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 shook my head. “No, this will be complicated. I can’t just eliminate Hreban. I have to dismantle him while the entire kingdom watches. He thinks he is untouchable. I will reach out and touch him. I know his secrets. I’ll drag all his dirty laundry out into the light for everyone to see. It will take time, money, people . . .” And I didn’t have any of that.
He leaned forward over my desk. “I will do this with you.”
“No.”
He gave me that Reynald look, the same one he had treated me to when I announced I would sell myself to Derog.
“I’m capable—”
“Three hours after we met, you sold yourself into slavery and then died.”
Well, yes, it sounded bad when he put it that way.
“You need help. You need me to keep you alive.”
“You have done enough for Rellas,” I told him. “You served the country for twenty years. You fought and bled for the kingdom. You deserve to rescue your son and go far away from here, to live a calm, safe life. Matheo needs a living father.”
“I’m a knight,” Reynald said. Steel vibrated in his voice. “I swore an oath to defend my country. A kingdom isn’t land or cities, it is people. If what you say is true, we are on the threshold of great suffering. I will do whatever it takes to shut that door.”
“No. There will be consequences.”
“We will deal with the consequences.”
I wasn’t explaining it very well, and the danger he radiated made it harder to think.
“I’ve already meddled to save someone, and then you and I came here and killed Derog and his crew. Now an entire sequence of events won’t happen, and I don’t know what will happen in its place. I only know what was supposed to happen. I may have made things worse.”
“I doubt it,” Reynald said.
“Our actions will alter the future in unpredictable ways. What if we stop the assassination of the crown prince and King Sauven is assassinated instead? What if your son is blamed for it and dragged through the streets chained to a horse? What if you die? What if Clover dies? You won’t come back to life like I do.”
Here is a giant sack of what ifs, deal with it.
“I have six brothers,” Clover said from the doorway.
I turned. She stood on the threshold, her face pale, her body rigid. Oh great. “How long have you been there?”
“Since I asked you if you could see the future,” Reynald said.
“And you didn’t mention it?”
“She has a right to know.”
I raised my hands. Really?
“While we are on the subject.” Reynald looked past me at the open door to my bedroom. “Come out.”
I turned in my chair.
Kaiden crawled out from under my bed on all fours.
You’ve got to be kidding me. “Kaiden! What are you doing hiding under the bed?”
“I heard you crying. I thought something bad happened.” He stared at Reynald. “How did you know I was there?”
“I heard you,” Reynald said.
“I was very quiet!”
“Quiet enough for them. Not quiet enough for me.”
Kaiden sat on the floor, his face stunned.
“You said every tenth man in Applegrove will be put to the sword,” Clover said. “I was born in Applegrove. My parents are there. My grandparents and my brothers, our whole family is there. I don’t want any of them to die.”
“You may want to convince them to move,” I told her.
“Where would they go? My father is a blacksmith, like his father and his father’s father. Our family has lived in Applegrove for generations. You can’t just pick up a forge and carry it off in your pocket. My father isn’t going to uproot the family and abandon everything we’ve built just because I tell him that my new lady knows the future.”
I would have to address this my lady thing, but right now I had bigger problems.
“If you die—”
“If I have to die so my family is safe, I’ll do that,” Clover said. “I’m not a knight, but I’m not afraid. I used to be. I used to think that as long as you didn’t get involved and kept to yourself, you’d be safe. But that isn’t true. I also thought that death was the worst thing that could happen to you. That isn’t true either.”
“You are a child. I don’t think you understand the full gravity of this decision.”
“She’s seventeen years old,” Reynald said.
Right. He was knighted at seventeen after a bloody battle, where he’d cut his way through enemy forces. Different world, different expectations.
“I’m in, too!” Kaiden announced.
Great.
“You—shush.” I took a deep breath. “The three of you are asking me to gamble with your lives. Think about the people involved. These are the Eight Families. All of them are horrible bastards. I saw Ramond vi Everard once. I didn’t even get a good look at his face, and he scared me half to death.”