Page 14 of Her Cruel Redemption (The Dark Reflection #3)

Chapter Fourteen

T he fire in the hearth crackled weakly, barely cutting through the damp chill of the ruined keep. The walls were stone, old and scarred by war, the scent of mildew thick in the air. The long wooden table before me was littered with maps and reports, ink bleeding at the edges from the ever-present moisture.

I stood at the head of the table, one hand braced against the wood, the other curled into a fist so tight my nails bit into my palm. There were others in the room. The commander of a company of soldiers from Yaakandale, a handful of Morwarians, a couple of local soldiers who'd proven themselves. Mercenaries, loyalists and killers, banded together to weed out dissent in this part of the country. There'd been another spate of rebellious outbursts, a few lords pining for the old Brimordian crown stirring trouble. We had a network of new recruits and people willing to pass on information, so we'd caught them quickly enough. But now this .

'Garlein,' I said, voice low. 'That was the last sighting?'

One of my lieutenants, a man with graying hair and a scar bisecting his jaw, exhaled, peering closer to the paper he was examining. 'Two days ago. If they were moving east, that puts them—'

'Out of our reach if we don't move now,' another cut in.

The thought gnawed at me, sinking deep into the place where anger lived and betrayal festered. Months of waiting. Of tracking her. Of chasing shadows. And now she was slipping through my fingers again.

'How sure are they that it was Princess Gwinellyn and the queen?' the lieutenant asked. 'This report is full of gaps. They engaged the group and then fled but make no mention of the weaponry or the numbers they were dealing with. One of them taken captive, and then there's something about being left bound in a tree.' He raised his eyebrows, glancing up. 'It sounds like a load of horseshit to me.'

I barely heard him. My eyes traced the map, following the roads she could have taken, imagining her slipping through darkened alleys, keeping her head down, hiding.

Did she fear me? Or did she believe I wouldn’t catch her?

If the early rumours were true, then the princess hoped to find allies in Oceatold. Raise an army. Move against me. This was the part of the news everyone else in this room was fixated on. If Gwinellyn crossed the border and joined those who'd already fled, others would follow, swelling their numbers. Others still would rise within our borders, bolstered by the ray of hope for a return to the old regime and familiar structures of power and order. Would Rhiandra really stoop to allying herself with the vermin who'd made it over the border? With parasitic druthi and petulant lords and the sly King of Oceatold? The thought twisted through me, something dark and jagged. After everything she had done and after everything we had been, did she truly believe she could just slip away?

The heavy iron doors of the keep groaned open. A scout strode in, dripping wet, boots squelching against the stone floor. I lifted my gaze. The room stilled.

The scout bowed his head. 'We have confirmation. They were seen on the road to Oceatold this morning.'

My fingers began to tap out a slow rhythm against the map beneath my hand. 'Have they crossed the River Cro?'

'No, my lord. They were sighted near Amerra.'

I turned my gaze back to the map, tracing it along the thin line of the river. 'Good.'

How would it feel to see her again? I pictured her laughing, her voice rich and full of something almost real. Dropping her head against my shoulder as I poured water through her hair. Whispering in the dark, the warmth of her skin against mine. Standing before me clutching the dagger a moment before she betrayed me. Choosing to betray me.

She had made her choice. And I would make mine.

I inhaled, slow and steady, forcing the storm inside me into something sharp, something that could be wielded. When I spoke, my voice was controlled.

'Then we leave,' I said. 'Now.'

My lieutenants nodded, already moving, but the scout hesitated. 'They're in a group. We don't know who's with them.'

It didn’t matter. Because in the end, no one would save her from me.

This time, she would not escape.