Page 14 of King's Warrior

What! “You’re….” Oh, dear Goddess. Here Rufe was chatting with a queen. While drugged!

Nera nodded and gulped the rest of her wine. “Yes, I am the mother of King Niam of Delletina and aunt to Yarif DiRici,though the kinship isn’t widely known. His mother and I shared a father, though another man claimed me publicly for his child. You have my thanks for my nephew’s rescue.”

Chapter Four

Niam paced outside the door as Mother and Casseign questioned one of their unexpected guests. She’d threatened Niam with torture if he woke Draylon Aravaid or Yarif, though Niam peeked in on his cousin periodically.

Maybe he should again. He nodded to the guard outside the door, then slipped inside. Yarif lay on his stomach on the bed in a drugged sleep. Niam added another log to the fire. Lowlanders weren’t used to the mountain chill; late in autumn, the nights grew savagely cold, particularly in this drafty old keep. He’d rather take his guest to Dellamar, but they wouldn’t be safe, particularly as the kidnappers had come this way. How many Delletinian nobles would demand Draylon’s head simply for being the emperor’s son?

But this could be a unique opportunity, figuring into Niam’s hopes for Delletina to one day join the empire. This might also be a chance to gain information, maybe even negotiate. Perhaps Draylon would prove more level-headed than his father.

How could he not?

Yarif’s face fell slack in sleep, but if he looked closely, Niam could almost make out the rounder features of Yarif’s younger self. He’dbeen beaten, tortured, and abused. Niam’s spies in Renvalle kept him apprised of his cousin’s well-being, even if few knew of the familial relationship. Though a skilled fighter, Yarif was a gentle soul fonder of books than of the sword.

Someone harmed him… Niam brushed back the hair from Yarif’s forehead. “It’s good to see you again, cousin, even if the circumstances could be better.” How Niam would love to bring back the bastards who’d perpetrated such evil for a chance to kill them himself—slowly.

Now, to pray his cousin recovered mentally and physically.

He left the room to find Captain Casseign waiting in the hallway, not quite at attention but close, wearing a carefully practiced neutral expression, though the creases on his brow gave away his concern.

“Did you learn anything?” Niam asked.

“Not much new information, though his story matches what we already knew. He is indeed Captain Rufe Ferund of the Cormiran forces. Your mother deems him a non-threat, at least for now.”

Niam recalled the intelligence shared by his spies over the years. Captain Rufe Ferund, who’d fought harder than most to prove himself, given his birth and the stigma of the tattoo on his hand, was a known close associate of Prince Draylon Aravaid. Although brutal in battle, both men had reputations for honor. “Then we’ll yield to her wisdom, but keep him guarded.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Are you ready to question the prisoners?”

The prisoners. Two paid mercenaries rescued from the snow. “Yes. I believe we’ve kept them waiting long enough.” Niam ledthe way to the spiral stairs, then down below the keep’s main level. Casseign’s footsteps clicked behind him.

Questioning prisoners wasn’t his favorite pastime, but neither were many other unpleasant but necessary duties.

At last, they reached the lowest level, built into what had once been a natural cave. Barbaric ancestors used the space for cells. Mother turned most of the area into storage, leaving very little room for prisoners. Two men sat chained to a bench, with two guards nearby.

“Leave us,” Niam said, not waiting to see if the guards complied.

“But…” Casseign began.

“You stay.”

Casseign relaxed somewhat, positioning himself close enough to protect Niam from attack.

Both captives had blue eyes. Their hair might’ve been blond under the blood, mud, and filth. They weren’t native Cormirans. Niam asked in Delletinian, “Where were you taking your prisoner?”

Both men glared, one through a single eye as the other appeared swollen shut. Niam tried Renvallian and Cormiran.

At last, the one-eyed man perked up when Niam switched to Glendoran. “The woman promised us gold if we delivered him to a noble,” he said. The other man glowered, but the first seemed forthcoming.

“What did this noble want with him?”

The chatty man ignored the other’s growl. “We were to make him appear like he suffered over time to make Renvallianssympathetic. Then, the noble would leave his dead body to be discovered. The woman bragged about how there’d be a war with Renvalle, and she’d become queen of Delletina.”

Fire burned through Niam’s veins. How dare she! “Who was this woman?”

“She called herself Illa. She said her family had been cheated out of the throne. Some said she was a king’s mistress.”

“He means Illa Trandores,” Casseign explained. “CommanderIlla Trandores of the Cormiran forces.”

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