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  Millard glares at Ginata but lowers his hand before shaking it, knuckles red from the impact. He turns to Finn. “Did you see the look on her face? She looked so confused. Stupid wench.”

  Finn grins, but keeps his distance from Millard and Wolf.

  “How did you manage to capture her like that?”

  “By accident, really. I found her outside spying on you, she thought you might be here and she wanted to check.”

  “Damn it. That means Everleigh knows where I am. Damn! Do you think she’ll come here?”

  Finn shrugs. “Not sure. Ceryn said she was going to see if you were all here and then go back to the castle.”

  “But if she doesn’t go back...”

  He turns to Wolf, “I don’t like this.”

  “A distraction? In the name of the King?”

  Millard nods. “Yes, we need to do something.” He moves towards Finn, smiling as he flinches, and then patting his back. “Don’t look so worried, soldier, good work.”

  Ginata cannot keep the look of confusion and shock off her face and when Millard catches it, he laughs, a hearty laugh, a look of glee on his face.

  “Ah Ginata, you seem confused.”

  She shakes her head. “I didn’t know that Finn was one of your men.”

  “He’s a pretty new addition, actually, but seemingly as loyal as if he had served me for years.”

  Finn looks at the floor, scratching at his neck, eyes darting to Ceryn’s bloody face.

  “We’ll fill you in once our feisty friend comes around. I’m sure she’d love to hear the story too.”

  Finn nods and stands awkwardly, while Millard takes the other chair, and Ginata sinks onto the floor, tucking her knees under her, and wishing she had kept a little bit of the death draught back for herself.

  Wolf breaks the silence. “I’ll go and see if the traps have caught more food.”

  Millard nods and grins at the three people left in the cottage with him, not caring that one is unconscious, one cannot look at him as he questions what he’s done and why, and the other cries silent tears, wondering how it all went so wrong.

  THE TEACHER LEAVES Everleigh and Archer alone in Ginata’s work room. “I’m just going to ask Daisy a few more questions about these potions.”

  As the door closes behind him, Archer reaches up and tucks Everleigh’s hair behind her ear. “I’m glad I didn’t die.”

  “Again.”

  “Yes, again.”

  “Me too. I remember the first time I saw you...”

  “In the woods – when you were watching me?”

  “I wasn’t watching you, you nearly killed me, but no not then. Before that I saw you standing outside the castle. You looked at me and I felt like I knew you.”

  “I feel like I’ve known you for ever.”

  “That’s a really long time.”

  “True. But it’s how I feel.”

  “I thought I would be dead by now. My life was only going to be seventeen years. Too short. Now I have my whole life ahead of me...”

  “Can I share it with you?”

  “I want you to, but I’m-”

  “What? Scared, petrified, excited, feeling sick?”

  Everleigh laughs. “All of those things. I don’t know why.”

  Archer leans towards her, his gaze on her mouth. “I think it’s called love.”

  He presses his lips to hers and they kiss, until they hear the teacher push open the door.

  They jump apart, avoiding looking at each other, or at the teacher, and they both miss his knowing smile.

  “Archer, I think you’re ready for something to eat. I wonder if Daisy would feel happy about going down to the kitchen.”

  They leave Ginata’s work room together and Will jumps up to help Archer into his seat by the window. Archer winces as he sits.

  “Feeling better?”

  “Yes. I have to be. If Weaver gets back tomorrow I’m not going to sit here in the castle while you all go to fight Millard.”

  “Well, I won’t be fighting anyone.”

  Archer grins. “Maybe not, but I will.”

  “You might not be,” Everleigh says, sitting beside him on the window seat. “Daisy’s going to fetch food.”

  “I’ll go with her,” Will offers, happy to be useful. “We’ll get enough for Ceryn and Finn. They should be back soon.”

  “If he even went to the cottage. He could be anywhere.”

  “If he’s there she’ll make sure he’s safe.”

  Will nods. “She’s pretty incredible, isn’t she?”

  Everleigh gives Archer a knowing look as Will heads off after Daisy.

