A gentle breeze teased Cora’s black hair, whipping the part that had a streak of white across his face. The little slaps of hair reminded him to focus, but before they arrived at the outskirts of the fishing village, his mind kept drifting back to that kiss and how good Cora felt in his arms.
Cora glanced at him, her dark eyes unreadable in the night. “I could go alone.”
“One of us is trained for close combat and it’s not you.”
“And one of us is also the heir of the Eyrie who has bright white wings that stand out like a nudist at court.”
“You slathered dirt over them.”
“Not enough. You still don’t blend in well.”
He leaned in, savouring the fresh sea scent lingering on her skin that reminded him of clear blue waters. “You sound worried.”
“Of course, I’m worried,” she hissed.
Ronin sighed. Of course, she was. She’d be a fool not to be. And Cora was never the fool. If anything happened to him, she would be dead on arrival and her father as well. He loved his own father, but the king didn’t pause to think all the time. He was methodical and calculating, but if his family was threatened, he reacted. If no one was present to advise or temper his reaction, his knee jerk response tended to err on the side of pain.
Ronin hadn’t set out to remind Cora of the consequences of failure. He sighed again.
“Anymore heavy breathing over there and I’m going to have to insist I go in your place,” Cora said.
“That’s not happening.”
She pursed her lips.
“I’ve got this,” he said.
She dropped her shoulders. “Try not to kill her.”
He winked and stepped out from behind the bush. With light steps, he maneuvered from the tree line to the rear of the cabin that backed onto the forest. They’d watched the village all day. Cora identified this house as Ava’s—she’d always known where the woman lived—and someone came by three times a day with a small food basket and left with it empty.
Ronin waited in the shadows. Firelight flickered down the street. Raucous laughter travelled from one of the buildings on the other end of town. The bellows echoed around the buildings and down the street. The pub. No footsteps though, so the drunks remained there for now.
He unsheathed his knife, opened the door to Ava’s house and slipped inside.
Ava sat in a wooden chair in the middle of the room. Her hands were bound to the armrests and her ankles to the chair legs. A pool of urine drenched the floorboards under the seat and blood spatter decorated her clothing. Otherwise, the inside of the cabin was exactly as he’d expected from the outside—wood slatted walls, a ladder to reach a loft with a bedroom and the underlining smell of pine. Small, and with the internal doors already open, easy to determine they were alone without having to move from his spot.
Ava’s head swayed back and forth. She didn’t look up or register someone had entered her home, but he saw enough of her face to know the men he killed deserved their deaths all over again.
Her face was swollen, her eyes and her jaw were bruised, and someone had tied a cloth around her head to gag her.
“Time hasn’t treated you well,” he said.
Her head snapped up and her eyes widened.
He stepped farther into the room, closing the distance so they could speak in quieter tones. He knelt by the chair, careful to avoid the pool at the base.
“If I take the gag out, will you scream?”
She stared at him.
“I don’t plan on hurting you. I have some questions, but I also came to free you. For obvious reasons, I’d prefer not to alert your fellow humans.”
She blinked at him.
“Can I trust you not to cry out if I remove the gag and promise not to hurt you?”
She hesitated, shifting in her wet seat. Her gaze scanned the room, looking side to side. She nodded.
Of course, she could lie and scream the moment he removed the gag, but she’d die before any help reached her.
Ronin tugged the gag from her mouth. The cloth fell around her shoulders like a soggy necklace.
Ava licked her cracked lips and swallowed. “Why?”
He rested his arm on his bent knee, still crouching in front of her so they were close to eye level. “You can thank Cora for this. She likes you.”
Ava’s pained expression softened briefly. “I don’t deserve it.”
Ronin agreed, but freeing Ava wasn’t his goal for this rescue mission. “We know you told the men about us and our injuries.”
“I didn’t tell those men anything.” She winced. “At least not right away. I told my dad. I didn’t even mean to, it just slipped out that Jacoby was dead. He asked how I knew.”
“Who’s Jacoby?”
“My fiancé.”
“How’d you know he was dead? When we spoke, his party was still missing.”
“Cora had his dagger.”
So, she had spotted it. He’d hoped the lighting too poor for her to identify the weapon. Dread shimmied along his spine. If Ava knew Cora killed her fiancé, this could be another set-up.
“I didn’t want to marry that leather-skinned dolt. I may not be besties with Cora, but I knew her well enough and Jacoby even more to know she killed him because she had no choice. He deserved it.” Ava bit her lip. “This wasn’t the news my family wanted, but Cora did me a favour.”
“But then your father had some questions.”
She nodded and flinched. Her head must hurt even worse than it looked.
He got up and found a cup and water pitcher. After he filled the cup with water, he walked back to Ava. Wedging his dagger between the straps and the armrest, he cut through the bindings.
“Thank you.” Ava took the glass of water with her free hand. “Yes. My father had a lot of questions and then those men came to town and started asking more questions, offering money for answers. And then they were in here asking even more. My father sold me out for five gold coins.”
He nodded, a sinking feeling tugging at his gut. “Where’s your father?”
