“Their scout just kept laughing,
” said Ren, shaking his head. His shoulder-length black
hair moved with him. “What are we missing
here? What aren’t we seeing?” In the firelight,
the slashing scar down his face was starker. A
reminder of the horrors Ren had endured, and
the ones his family hadn’t survived.
“It could be to keep us guessing. To make
us reposition our forces.” Aedion braced a
hand on the mantel, the warm stone seeping
into his still-chilled skin.
Ren had indeed readied the Bane the
months Aedion had been away, working
closely with Kyllian to position them as far
south from Orynth as Darrow’s leash would
allow. Which, it turned out, was barely
beyond the foothills lining the southernmost
edge of the Plain of Theralis.
Ren had since yielded control to Aedion,
though the Lord of Allsbrook’s reunion with
Aelin had been frosty. As cold as the snow whipping outside this keep, to be exact.
Lysandra had played the role well,
mastering Aelin’s guilt and impatience. And
since then, wisely avoiding any situation
where they might talk about the past. Not that
Ren had demonstrated a desire to reminisce
about the years before Terrasen’s fall. Or the
events of last winter.
Aedion could only hope that Erawan also
remained unaware that they no longer had the
Fire-Bringer in their midst. What Terrasen’s
own troops would say or do when they
realized Aelin’s flame would not shield them
in battle, he didn’t want to consider.
“It could also be a true maneuver that we
were lucky enough to discover,
” Ren mused.
“So do we risk moving troops to the passes?
There are some already in the Staghorns
behind Orynth, and on the northern plains
beyond it.”A clever move on Ren’s part—to convince
Darrow to let him station part of the Bane
behind Orynth, should Erawan sail north and
attack from there. He’d put nothing past the
bastard.
“I don’t want the Bane spread too thin,
”
said Aedion, studying the fire. So different,
this flame—so different from Aelin’s fire. As
if the one before him were a ghost compared
to the living thing that was his queen’s magic.
“And we still don’t have enough troops to
spare.”
Even with Aelin’s desperate, bold
maneuvering, the allies she’d won didn’t
come close to the full might of Morath. And
all that gold she’d amassed did little to buy
them more—not when there were few left to
even entice to join their cause.
“Aelin didn’t seem too concerned when she
flitted off to Eldrys,
” Ren murmured.
For a moment, Aedion was on a spit of
blood-soaked sand.
An iron box. Maeve had whipped her and
put her in a veritable coffin. And sailed off to
Mala-knew-where, an immortal sadist with
them.
“Aelin,
” said Aedion, dredging up a drawl
as best he could, even as the lie choked him,
“has her own plans that she’ll only tell us
about when the time is right.”
Ren said nothing. And though the queen
Ren believed had returned was an illusion,
Aedion added,
“Everything she does is for
Terrasen.”
He’d said such horrible things to her that
day she’d taken down the ilken. Where are
our allies? he’d demanded. He was still trying
to forgive himself for it. For any of it. All that
he had was this one chance to make it right, to
do as she’d asked and save their kingdom.Ren glanced to the twin swords he’d
discarded on the ancient table behind them.
“She still left.” Not for Eldrys, but ten years
ago.
“We’ve all made mistakes this past
decade.” The gods knew Aedion had plenty to
atone for.
Ren tensed, as if the choices that haunted
him had nipped at his back.
“I never told her,
” Aedion said quietly, so
that the falcon sitting in the rafters might not
hear. “About the opium den in Rifthold.”
About the fact that Ren had known the
owner, and had frequented the woman’s
establishment plenty before the night Aedion
and Chaol had hauled in a nearly unconscious
Ren to hide from the king’s men.
“You can be a real prick, you know that?”
Ren’s voice turned hoarse.
“I’d never use that against you.” Aedion held the young lord’s raging dark stare, let
Ren feel the dominance simmering within his
own. “What I meant to say, before you flew
off the handle,
” he added when Ren’s mouth
opened again,
“was that Aelin offered you a
place in this court without knowing that part
of your past.” A muscle flickered in Ren’s
jaw. “But even if she had, Ren, she still would
have made that offer.”
Ren studied the stone floor beneath their
boots. “There is no court.”
“Darrow can scream it all he wants, but I
beg to differ.” Aedion slid into the armchair
across from Ren’s. If Ren truly backed Aelin,
with Elide Lochan now returned, and Sol and
Ravi of Suria likely to support her, it gave his
queen three votes in her favor. Against the
four opposing her.
There was little hope that Lysandra’s vote,
as Lady of Caraverre, would be recognized.
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 198 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments