Page 53 of Unrivaled
Thomas and I stood, listening to her screams of rage muffled by whatever bedclothes she’d buried her face in.I couldn’t breathe.
The pain.
I’d known she’d loved me.How couldn’t I have felt the seeds of it from that very first night, when she’d turned so fearlessly to me?When she’d looked at me with all that hope and warmth?
“Pack,” Thomas said, not unkindly.“Give her time, lad.After everything you’ve done, it isn’t too much for her to ask, is it?”
It wasn’t.
I scrubbed the tears that burned my cheeks.“Can you tell Isolde?”I asked him, shakily.
“I can,” he said, holding out a hand, letting it rest on my shoulder as I passed him by.“How about you go ready our horses?I’ll get it all sorted.”
I tried to breathe, but the tears were there, choking me.Above us, she kept wailing.Filling the tower with her fury.It was morphing, though.It was becoming grief.
“Come on, lad,” he said, gently, squeezing my shoulder.“A couple of horses will get us there fast.We’ll be home in no time.”
I nodded, swallowing away the tears best I could, and turned to follow her very sensible orders.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
ISOLDE
Unfortunately, even your Black Borough Trackers weren’t impervious to the Cursed attacks.Current death count is twelve.It appears the enemy knew the goal of your men.Since, I’ve identified a woman I suspected was one of the Cursed and put her to death.She was posing as a camp follower for the junior men, so she hadn’t been thoroughly looked at.She’d got close enough to hear, though.I know you’ll understand these things happen in war, and I know you appreciate repayment as much as I.How many heads would you like, or would you settle for their silver?—in a letter from General Victor, Duke of La'Angi to General Dieudonné, Count of Black Borough
28thDay of Winter’s Son Moon,
Age of the Locways, Year 271
La’Angi Keep
The glint of light off Brian’s glass hit me right in the eye.“Healthy, happy equinox, Audrey!If you’ll permit me for being so bold, my lady,” he said, pouring cordial into Audrey’s cup, “Not even your father could be dissatisfied with the plans you’ve set in motion for this coming year.I know there’s much water yet to go under the bridge, but you’ve taken a sow’s ear and turned it into a silk purse.”
“Mayhap I’m a mage,” she said, with an awkward wink.She was pale, and the smile sat woodenly on her face.
Brian laughed all the same but did her the service of putting the latest part of whatever scheme they were refining to the side while they ate.“I’d almost believe it,” he told her.
There was no magic to it.He knew she’d been focused on restarting La’Angi’s economy.That was no secret.But he didn’t know that she’d been pacing her room, working on her grip strength and twisting her hair between her fingers while double-checking ledgers.He didn’t know she slept with a quill beside her bed for low-candle thoughts.He didn’t know she bathed with a scroll in one hand.He didn’t know she dreamt about faire layouts and contracts.
When Thomas had told me she was sending him and Chay away, I’d been grateful she’d given herself that reprieve, though the new guardsmen posted at her door were unfamiliar and their presence awkward when we left the tower.
Then she’d devolved into a living, breathing economy-igniting spell.
I watched as she picked up a slab of bread without making the roast meat spill over the side, her eyes sliding to the plans Brian had put aside.
“There will be things to do as we go,” he said, smiling still, “But I think for now, it’s all under control.We should revisit this draft of the faire’s layout once we know at least a few of the larger vendors.For now, it’s as good as it can be.”
Under the table, her legs bounced.She nodded and bit into the food.
So, he was trying to slow her down.Interesting.I licked a crumb off my lip and spotted a runner slip through a small staff door, clockwork sleeve in his hand.It wasn’t an unfamiliar sight now.
The plague had hit hard from La’Angi to the Brannough, carried no doubt along the major roads.The big cities had gone one of two ways: either they were in the shocked chaos of their own grief like La’Angi, or utterly untouched—sometimes because they’d quickly embraced the ruthless measures required to stop anyone from contracting the illness within their walls.La’Rea and Triple Peak had both taken serious losses.Only Raa’shi had sufferedsomecasualties, but nothorrificones.
And wasn’t it interesting thatnownews was arriving?
Audrey and I had already had that conversation.Luca was one man.There was no way he could’ve stopped all those birds, nor would he have had a reason to.But who?
Who benefited from Audrey’s isolation?