Her face jerked and her mouth turned down as if she tried not to puke and swallowed it back. He didn’t need her to answer. Her father had outed his own daughter for money, thinking no harm would come from it. When he saw how they treated Ava, he tried to stop them, or maybe he just criticized their method. Whatever he did, they eliminated him swiftly.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She bit her lip and nodded, gaze turning glassy.
He reached forward and cut the binding on her other arm. “What did you tell them?”
“I told them about the dagger and your injuries.”
He nodded.
“They already knew about you. They described you down to the feathers.”
“Were they King Aeneas’ men?”
She shook her head.
Ronin rocked back on his heels. “Who are they?”
“They’re a group of jackasses who formed a resistance of sorts. They call themselves MAS. It’s an acronym for ‘Men Against Sapavians,’ but it stands for a whole lot more. The king has hinted at peeling back some of the forgetting, using non-electrical technology to benefit our society and relieve some of our daily stresses. So now, in addition to wanting a war against the Eyrie, they wish to depose the king as well. They spent most of the time here bragging about how they sabotaged your meeting with him.”
Ronin’s mouth grew dry. The water in the pitcher suddenly looked very inviting. He didn’t know what to say or ask next, so he cut her legs free from the chair.
“Take me with you.” She spoke into the glass of water she cradled in both hands.
“No.” He stood up and sheathed his dagger.
“I can’t stay here. They think I’m a spy. All those years of receiving anonymous tips about the salmon runs and this is how they thank me. They will not be gentle. Or kind. If you leave me here, you may as well slit my throat now.”
“No.” He turned and walke
d toward the door.
“I’ll do whatever you want.”
Ronin froze and glanced over his shoulder.
Ava staggered to her feet and lifted her chin. “I’ll make you happy.”
Ronin gaped at her. What could she possibly mean by that? “Doing what?”
“Whatever you want.” Her hand drifted down her torn shirt to trace the line of her breast. “I know I don’t look too great right now, but I clean up well. I will devote myself to you. I can be your mistress.”
Ronin sighed and grabbed the shawl. Ava wasn’t the first woman or man to make that offer, but she was the first to do it under duress. It was all kinds of wrong and made his skin itch. He wanted to recoil or yell at her to stop, but he did neither. He took two steps to reach her.
Her lip trembled, but she held her head high.
“I scare the crap out of you.” He wrapped the shawl around her shoulders. “Why would you offer such a thing?”
“You might scare me a little.” Her swollen lip twitched. “But you’re also…you’re also very fascinating.”
Unbelievable.
“You’re going to leave here,” he said. “Slip away in the night with whatever you can take with you. Make up a believable story and find a new place to live.”
She shook her head.
“The answer is no, Ava.” He looked away so he didn’t have to see her expression.
“You can protect me.”
He barked out a laugh. “I can barely protect myself right now.”
“Or Cora?”
“Or Cora. We’re on the run and eventually we’ll leave. We can’t take you with us. Why would you think I have the power to protect you?”
“You’re the king of the Eyrie.”
Ronin sighed. “No, I’m the prince. You’re thinking of my father, but he’d never risk the kingdom by coming here himself.”
She shook her head. Dark brown hair falling across her face. “I know who your father was. With him dead, though, doesn’t that make you the king?”
And just like that, his world tumbled down.
26
“Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.”
Colin Powell
Ronin’s vision wavered and his grip on the dagger loosened. Ava said something else and a blurry image of her grew closer. Time slowed and his heart thudded. The room swayed.
Dad was dead?
Someone gripped his arm and shoved him to the side. Tripping over his feet, he staggered a few steps.
Time sped up to reality. His vision cleared.
A few feet away, Cora held Ava. Her dagger hilt stuck out from Ava’s abdomen.
Ava dropped a knife. The weapon clattered against the wood floor. When had she grabbed that?
“S…s…s…sorry,” Ava said. “Hoped…he’d go for first option.”
Cora held Ava, iron grip on her arms and helped her walk back to the chair. Setting her down, Cora took a few steps back and knelt to speak to her. “They tied you up and told you they’d let you go if you killed us?”
Ava jerked her head up and down once. Colour drained from her cheeks.
“Did they know we were coming?”
“No…They hoped.”
Cora nodded. “Is everything you told Ronin the truth, or did you lie to get free?”
“T…truth.” Ava closed her eyes and took a deep shaking breath. “More.”
Cora waited.
“Members of MAS betrayed King Aeneas.”
That wasn’t more, she’d already told him as much earlier. Ronin stepped closer. What trickery was she up to now?
Ava’s gaze flicked to Ronin. Her body trembled. “Just like you…were…betrayed.”
She sucked in a breath and held it.
Cora straightened from her crouched position. She hesitated and glanced at Ronin. “Do you know who betrayed the king of the Eyrie?”
She must’ve heard Ava’s news. His stomach sunk. Someone killed his father. Just like that he was gone. His last words to Ronin were, “Don’t let me down.” And he had. Did Father know he’d failed his mission before he died?
“N…no,” Ava answered Cora’s question. She didn’t know who betrayed Father.
