Manon leveled a cold look at him. “I missed breakfast this morning, human. I’d be careful if I were you.”
The lord only smiled.
She leaned back in her chair. “Why did you summon me this time?”
“I need another coven.”
Manon kept her face blank. “What of the Yellowlegs you already have?”
“They are recovering well and will be ready for visitors soon.”
Liar.
“A Blackbeak coven this time,” the duke pressed.
“Why?”
“Because I want one, and you’ll provide one, and that’s all you need to know.”
You let them do this.
She could feel Sorrel’s gaze on the back of her head.
“We’re not whores for your men to use.”
“You are sacred vessels,” the duke said. “It is an honor to be chosen.”
“I find that a very male thing to assume.”
A flash of yellowing teeth. “Pick your strongest coven, and send them downstairs.”
“That will require some consideration.”
“Do it fast, or I will pick myself.”
You let them do this.
“And in the meantime,” the duke said as he rose from his seat in a swift, powerful movement, “prepare your Thirteen. I have a mission for you.”
Manon sailed on a hard, fast wind, pushing Abraxos even as clouds gathered, even as a storm broke around the Thirteen. Out. She had to get out, had to remember the bite of the wind on her face, what unchecked speed and unlimited strength were like.
Even if the rush of it was somewhat diminished by the rider she held in front of her, her frail body bundled up against the elements.
Lightning cleaved the air so close by that Manon could taste the tang of the ether, and Abraxos veered, plunging into rain and cloud and wind. Kaltain didn’t so much as flinch. Shouts burst from the men riding with the rest of the Thirteen.
Thunder cracked, and the world went numb with the sound. Even Abraxos’s roar was muted in her dulled ears. The perfect cover for their ambush.
You let them do this.
The rain soaking through her gloves turned to warm, sticky blood.
Abraxos caught an updraft and ascended so fast that Manon’s stomach dropped. She held Kaltain tightly, even though the woman was harnessed in. Not one reaction from her.
Duke Perrington, riding with Sorrel, was a cloud of darkness in Manon’s peripheral vision as they soared through the canyons of the White Fangs, which they had so carefully mapped all these weeks.
The wild tribes would have no idea what was upon them until it was too late.
She knew there was no way to outrun this—no way to avoid it.
Manon kept flying through the heart of the storm.
When they reached the village, blended into the snow and rock, Sorrel swooped in close enough for Kaltain to hear Perrington. “The houses. Burn them all.”
Manon glanced at the duke, then at her charge. “Should we land—”
“From here,” the duke ordered, and his face became grotesquely soft as he spoke to Kaltain. “Do it now, pet.”
Below, a small female figure slipped out of one of the heavy tents. She looked up, shouting.
Dark flames—shadowfire—engulfed her from head to toe. Her scream was carried to Manon on the wind.
Then there were others, pouring out as the unholy fire leaped upon their houses, their horses.
“All of them, Kaltain,” the duke said over the wind. “Keep circling, Wing Leader.”
Sorrel met Manon’s stare. Manon quickly looked away and reeled Abraxos back around the pass where the tribe had been camped. There were rebels among them; Manon knew because she’d tracked them herself.
Shadowfire ripped through the camp. People dropped to the ground, shrieking, pleading in tongues Manon didn’t understand. Some fainted from the pain; some died from it. The horses were bucking and screaming—such wretched sounds that even Manon’s spine stiffened.
Then it vanished.
Kaltain sagged in Manon’s arms, panting, gasping down raspy breaths.
“She’s done,” Manon said to the duke.
Irritation flickered on his granite-hewn face. He observed the people running about, trying to help those who were weeping or unconscious—or dead. Horses fled in every direction.
“Land, Wing Leader, and put an end to it.”
Any other day, a good bloodletting would have been enjoyable. But at his order …
She’d scouted this tribe for him.
You let them do this.
