Matteo prayed to his ancestors that he would arrive in time to save her.
He led the slow trot through a small city. There was no sign to indicate its name. His cavalry was not met by cheers or crowds. In fact, there was not a soul to be found on the streets. The doors were closed and the windows dark and shuttered. They were in the heart of Kaul. The peasants here would not speak any Sanian or even the high tongue known by the wealthy of the continent.
The hair on his arms stood up, and he felt a shiver start at his toes and run through his entire body. It was like riding through a ghost town, except he knew that it wasn’t vacant. Behind the closed doors and windows were people who hated him and his country. Unconsciously, he picked up the speed of the march. They needed to get out of this village as soon as possible.
A shriek filled the air.
Glancing up, Matteo saw a black bird circling above them, cawing mournfully. The bird continued to fly over them before landing on General de Flores’s shoulder. She caught the bird with one hand, her other still on the reins of her horse. She dropped the reins and untied a message from the bird’s leg before grabbing them again. Once the message was delivered, the bird flew away, cawing loudly.
“The creature must have been looking for Lord Xavier,” she said, unfurling the message. Her eyes scanned the note and he watched the blood drain from her face. The news from Kaul must be bad, for he’d never seen the general express so much emotion in his life.
Gripping his reins tighter so that he wouldn’t tear it from her grasp, he asked, “What news from our spies, General?”
“You were right, Your Majesty,” she said slowly. “Our informer is asking for our position and size. The spymaster was selling our information to the Kauls.”
Matteo bent forward slightly. “Anything else?”
General de Flores lowered her chin until it rested on her chest. “Princess Nora was killed by King Pierre.”
“No! No! No!”
She offered the note to him with a shaking hand. “My deepest condolences, Your Majesty. Nora was the most incredible swordswoman I have ever met.”
He took the letter and quickly read through its short contents, swallowing frequently. His throat felt constricted and his limbs weak. Matteo swallowed again, unable to clear his throat.She was gone.The woman he’d gone to war for was dead. He would never again feel her lips on his mouth or her steel at his throat. Or watching parties together from the roof. Or dancing together in the shadows. He would never get to speak the words that were choking his throat.
“What is your command, Your Majesty?”
Matteo blinked, trying to separate reality from his mind. He was in the middle of a hostile town with only a tithe of his army. If he were wise, he would wait for the infantry to catch up with them before they continued on to the capital and the king’s palace.
But he could not be wise. Not where Nora was concerned. Even dead, he had to get to her body as soon as possible so that the Kauls would not defile it further. It was their tradition to hang traitors’ corpses in a gibbet in the city square. To rot slowly while being spit upon and having rotten vegetables thrown at it. He could not allow King Pierre to treat Nora’s body like a common criminal’s. Nor could he allow the Kaulish king to live after what he had done.
“Prepare to gallop,” Matteo said. “We will attack Cruese tonight and overtake Haute-Rhône Palace tomorrow. I mean to kill the King of Kaul!”
He saw General de Flores’s jaw tighten and he thought for a moment that she was going to defy him. Instead, she lifted her sword and repeated Matteo’s words, loud enough for both cavalry units to hear. She then sheathed her sword and nodded at him.
Digging his heels into his stallion’s flanks, he urged the beast forward and faster. They galloped out of the city and through the countryside. He allowed his horse to break rank and run at his own pace. They covered more miles that way before the sky began to darken.
“There’s a river up ahead,” General de Flores said, pointing her finger. “I suggest we rest our horses for six or seven hours and then attack around four in the morning. It will still be dark, and hopefully, we will take them by surprise.”
Every muscle in Matteo’s body ached from the days in the saddle. Yet he did not want to rest. He wanted—no,needed—to get to Nora as soon as possible. He took a step forward and faltered.
General de Flores grabbed his arm to steady him. “You need to rest, Your Majesty, so that you will be ready to lead us into battle in the morning and then on to Haute-Rhône Palace.”
Matteo released a shuddering breath. “I failed her.”
“And you will avenge her.”
His heart collapsed inside his chest before his legs buckled underneath him and he fell to the ground from exhaustion. Tears fell freely down his cheeks. If only Nora had stayed in Sania. She would have been safe. They could have annulled the proxy marriage to her cousin and lived happily ever after together. They could have danced with their swords and laughed at his terrible poetry and her violent jokes.
But no, Nora was too loyal. And her loyalty to Elea had led her to her death.
“I will avenge her,” he repeated, wiping the tears from his cheeks. “I swear it on my ancestors and on her goddess. King Pierre will bleed for what he has done.”
24
GERARD
After hours of sailing through the black mist, Gerard still did not have a plan, only the steady direction of his compass. It was hard to think whilst in the Dark Channel. His mind kept whirling with the scenes from his visions: Nora’s death, Elea’s kisses, his birth mother with his sword through her chest, the three stone mounds, the sign of his bartered necklace, and the terrible sight of Laird Lochdon’s massacre of the people of Argylly.