Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
“I see,” Solentine said. “A pity.”
Up to now everything I had done was in response to Hreban’s actions. The abduction of Galiene’s daughter, smuggling iron, the string of serial murders, all of those had already been in motion. I had stopped them, but that didn’t address their source.
No, we had to eliminate Hreban not as a man, but as a force. That’s what I had set out to do when Everard was still Reynald and I told him for the first time that I would stop the nightmare that was about to swallow Rellas. But then the salt and the mercenaries became a pressing issue, and I’d defaulted to stopping the disasters as they came.
“We have to take Hreban apart,” I said.
“How would we do that?” Solentine asked.
“I don’t know yet. Let me think about it.”
Hreban had manpower and money on his side. He was truly the richest man in Rellas, and that wealth bought him a lot of protection. Nothing about that had changed since we’d started. But back then, I was a woman lost in a new world, trying to protect two teenagers and relying on a blademaster who didn’t trust me. Now I had four seasoned mercenaries, a lady’s maid, a locksmith’s son, possibly the assistance of the Shears, and best of all, the Sleepless Duke. There had to be a way forward.
“To topple the head of a Great Family, we would need unassailable proof,” Solentine said.
“I know,” I told him.
We didn’t have much time. This was the point where the isekai heroines usually got struck by a brilliant idea in a flash of intellectual lightning. My mental skies were blue and clear. Not a thundercloud in sight.
I had to think of something fast, or both Matheo and the Sun Margrave would lose their lives. I had failed to save Reynald, but I had to save his son. I had to.
“Speaking of families, thank you for averting a disaster about to befall mine,” Solentine said.
“Things went well?” Everard asked.
Solentine nodded. “I arrived just as my uncle was doing a final review of the loan. To say he was shocked would be a grave understatement. We had a long and productive chat with the noble in question.”
I could only imagine.
“And?” Everard asked.
“He sang like a bird in spring the moment knives came out. At once expedient and yet somewhat unsatisfying. I wouldn’t have minded more resistance.”
Words to make your hair stand on end.
Solentine reached for the bag by his chair, pulled out a scroll case, stepped over to the table, and offered it to me.
“Demarrs pay their debts. To show my gratitude, I would like to offer you something of great value as well. You have the pesky problem of not having an identity. It makes you vulnerable. As thanks, I’ve prepared one for you.”
I took the case, pried the scroll loose, and unrolled it. A set of papers with a blank first name. The last name: Demarr . . .
Wait, what?
Parents: Brune and Griele Demarr.
Everard stepped closer to the desk and looked at the document over my shoulder. The transformation into the Sleepless Duke was instant. One moment he was reading, and the next he was there, an active and immediate threat. His voice could’ve cut a human being in two.
“This would make her your cousin.”
“So it would.” Solentine smiled.
“No,” Everard said.
“That is not up to you,” Solentine said.
I did not see this coming. At all.
My face must’ve said volumes, because Solentine dropped back into a chair, one leg over the other, and braided his fingers on his knee. It was his “hear me out” pose.
I was acutely aware of Everard looming next to me like some deadly storm in human form ready to unleash hell at any second. The head of the Shears ignored him and looked at me.
“Hear me out, Maggie. You are meddling with the affairs of the kingdom. Until now, you’ve escaped notice, but that won’t last. A reckoning is coming. When that happens, you’ll need the kind of name that will shield you. You cannot afford to remain a commoner. Truthfully, at the moment, you’re not even that. You are no one.”
He nodded at Everard.
“Ramond can promise you an identity and a noble title; however, that identity will have a vi in it, and the moment people hear it, it will mark you as a woman of Selva. You will be watched and treated with suspicion, rendering you much less effective and painting a target on your back. You don’t need that kind of attention.”
“Whatever he promises you, I can deliver more and better.” Everard’s eyes were a lethal, electric green.
“Not in this case,” Solentine said. “She needs legitimacy. You cannot give it to her. If you try, you will place her in front of Sauven’s archery target.”
“It doesn’t have to be his family,” Everard said to me.