by Annie Eppa
“The king intends to wait out the waves of resentment from the people and quietly give them back their lands and their estates once the furor has died down.” Thornton said. “He has already been sent men to escort them back to the palace dungeons.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the Wolf said.
“We need to act now, Connor.” Shannika said. “If you think that the king would give them comfortable rooms and treat them like guests rather than criminals, then it would be better to hand them over as soon as we can. We can spread the word that all three men are dining on fine wine and roast in their gilded prisons while many people whose daughters they had taken away can barely feed themselves.”
“I have people who are ready to disseminate that information at my signal,” Thornton said, “by the end of the week the people will be up in arms, and the king will not be able to wait.”
“I’m acting on information that putting them in the king’s hands would serve as a hindrance.” The Wolf retrieved several rolled up pieces of paper and placed them on the table. “There is more to what the earl has been letting on. His house provided more information on the slavery business he runs than what we had uncovered at Kazer’s - after I had my men take an ax to every conceivable wall, floorboard, and hiding place he might have.”
The Wolf, Adelai thought, was being true to his reputation.
“We might not have found the royal documents commanding assassins to kill King Belair, but we have found something else that will do just as well.”
Thornton had picked up one of the papers and unrolled it, and Lady Shannika did the same with another. The woman gasped, and the captain looked shocked. “What is it?” Adelai asked, and Thornton responded by placing the paper back on the table, face-up, so that all in the room could see the king’s own royal seal, red against the white of the parchment.
“The king knew all about what they were doing at that safehouse,” General Falen said. “Even worse - he was aiding them. This seal does not lie.”
“If we hand the men over to the king,” Adelai whispered, “then the king would only kill them, wouldn’t he?”
The Wolf nodded. “Stabbed in their cells would be my best guess. He’ll come out the hero, the people will love him for the justice he had meted out, however unconventional, and no one else will need to know about his hand in this. With his co-conspirators dead, he will be able to move against us without being compromised himself.”
“Then it was a good thing you found these, Connor,” Lady Shannika was pale. “If the king had taken the men, then everything we planned for would have amounted to nothing.”
Her cousin snorted. “I wish I could take more credit, but the bastard Kazer started bleating as soon as he realized we were going to turn him over to the king. He knew his life would not be worth a penny with Garrant, and so he started babbling about the documents Sevrigne possessed, even gave me directions to the few hiding places he was aware of. The thought of the Jackal inadvertently saving our skins, even if it was only to save his, makes my blood boil.”
“Then we have no choice,” Thornton conceded, “we’ll need to interrogate them, get them to implicate the king in their own words. To protect them is one thing, but to have collaborated with them in taking Sarcopian citizens against their will, is another.” A small smile appeared on his lips. “I think I will enjoy questioning the earl and his son.”
“As will I,” General Falen said, the same gleam in his eye, “with the Jackal.”
Lady Shannika sighed.
“What about us?” Kinlee asked quietly. The redhaired girl had said nothing all throughout the impromptu meeting, content to sit in her chair and listen to them. “What will happen to us?”
“I will not allow anything to happen to you, Kinlee,” the Wolf said sharply.
Kinlee shook her head. “If the king is aware of those who rebel against him, then he might seek to hurt any of you through us. But if you send us away, perhaps to Atalantea where we can seek refuge, then he will not be able to seek revenge.”
“I will protect you with my life, Kinlee. He will not be able to - ”
“You don’t understand. I don’t want you to have to give your life to protect me. The king could have other spies in the city, and he might attack you through us. I do not want to be protected if the possibility is seeing you dead because of it.”
Kinlee’s head was held high, stubborn. She refused to back down even under General Falen’s glare.
“She has a point, cousin,” Shannika said. “At least think about it.”
“I will stay here,” Adelai spoke up.
“No!” Thornton turned to her, angry. “The king will look for you. Belair can protect you in Atalantea - ”
“That the king will be looking for me is exactly the reason I must stay here.” Her own voice shook. “He will not have me killed - other kingdoms will be quick to rise against him if he did. But I am responsible for all this, his potential ruin. I’ve seen him enough times to know that he is a vindictive man. He will be more malleable if I remain in Arbentide, if he thinks I am at his mercy. I can be a distraction, if nothing else.”
“No!” Thornton took her shoulders, his voice desperate. “You do not know what kind of man he is, Adelai. I will not have you anywhere within distance of Garrant.”
“And risk the rebellion in the process?”
“Yes!” The truth cut through the air, sharper than knives. “You have sacrificed too much already on my behalf, Adelai. I will not have you suffer any more.”
Adelai lifted herself up on her tiptoes, kissed him in full view of the others. “My love,” she said gently, “You may be willing to risk the rebellion, but I will not. We’ve both come too far to stop now, dearest heart, and for better or for worse, we must see this through. He might be cruel, but he will not destroy me, Thornton. I promise you that.”
