Page 113 of Enchanted Heir
I spun toward him immediately. “Who told you?”
Krew sighed on my neck. “I did. He found me unable to stop grinning.”
I glared at him first, then Owen. “I’m going to kill you all.”
Owen laughed. “Towels and death threats. The mark of a truly remarkable day.”
* * *
Rallis had moredisloyal unrest than Nerede did, though Nerede’s numbers were increasing daily. I listened to the meeting, sitting next to Krew for almost an hour. I’d noticed since our trip to Nerede and Gwen, Nara, and Keir’s trip to Rallis, The Six were meeting more frequently.
They apparently had lists of names of disloyal and then some radical disloyal that they needed to keep an eye on so they didn’t get themselves killed.
I had such respect for the group before me. They were running an underground rebel group to better Wylan, but also wanting all the members of said group to make smart and wise decisions so that no more people had to die unnecessarily for the cause. They wanted the king riled up with disloyal action, but also not too riled up. I was tired just thinking of everything The Six had to balance and consider.
“And Nerede?” Hatcher asked.
Krew reached for my hand under the table and gave it a quick squeeze before returning it to his whiskey glass. “Is fine for now. Jorah’s little display of power has them thinking.” He paused. “But it also infuriated my father. I think he wanted her Iron Will to be his little secret.”
My eyes went to Krew’s. I hadn’t known that. How mad had the king been?
“Now. Another item in Nerede,” Krew began, “but somewhat unrelated. Owen knows this but I want the rest of your help. I’ve been looking into who murdered Jorah’s father.”
“Why?” Keir asked while sending me a worried look.
“Because,” Krew snapped, “I want to.”
“Because,” I said turning to Keir and adding nicely, “it’s been five years and I still have nightmares. Krew experienced one and now he thinks figuring it out will help me have some closure. He’s decided to add it to his ever-growing and massive to-do list.”
Keir opened his mouth to say something, but Krew never let the words form. “Don’t ask a question you know you’ll not like the answer to.”
Apollo gave a little cough, trying to snap the brothers out of it. “It’d probably help you if we could figure it out, but five years is a long time, Jorah. I’m sorry to say I’m not sure we will be able to find much at this point.”
I noted his long hair was up in a bun today, and I wasn’t sure I had ever seen this much of Apollo’s face before. He was a man of few words, but kind.
Krew gave him a nod. “Owen did some digging and didn’t find much, yes. I’m only asking for all the rest of you to use your resources and do your own digging. I want to know what happened that night and why Griffith Demir was killed. Any details at all we can figure out may help. Not just to find whomever it was that did it, but also just to help Jorah.” He paused. “The disloyal were barely functioning back then, so it shouldn’t be related, but we all know tensions between Kavan Keep and Nerede are not new.”
Owen rattled off everything he knew. “It was late summer, and Griffith normally worked wall duty, night shifts. That’s really all I’ve been able to learn. Some of the men who worked with him said he had been becoming more and more restless with his job. That’s all we know.”
Krew added, “I want to know anything and everything. Dig. Dig all you want. I don’t care who finds out about it, my father included. If Nerede gets word I’m digging, they’ll assume it’s just for her. And it is. No ulterior motives here. I don’t care how long it takes, either. I will figure this out. There had to have been at least ten guards on duty the night her father was killed. Someone somewhere has to know something. Offer some coin in exchange for information and let’s see what we can find.”
Easton took a drink. “If memory serves, that summer the Nerede wall kept having problems with people trying to sneak into Rallis.”
Emric gave him a nod. “He’s not wrong. I worked the Rallis wall the same year and we were trained how to handle things if the Rallis people got any similar ideas.”
Easton swallowed. “Her father died in one such case. A Nerede family was trying to go over the wall.”
So my father had died for helping them? Or not apprehending them?
“Likely someone he knew, he wouldn’t shoot them down with his bow,” Easton continued.
That sounded exactly like my father. Funny how even that little bit of information helped. He’d died helping others. I was looking at Easton, wondering what other information he and Emric might have since they worked the walls, when I noticed Krew’s magic slithering and growing hotter by the second. And that Easton was gripping the arm of his chair for dear life.
Krew slammed his drink down to the table. “How do you know?”
Easton went silent, but his face paled while his magic started crawling along his skin, a red hue of sorts.
Krew stood up and placed both hands on the table. “Dammit,how do you know this?”
