Page 119 of The Turncoat King

The fact that Kassia remained without allies and with so many nations ranged against them, told the story of their missteps, greed and cruelty.

No one wanted to help them, unless, like the Speaker of Grimwalt, there was a personal benefit.

And her aunt, the queen, was behind each badly-made decision. Along with her cousin.

It pained Ava that she was related to them, although she wouldn’t have endured what she had if there’d been no relationship between them.

She wanted revenge against them specifically, especially after what they’d done to her mother, but they were shielded behind the walls of Fernwell, and there would be a lot of blood that wasn’t theirs on her hands before this was finished.

Luc stepped in front of her, searching for her in the darkness, and she pulled the scarf away.

“Site’s cleared,” he said and held out a hand to her.

There was a thin line of blood spray across his cheek.

She realized she hadn’t even heard the fighting. She’d gone into a doze while she waited.

She closed her fingers around his and rose up, hooked a hand around his arm, and glanced at what they were calling a cannon nest.

Everyone was dead.

Oscar crouched beside the cannon, opening the wooden box beside it.

She walked over to Maynard’s body and pulled the handkerchief from his pocket. No sense leaving any evidence behind.

“They all there?” Luc asked.

Oscar turned and nodded. “All three accounted for.”

This was the ninth nest they’d cleared. They had one more to go.

The sound of footsteps had them all turning, but it was Deni.

“There is a base camp,” he said. “I’m amazed we didn’t stumble across it by accident before now.”

“How many in it?” Luc moved toward the cannon.

“Just four that I could see. Probably off-duty scouts. This one,” he toed Vaten, who they’d dragged back up the hill after killing, “said he’d get a scout to stand in for his deserting friend, so it’s possible there are others patrolling the valley.”

“That makes sense. They wouldn’t want anyone to stumble across this by accident. They aren’t expecting us but anyone could be wandering around.” Oscar took out the hammer they’d brought with them, and Luc carefully tipped the small cannon over.

They systematically smashed the levers and then pulled it apart.

A shout went up, coming from a hill they had cleared earlier, and they all rose to their feet.

“Looks like one of the scouts stopped in to say hello and got a surprise,” Deni said.

“We need to get to the last hill. Now.”

Luc ran and they fell in line behind him. The others were faster than she was and Ava had just lost sight of them when she remembered the flares.

She stopped. Damn! There was no good choice here.

She needed to help the others, but hiding the flares was her job, and it was vital no one could find them.

She turned and ran back.

Oscar had already moved the wooden crate to the side, but not under bushes as they had done at the other sites.

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