  “What?”

  “I think he likes her.”

  “Likes her, likes her?”

  “I think so. It’s good.”

  “I suppose so. He’s a good chap.”

  “He is. The best.”

  “The best?”

  “Second best. No, that’s not right. He’s the best. My best friend, my longest friend.”

  “And me?”

  “You’re my first love...”

  “Your only love?”

  “I hope so.”

  “It would be good.”

  “I hope Ceryn’s not in trouble. She’s been a while.”

  “She can look after herself. No fear.”

  Everleigh

  NO FEAR. THE LOOK ON Archer’s face when he talks about Ceryn makes me feel sad and jealous. He’s so impressed with her. So proud of her.

  I hate being jealous. I remember Halfreda telling me something about jealousy.

  I had joined in an archery match with Macsen and Millard and I was terrible compared to them. I remember the sting of tears as I ran away from them, both jeering at me, telling me I was a sore loser. I ran into Halfreda and as always, she made me feel better.

  She said jealousy is only useful if it spurs you on to be better or do better, other than that it’s a bitter and nasty emotion. A pointless emotion.

  I took her words to heart and I practised with my bow and arrows until I was better than both of my older brothers.

  I would like to be more like Ceryn, I’ve told her that. I’d love her to teach me to fight, to handle myself. A warrior Queen. I smile and Archer takes my hand.

  The relief I feel when I look at him is immeasurable. When I thought he’d died, something changed in my heart; it hardened. My new love, my first love, was gone, and all the possibilities with him. All the things we could have seen and done and been together. Conversations we would never have. Kisses we would never share.

  Will he be King to my Queen? I think so. I love everything about him and when I thought he might die again last night, the sickness in my heart was impossible to ignore.

  But love is a small thing compared to the responsibilities I will shoulder as Queen of the Realm. My own happiness must come second. My people and my sister will be my first priorities.

  And I love Archer more because I know he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  When he talks of our future he never talks of being King or sitting on a throne or enjoying the riches of the Realm; he talks of protecting me, looking after me, supporting me.

  I have got quite the team now. People I love and trust.

  Except Ginata.

  My stomach twists when I think about her. What Millard’s done to her.

  Did she like it? Enjoy the first flush of love with my brother, like I have with Archer. Does she think about him and their future together, imagining their time and how they will spend it?

  Did she question her feelings or actions at all or did she betray me easily? Can I trust her again?

  Until I see her, I suppose I won’t know.

  And Will. Is Will falling for Ceryn?

  And what’s it to me if he is? I suppose I feel like I let him down when he fell in love with Lanorie and I did nothing to help him. If he does love Ceryn I will help him, talk to her for him, try to help them see each other as more than friends. Or am I
just happy that she might be distracted from her feelings for Archer?

  Who knows. I think I’m just trying to distract myself from the main issues.

  If Millard is in Ginata’s cottage, then I’m going to kill him tomorrow. I cannot fight yet, or attack him by myself, but I have decided that I will have to be the one to kill him.

  Stab him through the heart, sever his head, I haven’t decided yet and I don’t like to think on either option, if I’m honest.

  Millard is my brother. My handsome, funny, witty brother. We have laughed together, cried together, lived together and been friends as well as siblings since I was old enough to be more than just a pest to him.

  How did it all change so irrevocably?

  Will I be able to take his life when it comes to it?

  Look into his eyes, the eyes I knew so well, the eyes of a brother I loved, and end his life, see the pain and fear there and kill him anyway?

  He cannot live. If I cannot do it, kill him, someone will. Ceryn would love to, I know. Ginata might want to when she finds out what he did to her. Archer would without a beat of hesitation as would Weaver if I asked him to. And hopefully any of the young men he is rounding up to serve me would be happy to assist me as well.

  When I look at him I will not be thinking about summers spent playing in the castle gardens, picking fruit and chasing each other with Macsen and Addyson joining in. I won’t remember the way he held me after our mother died, his tears and mine mingling into a single puddle of heart stopping grief. I won’t remember cuddles or jokes, love or happiness.

