Page 53 of Silver & Smoke
Poison, not dark alchemy, had been used here.
There was no trace of Silas, nor of his shadow-infused power, nothing to implicate the Kingsbane or his army of bloodthirsty soldiers.
A well had been poisoned. And poison, as the midrealms knew, was a woman’s weapon.
‘We need to send a message to Regent Liora,’ Wren was saying to Darian. ‘She may not yet be aware this has happened.’
The nobleman motioned to one of his scouts, who was already retrieving a parchment and quill from his supplies—
‘Devereux,’ Torj heard himself say, ‘perhaps it’s best this is kept quiet for now? We don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, givenwho was first on the scene... Given Lord Briar’s past experience with... poison.’
Darian glanced back towards the docks, brow furrowing before he turned to Wren. ‘What do you think?’
Wren gave a pointed glance at the scouts. ‘I think we have nothing to hide,’ she said. ‘Covering this up in any way will make us look guilty. Not to mention it’s a disrespect to the poor people who died here. We will report this to both Regent Liora and Lord Briar, then we will carry on to Thezmarr as planned.’
‘So be it,’ Darian said with a nod.
Only the presence of the messenger stopped Torj from going straight to Wren and taking her hands in his to implore her. There was no way to know which men in the Devereux employ they could trust, and so he spoke through their bond instead.
Silas knows your past – that you were the Poisoner, Embers.
I know, she replied calmly.He means for me to take the fall for this slaughter after proving I was responsible for the deaths of the nobles after the war.
Then why are you allowing Darian to place us here?Torj argued.You should be far, far away from this.
Wren didn’t so much as glance his way, but her voice filled his mind.It’s too late for that, Bear Slayer. There is no hiding from this. Lord Briar has already been asking questions. It’s clever on Silas’s part... Part of a broader scheme to sow the seeds of suspicion before revealing me to the midrealms. By targeting a poorer community like this, he immediately isolates anyone who may have sympathized with my original vendetta against the rich and corrupt.
And you’re letting him?Torj had to stop himself from charging over to her and shaking her by the shoulders. He speared his fingers through his hair, looking to the rest of their company. What would the allies they’d amassed do if they found out that the queen they followed was a killer? Any nuance would be lost as the news rippled through the midrealms, causing waves of confusion and misinformation.
With the messenger on his way to the palace, Darian took the lead back towards the docks, while Torj fell back.
His body jerked as he was tugged into an alleyway.
‘I don’t regret it,’ Wren said, holding her chin high, meeting his gaze as they hid in the shadows. ‘Not for a second.’
‘If you hadn’t—’
‘Then those vile men would still be walking the midrealms, spreading poison of their own throughout the kingdoms. I did what I could at the time to cut the rot out of this place. That’s all any of us can ever do.’
‘I was going to say,’ Torj replied gently, ‘that if you hadn’t, the world may have found itself cloaked in darkness again much sooner.’
Wren stared at him, and he understood her shock. It was the first time he hadn’t fought her on the subject. For five years after the shadow war, he’d more than objected to her self-assigned role as the Poisoner. His code as a warrior of Thezmarr hadn’t allowed him to understand why she had needed to seek retribution – but now...
Torj reached out, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw and ghosting over her bottom lip. ‘You did what you could – what you thought you had to at the time. I will not begrudge you that. Not now. Noteveragain.’
CHAPTER 28
Wren
‘We are all daughters of darkness... We were born into a world of it, a place that would dictate the way in which we defend ourselves, the way we live our lives. No more. That world is no longer. And the next one will be what we make it’
– Audra Delaney, Guild Master of Thezmarr
EVERYONE ALWAYS SAIDthat Thezmarr sat at the edge of the world – a fortress amid a wild landscape, made of cold, sharp lines. It was hemmed in by rugged black mountains and a seemingly endless sea, whose waves were so tall they seemed to collide with the clouds. In Wren’s youth, it had all seemed so imposing, larger than life... and then after the war, it had been a territory of scorched earth, a place of nightmares, leaking with shadow and darkness.
Now, Wren paused at the fortress gates. She thought she had ridden through them for the last time almost a year ago. And yet, here she was. At the end of one war and the beginning of another.
The late autumn wind carried the scent of salt from the sea, mingling with woodsmoke from the new guardhouses. New flags snapped in the breeze – not the blood-red standards she rememberedfrom the war, but deep purple pennants proudly displaying the three crossed swords of the Warsword totem.
