Dark Court: The Final Hour

by Camille Oster

  “What do you want, Roisen?”

  “I have always been open about what I want.”

  “You wanted an heir, and you wanted to be liege.”

  Both of those things were true. “It wasn’t all I wanted. There were times, like before my battle with Wierstoke, that I really wanted you to care if I lived or died. Some small note, some small indication that you ever cared.”

  An annoyed growl escaped her. “You never loved. People were there for you to use, remember?”

  “What exactly is it you wish to punish me for? For using the court to secure my position, for thriving, or is it that I survived and Torunn didn’t? Because Torunn was never a saint. Don’t make him into one.”

  She didn’t speak.

  “Or do we both fall below your standards? Is it this Bryce character with his ranting and sermons that you see as good enough? It’s easy to pledge sacrifice when you have nothing to lose. You will only see his true character when he has a position to protect. Well, I have nothing to protect now. Perhaps I will finally be good enough for you.”

  With sharp steps, she marched back to him. “Perhaps you are only truly interested in me because you have nothing to protect anymore. When I threatened your position, you fought.” A hard index finger poked into her chest.

  “Maybe neither of us is perfect. I never pretended to be, and I don’t disparage people for it.”

  “You only use their weakness.”

  Again, it wasn’t something he could argue because the accusation was true. Every accusation she laid at him was true, except the one that said she had been nothing more than a means to an end.

  Turning sharply, she marched out, leaving the door open. He was free to go, but as she had said, he really didn’t have anywhere to go. He had as many enemies amongst the Naufren as he did elsewhere.

  Chapter 32

  RETURNING TO THE GREVE ESTATE hadn’t gone well. The dowager Lady Greve didn’t hide the fact that she felt Ashra’s actions were both traitorous and incomprehensible. Torunn’s mother had intermittently raged and glared at her for what she had done to Torunn’s legacy, to the Greve land, and the position she had put his child in, to her own children.

  “The world is changing,” Ashra had pleaded, but the dowager didn’t truly believe that. Like so many, she believed that the Naufren were inherently superior and that their position would right itself after this disturbance.

  “And to burn the citadel. All those treasures lost. Our family treasures. An untold amount of wealth. What in the world were you thinking? You need to be put in the madhouse,” the lady accused, pacing back and forth. “You have left us in utter poverty. To give our land. Our land. I won’t stand for it.”

  “You will never be in need for anything,” Ashra promised. “The house is yours.”

  “Well, you certainly can’t be trusted with it. How am I to show my face in polite society again? In some way, they will see me as responsible for this.”

  Ashra closed her eyes. The dowager wasn’t going to understand how much the world had changed. Perhaps she never would.

  There was no victory to be had with the dowager lady, so Ashra took herself up to the nursery. “Mama.” Tabain ran for her as soon as he saw her, and Ashra crouched down to accept the little arms around her neck. No one was ever going to threaten him again. He would grow up in a society free of the whims of a liege. There would be laws that would protect him from abuse and reward for the work he did, not just what he was fortunate enough to be born with.

  “I never have to leave again,” she said with a beaming smile. Well, maybe she couldn’t stay in this house, but she wasn’t going to be separated from her children again. Tabain clung to her for a while until he’d had enough and started to squiggle. “Look, look,” he said. In the background, the nursemaid silently took her leave.

  “Just let me say hello to Charis, then I will look,” Ashra said, walking over to the cot where Charis was staring up at her with those lovely blue eyes. Another pair of blue eyes stole into her mind, but she dismissed them and picked up her daughter, feeling the contentment suffuse her as she held her. “Hello, my love,” she said and drew in the lovely scent of her.

  “Mama, mama,” Tabain said, yanking on her skirt. He had grown. They had both grown.

  “Yes, what is it you must show me?”

  He led her over to a structure he had built with his toys. “Wow, look at that. Is that a house?” Tabain nodded. “A school?” Tabain nodded again. “Maybe a hospital?” He liked that idea as well. “There will be plenty for you to build if you put your mind to it.” They all had to pull together and build.

  Rocking back and forth with Charis in her arms, she wondered how they were doing in Tondoke; she wondered how Roisen was doing—where he was.

  Their conversation in the basement had been something she hadn’t allowed herself to think about. It was a wound she was trying to heal while he constantly tore it open. Another thing to feel guilty about. Didn’t he understand that circumstances had overrun anything that had ever been between them?

  It felt a bit hypocritical saying it when the proof of them was in her arms right that second. He had still never seen her and perhaps he never would. The last time they’d spoken, it had been clear that he hadn’t forgotten about her. It might not matter. For all she knew, he was dead—his enemies finally taking revenge. For his sins he was a man with many enemies and few friends.

  Another twinge of guilt speared through her. As far as enemies go, she was the one that had taken everything from him. And still he hadn’t raged at her like the dowager lady had, like probably most Naufren. He understood what she had done and why, even as he was the one who had lost the most.