  I can’t.

  No, I have to harden my heart. I will think about Macsen’s head rolling off the dais. I will remember Halfreda’s heart stopped by his sword in one cruel movement. Archer attacked and alive only because the teacher came back to save him. Lanorie dead. Molly probably dead.

  He would kill me if he had the chance and I mustn’t forget it. I mustn’t soften my heart for a moment. I will not let him breathe any longer than I have to.

  He will die tomorrow.

  By my hand.

  Or a hand under my command.

  22

  WOLF FINDS THREE RABBITS in various traps set around, and two of them are roasting on the fire. Ginata’s mouth is watering, even as her stomach is twisting. Finn has sunk to the floor as well and appears both upset and defiant depending on when she looks at him. If he catches her watching him, he looks away, shame or guilt making him antsy.

  Millard watches them both with amusement. “Finn, you look a little sad. Not regretting your decision to switch sides, surely?”

  Finn shakes his head quickly in denial.

  While Ginata and Finn are silently brooding, Millard is humming to himself and Wolf is turning the rabbits, ensuring an even cook.

  “Never regret serving your King, Finn. The only other option is disobeying him. And the end comes quickly for people who displease me. Unless you’re unlucky like this one.” He gestures at Ginata, who refuses to look at him. “Not feeling the love today Ginata?”

  She shakes her head and Millard laughs, a nasty sound that fills the small cottage.

  Ceryn comes around with a groan, mopping up the blood from her lip and nose on her mask, pulling it off in the process.

  Despite her injury, she cannot help but grin at the look of shock and repulsion on Millard and Wolf’s faces.

  Millard stands up. “What the hell is that?”

  “Mark of the devil, my King.” Ceryn holds her face up to the light so he can see it all the better. “Do you like it?”

  Millard is glancing from her face to the hand he used to strike her, turning white with fear. “Is it catching?”

  Ceryn shrugs. “Let’s wait and see, shall we?”

  “Ginata. Is it catching?”

  Ceryn watches Ginata closely, looking for the love between King and servant. She cannot see it. Ginata looks sick. She lifts her head, and looks at Ceryn, the angry red mark that stains her skin. “Who can say?”

  “Do not toy with me. I will kill you both. Is. It. Catching?”

  Ginata shakes her head, her gaze resting on the floor again. “I don’t think so.”

  “Think or know?”

  “Know.”

  He takes a deep breath, malevolence tinging his features again, mixed with definite relief. “Well that puts me in a good mood. And let me tell you both, I am feeling remorse today. I have been thinking about poor Lanorie, how she died with no witness, no one to shed a tear for her, and I won’t do that to you two. I want to make sure Everleigh is watching every move I make when I kill you pair tomorrow.”

  Ceryn spits on the floor. “Everleigh will kill you the minute she lays eyes on you. She cannot wait for the end of your life to come, your last breath. She will celebrate for a year or more. Spit on your grave.” She snorts. “What grave? The river and the Ashes are too good for you. And she’d never want you buried near her dear mother. Sorry, your mother. The animals can have you. And when I don’t come back to the castle she’ll come looking for me.”

  “Wolf!” Wolf comes to Millard’s side and they have a whispered conversation before Wolf leaves the cottage. They hear a loud whistle from outside and the sound of footsteps running. Wolf comes back inside and nods at Millard.

  “Now where was I?” Millard lifts his hand to hit Ceryn again and she juts out her chin, inviting him to touch her mark. He stops himself, kicking the chair she’s sat on instead.

  “Everleigh hasn’t a chance. I have Wolf and my soldiers. She has only three protectors. And I have one of them here.”

  Finn lowers his head.

  “Unless I’m missing anything? Finn?”

  Finn looks up, shaking his head.

  “No hidden army that I’ve missed?”