Manon barked the command to Abraxos, but his descent was slow—as if giving her time to reconsider. Kaltain was shuddering in Manon’s arms, nearly convulsing. “What’s wrong with you?” Manon said to the woman, half wondering if she should stage an accident that would end with the woman’s neck snapped on the rocks.
Kaltain said nothing, but the lines of her body were locked tight, as if frozen despite the fur she’d been wrapped in.
Too many eyes—there were too many eyes on them for Manon to kill her. And if she was so valuable to the duke, Manon had no doubt he’d take one—or all—of the Thirteen as retribution. “Hurry, Abraxos,” she said, and he picked up his pace with a snarl. She ignored the disobedience, the disapproval, in the sound.
They landed on a flattened bit of mountain ledge, and Manon left Kaltain in Abraxos’s care as she stomped through the sleet and snow toward the panicking village.
The Thirteen silently fell into rank behind her. She didn’t glance at them; part of her didn’t dare to see what might be on their faces.
The villagers halted as they beheld the coven standing atop the rock outcropping jutting over the hollow where they’d made their home.
Manon drew Wind-Cleaver. And then the screaming started anew.
49
By midafternoon, Aelin had signed all the documents the Master of the Bank brought over, abandoned the Keep to its horrible new owners, and Aedion still hadn’t wrapped his mind around everything that she had done.
Their carriage deposited them at the edge of the slums, and they kept to the shadows as they made their way home, silent and unseen. Yet when they reached the warehouse, Aelin kept walking toward the river several blocks away without so much as a word. Rowan took a step to follow, but Aedion cut him off.
He must have had a death wish, because Aedion even raised his brows a bit at the Fae Prince before he sauntered down the street after her. He’d heard their little fight on the roof last night thanks to his open bedroom window. Even now, he honestly couldn’t decide if he was amused or enraged by Rowan’s words—Don’t touch me like that—when it was obvious the warrior-prince felt quite the opposite. But Aelin—gods above, Aelin was still figuring it out.
She was stomping down the street with delightful temper as she said, “If you’ve come along to reprimand—oh.” She sighed. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to turn around.”
“Not a chance in hell, sweetheart.”
She rolled her eyes and continued on. They walked silently for block after block until they reached the glimmering brown river. A decrepit, filthy length of cobblestone walkway ran along the water’s edge. Below, abandoned and crumbling posts were all that was left of an ancient dock.
She stared out across the muddy water, crossing her arms. The afternoon light was nearly blinding as it reflected off the calm surface. “Out with it,” she said.
“Today—who you were today … that wasn’t entirely a mask.”
“That bothers you? You saw me cut down the king’s men.”
“It bothers me that the people we met today didn’t bat an eye at that person. It bothers me that you were that person for a time.”
“What do you want me to tell you? Do you want me to apologize for it?”
“No—gods, no. I just …” The words were coming out all wrong. “You know that when I went to those war camps, when I became general … I let the lines blur, too. But I was still in the North, still home, among our people. You came here instead, and had to grow up with those piece-of-shit men, and … I wish I’d been here. I wish Arobynn had somehow found me, too, and raised us together.”
“You were older. You never would have let Arobynn take us. The moment he looked away, you would have grabbed me and run.”
True—very true, but … “The person you were today, and a few years ago—that person had no joy, or love.”
“Gods, I had some, Aedion. I wasn’t a complete monster.”
“Still, I just wanted you to know all that.”
“That you feel guilty that I became an assassin while you endured the war camps and battlefields?”
“That I wasn’t there. That you had to face those people alone.” He added, “You came up with that whole plan by yourself and didn’t trust any of us with it. You took on the burden of getting that money. I could have found a way—gods, I would have married whatever wealthy princess or empress you asked me to, if they promised men and money.”
“I’m never going to sell you off like chattel,” she snapped. “And we have enough now to pay for an army, don’t we?”
“Yes.” And then some. “But that’s beside the point, Aelin.” He took a breath. “The point is—I should have been there then, but I am here now. I’m healed. Let me share this burden.”