  Perhaps he had returned to his manor. It wasn’t his anymore, but he needed somewhere to go, or maybe he has been accepted into someone else’s house. Lady Vaultier had always been a co-conspirator. Another twisted feeling Ashra refused to identify pierced into her.

  Enough of him, and enough of guilt, it was time to play, to simply be here since she had fought so very hard for this.

  *

  Relations with the dowager lady didn’t much improve, the woman lamenting the destruction of her son’s legacy every time Ashra was in the room. Apparently, Ashra was a wicked creature and he would be turning in his grave at what she’d done. The woman even lamented the day Torunn had clapped eyes on her.

  “A visitor, Madame,” the lady’s faithful retainer said. Quite a few of the estate staff had deserted them, seeking a better place for themselves in the new world.

  Ashra marched over to the window to see who it was, and was surprised to see Alfrey Tilley dismounting from his horse. What in the world could he be wanting, she wondered as he was being shown in.

  He smiled and bowed as he appeared, greeting her and the dowager with as much deference as if they were all still at court. Ashra supposed the superficial politeness that the Naufren insisted on had not changed.

  “Mr. Tilley, it is so lovely to see you,” the dowager started. “Sit, please have some tea. How is your mother?”

  “She is worried, of course. Everyone is worried.”

  The dowager shot Ashra a dark, unguarded look of blame. “I hope you didn’t lose much in the fire.”

  “I managed to save most of the family heirlooms.”

  Another dark look came Ashra’s way and she closed her eyes. “I am glad you and your family are unscathed.”

  He turned a curious look to her as if he didn’t quite know what to say. “Yes, thank you. I am surprised to find you here.”

  “It is where my children are.”

  “Can you believe she gave all of our lands away?”

  “The lands have been transferred to the state, along with the Lorcan and Wierstoke estates.”

  “Yes, I heard something to that effect,” Tilley said. “Together it is a substantial portion of land. Along with Raufasger’s lands, the state’s land surpasses the rest of us banded together.”

&nbs
p; “Yes,” Ashra confirmed. She was aware of that.

  Tilley cleared his throat. “Will there be any more confiscations?” His voice was light, but the tremble in it told her this was why he was there. They were worried, and they had no communication with the council in Tondoke.

  “I don’t believe so,” she said, “but then, I am not in charge. From what I understand, unless things have changed, there are no intentions for any land confiscation.”

  “That is good to hear. There has, of course, been some concern.”

  Taking a sip of her tea, Ashra wondered how she had ended up back in the position where she sat politely and danced around careful questions. She put her tea down. “If the Naufren leave us alone, then we are happy to leave things be.” The dowager lady tutted at the directness of the speech.

  “So we are not going to be rounded up and hanged, then?” he said with a little laugh. “Is that what happened to Lorcan? We haven’t heard.”

  Ashra blinked. “No, I don’t know what happened to Lorcan. He was released.”

  “Released?”

  “Well, we did take his land… and his title. Not that that really means anything. I suppose by taking it, we did recognize it.”

  “So, you are saying that our titles stay?” He was being very careful with his choice of words.

  “Like I said, I am not in charge. There is a council in Tondoke that discusses and decides on the matters of state.”

  “I had heard something of the like. I am surprised you are not there. I am also surprised you haven’t got much of your army here. You probably should.” He looked her in the eye. “You probably should. There has been talk of retribution in some quarters.”

  It was surprising how much talk was going on between the houses. They were managing to communicate.

  “They’re going to come and burn the house down,” the dowager said, panic lacing her voice. “They blame you for all this.”

  “I don’t think so. See I will be returning to Tondoke shortly.” It was an impromptu decision, but she wanted Tilley to carry that news back to the Naufren so none of them came here to exact revenge.

  “Now you wish to take my grandchild from me,” the dowager lamented. Ashra noticed the reference was singular.

  “No, of course not. The children will visit often.”

  Now that the decision was made, it was a weight off Ashra’s shoulders. She had felt obliged to be here and to face the dowager lady’s displeasure, but the safety of everyone suggested she should return to Tondoke, and she was not going to argue. In fact, she would leave in the morning.

  “I do hope there will be peace,” Ashra finally said, to both of the people there. “Everyone will hopefully learn to enjoy the absence of retribution hanging over them.”

  “It would be nice to think,” Tilley said brightly, grabbing the opportunity to lighten the conversation.

  “Perhaps that was the point of all this,” Ashra pointed out. “The chance to live and prosper without a single person having the power to inflict their whims on others.”

  The power that came with pleasing that person was also absent, but over time, perhaps more would come to believe that was a good thing. But Raufasger also kept a large distinction between the Naufren and everyone else, and that had also been removed. They were outnumbered and the power of the people, when unified, was something they couldn’t face down.

  “I do hope there will be no more trouble,” Ashra said. “It would be nice to think everyone could give peace a try.”

  “Not all feel that way, but it would be fair to say those who don’t do by nature not find it easy to co-operate, and no one is willing to shoulder the expense of retaining men beyond their own security.”

  Ashra smiled. Greed could always be depended on.