Thornton had no choice, and he knew it. Adelai could see it in his eyes - the fury, the struggle, and finally the quiet acceptance of her words. This time it was he who kissed her, barely hearing Shannika’s murmured words as she turned the conversation elsewhere, to give them what little privacy they could have, given the circumstance.
“So help me, Adelai,” he whispered, “You are more a patriot than I. But the gods help me - if you are wrong about the king, I will kill him myself.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Into the Den
The next two weeks were the best days Adelai had ever spent in Arbentide. True to his word, the Wolf released both her and Caera into Thornton’s custody, pending any further decision from the Temple of Inne-Anneah. A letter from Saleia herself had arrived the day after their conversation in Lady Maestre’s parlor, asking the captain of the guard to protect both girls. They have every right to rest after everything that has transpired, she had written. In return for seeing to their welfare, I wish to offer you patronship for them both for the time being, without payment.
The letter had elated Adelai. To offer someone patronship of a shrinemaiden was the same as enjoying a contract with her, which only the high priestess Saleia could endow on special cases. It required consent from both girls, and Caera, relieved to no longer be servicing the Jackal most nights, was only too happy to accept.
“I can finally catch up on my sleep,” she confessed to Adelai. “The general can sometimes be too exacting in his demands.” She had been equally compassionate, having learned, as did the rest of the city, of her abuse at the hands of the earl and his son, though few people knew the reasons for it.
“You should have told us sooner,” she scolded, “I understand that this is your first contract, but it will not cast you in an unfavorable light to tell the priestess, or any one of us, of what the man has been doing to you all these weeks! General Kazer had never laid a hand on me in such a manner, for all his roughness! And to encourage his own son! Anyone who could do those things to those girls should be drawn and quartered on the spot, and I’m appalled the king might let him go, a
s some people seem to believe. He might not look like a deviant, but High Priestess Saleia would have saved you weeks of grief, and would have given you a different contract.”
Adelai had taken this gentle reprimand meekly, relieved. If Caera truly believed this, then that meant it was what the rest of the city believed, too. In the days that followed, she had gained the citizens’ sympathy, lauded as someone who had endured the earl’s proclivities in secret to save Sarcopia from embarrassment. In a short amount of time, flowers of all kinds were sent to the captain’s house, where she was now residing, and many of the guests who had visited her at the Sevrigne household was quick to visit her there as well, courting her for contracts of their own.
“We are furious, milady,” the Count of Ruckinsridge told her, mustache bristling at the thought. “That someone we thought was the epitome of respectability could lay a hand on someone of your beauty and station is unforgivable. Please do not let this deter you from accepting my offer - I assure you there are more fine, upstanding citizens in Sarcopia than there are of his ilk.”
Even Thornton received some of the praise. That he had saved her from the earl and his son had become widely known; that Adelai was grateful for his help, even more so. Thornton was always on hand whenever she received her visitors, and Adelai always found her eyes wandering back to him, taking comfort in his reassuring presence. It was taken note of, especially when Adelai refused to go out into the city without Thornton by her side, often taking care for people to see her gazing up at him adoringly.
“If you look at me that way one more time,” the captain said, sitting in their carriage after touring the marketplace again, where they were greeted by cheers and well-wishes. “I will be forced to punish you.”
“What do you mean, master?” Adelai fluttered her eyes at him. They had agreed to use the people’s support to their advantage, their popularity lessening the chances of the king seeking to retaliate against them - publicly, at least.
Too quickly she was on her back, skirts already raised. The captain unlaced his breeches with deft precision, and soon the feel of him sliding into her robbed her of thought.
Adelai’s nights were now spent in his bed, eager to make up for the time apart. The absence had only increased their desires, and as soon as the doors closed behind them they were eager to fuck, shedding their clothes like they were never able to get out of them quickly enough. It felt almost like their time at the temple, but now they had no need to hide their coupling. He was rough sometimes, pounding into her like he wanted to shove himself deeper into her each time, bringing her to climax multiple times with hands and mouth and cock before finding his own release. Other times, he would be unbelievably tender, lingering over every part of her body, kissing and touching.
She was more pragmatic this time. In the temple, she had prayed to Inne-Anneah that this could go on forever. Now, she accepted that their time together was limited. Their future loomed before them, uncertain - but rather than let herself be overcome with misery, Adelai lived for every moment she could spend with her captain. They visited the marketplace that Adelai loved, visited the houses of other nobles who were eager to throw their support behind them. Prudence dictated that they restrict other kinds of excursions, so when Thornton was not in meetings with Falen and the other generals, he was with Adelai - eating together, reading together, sometimes even taking up where they had left off with their previous lessons in the temple garden. The highlight of Adelai’s day were these quiet conversations with the captain, where she can almost imagine they were just like any other couple in Arbentide.