  Finn shakes his head again and Ginata and Ceryn both want to shed a tear for him. Whatever prompted him to betray Everleigh and a cause close to his sister’s heart, he seems to have changed his mind about helping his King any further. He is keeping the secret of Weaver’s mission, for whatever reason, and when Millard finds out he will end his life, for sure.

  “So, an easy mission, then. Kill you pair, with witnesses, kill Everleigh, kill anyone who tries to stop me or gets in my way, is pretty much my plan.”

  Wolf takes the rabbits off the fire, putting one on a plate for Millard and the other one on a plate for himself.

  “Nothing for Finn here? Our newest and most helpful friend?” Millard’s voice has gone a touch higher, laced with menace. Finn scrabbles to his feet.

  Wolf nods and pulls a leg off his rabbit, passes it to Finn, whose hand is shaking.

  “And of course, you girls wanted to know how I know young Finn. To understand why he’s helped me, when he was in your band of merry men?”

  Ceryn snarls at Finn and Ginata can’t help but smile. If Millard didn’t kill him, Ceryn might.

  “Why don’t you tell them Wolf? After all, you recruited him.”

  Wolf nods, fat from the rabbit dribbling down his chin. “Met him in the pub. Crying into a cup of ale.”

  Millard claps his hands. “And guess why he was crying? When Wolf got him talking – after several more drinks – guess why he was sad, poor boy?”

  Ginata and Ceryn both shake their heads. Finn has frozen, rabbit leg half way to his mouth.

  “Broken hearted, our boy was.”

  Finn shakes his head, a sad look on his face, resignation too.

  “Our boy here has been in love with my darling sister since he was a lad, helping his father cart meat up to the castle. And he thought he was in with a chance. Archer was dead – or so we all thought – and she was ripe for the plucking. And then, just as Finn here was warming up, getting ready to swoop in, Archer’s back from the dead, Everleigh’s madly in love again, nigh on ignoring him, and he has to drown his sorrows.”

  “Pity he met me,” Wolf says, eyes dancing.

  “Ready for a new cause, he was, something to help heal his broken heart. His angry hear
t. Would have killed her too, I believe, if I’d have let him. Of course, that’s my job. I wouldn’t let anyone else do it. Her head is mine. And the crown upon it.”

  Tears are falling down Finn’s cheeks, splashing on the rabbit’s leg.

  Ginata feels a deep tenderness towards him, knowing what it’s like to be ensnared by this affable young King. Ceryn wants to scratch his eyes out.

  “Wolf. Eat up, then tie my two beauties up together. They’ll keep.”

  “And me?”

  Ginata

  THE HOPE AND REVERENCE in Finn’s voice as he asks Millard what his fate will be, breaks my heart. I recognise the tone of voice, the hope that you have pleased him. That he might spare you when he’s killed so many others.

  Surely Finn knew this.

  I did. But I hoped anyway. In the end, it’s all you have.

  “And you?” Millard steps to Finn’s side. “You picked the wrong team, sorry. Win or lose Everleigh would never have killed you. She might never have loved you, but she would never have hurt you. Me, on the other hand, I love hurting people. It makes me happy. Makes me feel strong and powerful. Despicable I know, but true.”

  Finn is backing towards the door, as if he’s got a hope of escaping. He must have been so bitter about Archer if that’s really the reason he betrayed Everleigh. Love can be toxic; don’t I know it.

  I look at Millard now that his attention is on Finn, and, maybe because I know he’s going to kill me, if he can, I feel nothing for him. Not even disgust or fury. I am numb to him.

  I see his beautiful face, his strong body, his fine clothes and I am indifferent. Will I live or die? I find I am indifferent to that too. Removed.

  If he will kill me, he will kill me.

  If someone can save me, then they will save me.

  I am an observer now.

  I watch Ceryn.

  She is squirming with fury and impotence. She would kill every one of us in here if she could get herself free, I don’t doubt it. She must hate me with a passion, and yet she hasn’t looked at me with the anger she has directed at Finn, or Wolf or Millard.

  And Finn. Poor Finn is crying, still creeping backwards, desperate to make a run for it, I think. Not going to happen.