  Chapter 33

  THERE HAD BEEN A FEW attempts on Roisen’s life. Some wished him dead on sight. Some didn’t understand how skilled a fighter he was. Winning the war didn’t give them any special strength when it came to one-on-one combat. Power had a habit of going to people’s heads. Some learned that to their detriment. Roisen Lorcan was not an easy target.

  Things got easier when the guard moved into town. The general population were still untrusting, and frankly terrified, of the guard. The guard had taken on the role of keeping order and they reported to the council which had started sitting in an old storage building.

  When able to, Roisen leased lodgings right next to the guard’s building. It kept the assassination attempts to a minimum. He did lament the loss of his sword, which was very useful in the case of assault. Still, he was far from defenseless without it.

  Many were surprised he hadn’t left. He had no intention of returning to the dubious welcome of the few friends he had. He was not a man who got by on the charity of others, and there was no point in lamenting what was lost. The Naufren had lost power and it wasn’t coming back. Tondoke was where the new power structure was, so this is where he was, ready to carve his new place in it. No one could stop him.

  He started already, by finding a buyer for Lord Harl’s grain stocks—primarily because his estate was nearby Tondoke and it had taken little to steal a horse and ride out there. The man had agreed readily for Lorcan to move the grain he had in storage. It was as simple as to approach the millers and sell it. He took a good enough cut that he could set himself up in lodgings.

  The Naufren had lost their market. The entire structure that Raufasger had set up had collapsed, and they had nowhere to sell their crops. The winter harvest was coming, and it would rot on the fields if they didn’t have a means of selling it. It was still a real need while neither side wished to speak to the other. It was almost too simple.

  Within a week, he had sent letters to every landowner in the land, offering his services. The state land, even his own, were cared for by a corporation run by the council, but everyone else would eventually be his customer. Before long, he had every intention of buying his land back, but who knew, setting up a market might be more lucrative than land. Still, he would have his manor back if nothing else.

  In fact, he enjoyed the challenge and secretly loved that he didn’t have to sit through listening to people’s endless grievances and ambitions. Being liege hadn’t been quite as fulfilling as he’d hoped—plus his wife let the power go to her head. Roisen smiled.

  Speaking of, Ashra returned to Tondoke about a month after leaving. She took a house close to the main square. It was one of the few Raufasger had left undamaged as he’d conquered this place. This town had been particularly devastated to show that the old capital no longer held any power. Around every corner, though, a building was being repaired or rebuilt. Raufasger’s scars were being removed. It was a new world.

  Leaning against the side of the building, Roisen watched, eventually seeing her in the window, looking comfortable and relaxed. She wore simple clothes and her hair down. She had no intention of leaving the house that day.

  It wasn’t time to approach her yet. He wanted to be in a better position, but dismay burned inside him when Bryce approached the house and was let inside. Rivals would not be tolerated, if he indeed turned out to be a rival. In his gut, he knew that she wasn’t interested in Bryce. Bryce had only ever been useful to her. Now she had no use for him, because she had what she wanted. Ashra got everything she wanted.

  Still, it ached to walk away from there, but Roisen had work to do. It was time to find premises for his new exchange. After grains and crops, he was going to do forestry as well.

  *

  Surveying his domain, Roisen watched buyers and sellers talk and make deals. The structure had no fineries, built of rough pine and not much else, but it wasn’t the elegance of the building that counted. It hadn’t taken long for the word to spread that anything needed could be found a Lorcan’s exchange. The Naufren had initially derided him for dirtying his hands with Solmnite affairs—until they discovered the degree to which he had the negotiating power. Then they cursed him, but they couldn’t sell thei
r crops to each other, could they?

  And then the day came that he’d known would come. There she was, walking into the exchange. She wore breeches and a shirt. It seemed to be her preferred attire now. Lady Greve did not embrace the lady in her anymore.

  Looking up, she saw him and he was pleased he wore new clothes. Did she see the success he had achieved? How could she not?

  As he watched, she moved toward the stairs leading up to the mezzanine floor where he had his office.

  “You have been busy,” she said when she reached him.

  “Did you doubt I would be?”

  “I don’t know. Perhaps not. You have a tendency to put yourself in the thick of things.”

  “That is where the action is.”

  “Quite an empire you’re building.”

  “Some are just meant for it.”

  “I am not, apparently. I have not been quite so busy.”

  “No, you’ve barely left the house.”

  Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “I have lost time to make up for.”

  “As you can see, I will have need for my heir. I can’t believe you ever doubted that.”

  Shifting her head, she looked at him. “Ever the opportunist.”

  “Some things never change. What about you? Have you truly given up your revolutionist banner and contented yourself with domesticity?”

  “No, I am gathering and recording the laws that the council ratifies.”

  “Your precious council.”

  “Don’t be bitter.”

  “I don’t do bitter.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said.

  “As you can see, I am thriving. I have nothing to be bitter about.”

  “Hardly the lofty heights of being liege.”

  “Yes, well, being liege wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. You don’t truly understand how annoying people are until all their attention is focused on you. Enough to turn you murderous.”