Both Thornton and the Wolf took turns interrogating General Kazer, and the earl and his son. The earl had been more resistant than the Jackal, believing for awhile that the king would protect him if he only kept his silence. General Kazer’s confession, however, along with all the incriminating papers they had found, soon convinced him that the surest way to save his life was to cooperate. He admitted that the king wanted him to silence the factions of those who did not support his rule, and the disappearance of the girls had been blamed on Highrolfe renegades attempting to sow discord. The king received his own cut of the proceeds, and these were visible in the books the earl had kept.
“Thank the gods for the greedy,” General Falen noted dryly, “who insist on keeping careful accounts of all their business transactions to better gauge their profit. If this had been left entirely to the Jackal I doubt there would have been much evidence on paper.”
Daken knew less than his father - he had served as a lookout rather than play any concrete role in the operations, though he involved himself with the rebel groups in the city at his father’s orders. Ever the opportunist, the earl had planned to present the king with a list of names of those working against him, though Daken had yet to ferret out any important people beyond the group he frequented the brothel with.
Nemar had been informed about this betrayal and, at Adelai’s urging, agreed to take a prolonged trip outside of Arbentide, presumably to visit a few health spas that were the rage among the nobility. In reality, he had fled to the safety of Atalantea, where King Belair had personally promised to protect him. Many other nobles who were compromised had done the same thing, though in twos and threes instead of as a group, to divert suspicion away from themselves. No one knew whether or not the earl had told the king the names of those already compromised, or if he had been biding his time until he could find higher-ranked traitors, but Shannika agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Before he left, Adelai had insisted on meeting his friend - Sana, allegedly the best thief in the city. She was younger than Adelai had expected, barely sixteen at the most. She had mischievous hazel eyes and a freckled face, and her short hair was crammed underneath a large boy’s cap. She was dressed in breeches and a thick shirt, and at first glance one might have thought she was a pretty youth, not a girl.
Sana was understandably reluctant to meet her, and it took all of Nemar’s assurances to get her to meet them at his manor. Even then she fidgeted constantly on her chair, her eyes darting about to take note of every exit. Adelai was startled, but not surprised, when the young girl had shown up accompanied by the Lady Wilchestrom.
“I suppose you knew,” the cheerful lady said, smiling.
“I knew the instant you gave me those orchids as a gift,” Adelai admitted, hugging her. “I only suspected you were the ‘Becky’ that Nemar referred to, but couldn’t think of a way to confirm this.”
“Well, confirm away, my dear. I’m a rebel! My husband doesn’t know though, so I’d rather you not tell him.” The good lady reclined against the sofa and posed prettily, grinning up at her. “You should thank me for the little rendezvous I’d arranged for you with Thornton that night at your ball. I had to fend off at least five different people who wanted to talk to you in private, and I didn’t think Thornton would appreciate being caught with his breeches round his ankles, so to speak.” Adelai blushed, but Lady Wilchestrom laughed.
“Why should I trust you?” Sana demanded. “Nemar’s just tol’ me Daken’s squealed on us, an’ you’ve been with him all this time.”
“Lady Adelai was responsible for the capture of Daken and his father, and she did so at very great personal risk,” Nemar told her, “She could have chosen to inform the earl, or even the king himself about our roles in the plot, but she chose to remain silent. I would trust her with my life.”
“I trust Adelai too,” Lady Wilchestrom quipped, “And I’ve got very good judgment.”
“I suppose,” Sana said grudgingly, “But it doesn’t explain why I’m here.”
“I need your expertise, Sana,” Adelai said, “Nemar here tells me you’re an excellent thief. Just how good are you?”
Sana snorted. “I come from a family of thieves, milady; the best you will ever find in Arbentide - dare I say, even the whole of Sarcopia! But I don’t see what’s that got to do with you.”
“More than you might think, Sana. A lot
more. Have you ever been to the palace undetected?”
Sana grinned. “Been in and out of there so many times I’ve been using their linen closet as a makeshift bed, milady. Does me good, seeing them hang up the curtains I’ve been rolling about in!”
“Good. You may not trust me yet, Sana, but I am going to put my complete trust in you.”
“What d’you mean?”
“I’m putting my life in your hands, Sana. And here’s why.”
They had done all they could, Adelai knew, but she was worried about any reprisals from King Garrant. The palace was suspiciously silent throughout all this, save for one instance where a group of the king’s bodyguards attempted to force their way into the Watch, demanding that the prisoners be turned over to them in the name of the king.
In response, the Wolf announced that they were still in the process of questioning the prisoners, who were on the verge of giving up other people involved in the operations. Thornton and Shannika’s spies had been busy. The whole city was awashed by the gossip that more people were involved than thought of, and that the king was doing his best to retrieve the general and the earl to protect their names. It was easy enough to believe - the earl and the general were the king’s most trusted advisers. The Wolf and Thornton decided that it would be unwise to announce that the king himself was also guilty. It would be harder to believe that their own king would turn against his people, even for all his supposed madness.