying. But I was nothing if not unyielding when I'd set my mind to something, and in this matter, I had long since made a decision. I wasn't going to break my own rules out of simple frustration.

Finally, I couldn’t withstand the itch to ask any longer. ‘Have you heard from your mistress?’

A small frown appeared between her brows, though she would have been expecting the question. I asked it every day. It was the main reason I was here.

‘No,’ was her reply.

I nodded, as though the answer didn’t make me clench my jaw.

‘Why do you visit me?’ she asked suddenly. A variation in the script. ‘You’re checking everything that comes in and out of this room. You’d know if she’d contacted me.’

‘Do my visits make you uncomfortable?’

She didn’t answer the question. ‘She’s too clever to be caught out sending messages to me,’ she said instead. ‘I’m of no use to you.’

‘That’s not true, Leela. When she knows I’ve got you, she’s going to want you back. You’re a fine piece of leverage.’

‘Perhaps. Or perhaps it’ll just make her angry.’

‘I hope it does.’ I picked up my tea and sipped it. She blinked in surprise. When I placed it back on the saucer, I studied her, reading her pinched expression, trying to measure something there. The answers to questions I wouldn’t ask. ‘I hope she’s so angry that she makes a mistake. I hope she’s so angry that she makes contact. I hope she swoops in and tries to rescue you.’

There was another long silence.

'I knew she'd made a dangerous choice in marrying you when I saw you in that sanctum, you know,' she said finally. Her tone remained mild, and she was studying me with her head tilted slightly to the side. ‘There was something in the way you looked at her that was…’ She shook her head, seeming unable to find the words. ‘I warned her, but I never would have predicted everything that has followed from that day. I’m glad she’s away from you.’

‘I never hurt her.’ The words were icy, sharp, and out before I could think better of them. Leela shrank away a little, fear suddenly flashing in her eyes. I took a slow breath, my fingers twitching into a light, tapping rhythm against the tabletop. ‘Though, she stabbed me, so maybe I’m the one you should have warned.’

That frown coiled. Her hands were clenched in her lap, hidden below the table, but I could tell she was twisting them. ‘What are you going to do with her if you catch her?’

I finished the rest of my tea and stood. ‘Not your concern. Just know that I will.’

‘You realise she isn’t going to forgive you for all you've done just because you've so civilly sat at tea with me every day while you've held me captive, don’t you?’

I stiffened, felt my jaw lock, my eyes narrowing in on her mild face. But I only nodded in goodbye. ‘Until tomorrow.’

Lester was waiting form me just outside the door. Even swathed in palace luxury, he looked dishevelled, his chin lined with patchy stubble and blond hair flopping into his eyes.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘You know, I’d never taken you for a tea enthusiast, but here I find you every single day. If you were even half as committed to anything on that big old list of responsibilities I keep hounding you about, we might have won the war by now.’

‘If I wanted a nurse maid, I wouldn’t pick you, Lez.’

‘I bet you’d pay more attention to me if I had big milkers, though, ey?’

I ignored him, making to stalk past him and down the passageway, but he only fell into step behind me.

‘I would have thought all the executions would have been a proper vent for whatever cloud of thwarted plans you’ve got following you around, but obviously not,’ he continued. ‘Though if you want to give it another crack, one of the raider crews caught another handful of druthi trying to stow away on a ship to Oceatold. They’ll be here tomorrow for sentencing.’

‘Did they have anything on them?’

‘Nothing exciting. A few books, blood powder, weaving kits. One of them was a master in the keep, though.’

‘Preserve the master for questioning. The others can burn.’

‘Done. We just got the final estimation on the numbers that have passed through that dungeon from the records we found, so a few executions might be a good avenue for expelling some rage. And speaking of rage, Vidricto’s flouncy ambassador is still waiting for a reply to take back to Yaakandale. It would be nice if you’d give him one so he can get out of my hair, because for some reason when people can’t get you to do what they want they come and harp on about it to me.’

We passed through a set of open doors into an inner courtyard that admitted little of the afternoon sun. Walls were too high, the thick golden hour barely touched the peaks of the roof, and the cold hand of evening already had its grip on the air. ‘What about Creatia?’

‘What about them?’ Lester kept pace, moving to walk beside me now that the space allowed, his footsteps barely audible. He’d always moved quietly for someone who seemed like he shouldn’t. When we were halfway across the courtyard and I still hadn’t taken the bait, he rolled his head in my direction, mouth popping open in exaggerated shock, deciding to proceed without my participation. ‘Oh, you meanthatCreatia? The ones who’ve been locked in a meeting room with the Morwarians and the Yaakandale delegation and representatives of the whole bloody alliance while you’ve been fuck knows where? I’d assumed you didn’t evenknowabout them. Because if you did, then you would bethereinstead of sipping tea and playing nice with a lady’s maid.’

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