Ronin’s mind scrambled. They could have been separate incidences, but logic said the two betrayals had to be linked. His gut churned again. Only a few people knew of his plans to leave the Eyrie to meet the king of Iom. He refused to believe his family or Cora’s double crossed him. There had to be a mole in the castle. What else had they discovered? What other secrets had they uncovered?
Cora’s expression looked pained, like her mind had run through the same sequence. She studied the woman in front of them. “If I leave the dagger in, you might have a chance of living if the blade didn’t hit anything vital. Wait until we’re gone, get help, staunch the blood flow and stitch the wound, avoid infection and you could live.” Cora paused. “Or I can take the dagger out now. Stomach wounds are a terrible way to go. You’ll hopefully bleed out before organ failure or sepsis kicks in.”
Ava’s lips twitched and she rolled her head back up to look at Cora. “I’m dead either way. Leave me to make my own decision.” Her gaze dropped to the dagger sticking out of her stomach. She was panting now. Her time was running out. “Fitting that my fiancé’s dagger…be the one to…kill me. Seems I was…destined for it.”
Cora forced her face to relax, stepped forward to cradle Ava’s head in her hands and pressed her lips to her forehead. “Go easy into the night wind, Ava.”
A tear streaked down Ava’s cheek. “In a different world…we’d be friends.”
“Great friends.” Cora jerked away from Ava, turned on her heel and walked out of the wooden cabin without looking back.
Ronin paused before following.
Ava slumped in the chair, her breathing coming short and shallow. He hadn’t wanted things to end this way. Cora had been optimistic in her assessment. Without a medical mage or the village doctor to treat her immediately, Ava faced a painful death.
As if hearing his thoughts, Ava lifted her heavy head again. Her gaze flashed with defiance. “I would’ve made a fucking great mistress.”
Right up until she tried to stab him. Why did she think he was interested? He’d never want someone who stayed with him out of obligation or servitude. No, thank you. But he didn’t have the heart to tell off a dying woman.
“Yes, you would have,” he said.
Her gaze flickered with resignation and she nodded. “If you hurt her, I’ll fucking haunt you.”
Memories of this moment would haunt him anyway.
With a deep breath, Ronin stepped from the cabin and into the cool night air. He made his way along the rocky path to the woods where Cora waited. Without a word, she turned from the village and the bellow of drunk patrons echoing down the streets and followed the path of grass to where they’d tied up the horses.
“How did you know?” he asked.
Cora’s smile was grim as she untied the horses’ reins from the thick tree branch. “It doesn’t take that long to untie someone and ask questions.”
“So, you assumed she detained me with her expert ninja skills?” Though he used light-hearted words, the news of Father’s death pushed down on him like an invisible weight. Dead? Gone?
Cora gripped the saddle and sighed, resting her forehead against the hard leather. “I assumed she’d try to seduce you. Either to get you to take her with us or to lure you closer to kill.”
“That’s one hell of an assessment.”
She thumped her head against the saddle. “Okay, it was just taking too long, and I was worried.”
Ronin swung up into the saddle. The black horse huffed and shifted her weight side to side. The wild beast didn’t seem to appreciate his wings and made a point of letting him know. “You have great intuition.”
Cora laughed as she mounted the horse but sounded bitter. As if tainted by poison, the happy sound spoiled the moment she released it, and the lau
gh ended in a choked sob.
They were both acting to hide the pain.
They didn’t have time for Ronin to figure out how to make it better for either of them. No time for consolation. She’d just lost a friend and she’d been the one to plunge the dagger into her stomach. Nothing he said or did right now would take away the grief and guilt that most likely consumed her. Just like nothing she said or did right now would take away the pain of losing his father.
“Come on.” Cora nudged the cow horse and turned the mare to the path south. Once again, Cora was right. They needed to move before Ava was discovered.
“I didn’t fall for it, you know,” he spoke to her back, trying to claw his way out of the grief. “The seduction.”
Cora straightened in her saddle. “Of course not. You’re impervious to the charms of a common woman.”
“What in the bird-loving hell does that mean?”
The outline of her body, barely visible under the night sky and the dimming firelight from the village, tensed. “You’re always surrounded by women fawning over you. I assumed you’d become impervious or at least desensitized to seduction.”
Ronin snorted but remained quiet. He knew a loaded comment when he heard one and Cora was looking for a fight. Part of him wanted to give her one.
They had a long trip ahead and only each other for company, she was bound to get her wish eventually. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” she whispered.
Was she though? She hated his father. Her words were more for his benefit and to make him feel better than they were to express her own feelings. “Thank you.”
27
“You don’t cross my mind. You live in it.”
Unknown
Cora let the cool freshwater from the river glide from her hands and run down her body, caressing her skin like icy fingertips on a hot day. As if she could wash away the guilt of killing Ava, she let the water rush by her, cleansing, rejuvenating, bone-numbing. If only it could take away the grief plaguing Ronin from his father’s death, too. He was gradually working his way through it, but his pain still lurked in the shadows of his gaze and hardness around the mouth.
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