Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“To take down the king.”
“Perhaps that is more lofty than what I had in mind. But to stand up to him, certainly. For what he did to all of us.”
My gaze toured the room, looking into the faces of the women, seeing the hardness in their eyes, the scars on their skin.
“Where did you find all these women?”
“Freed them from the work camps, mostly. Though, I, um, liberated a few from abusive domestic situations. Brought them here. Trained them. Honed them.”
“Into weapons.”
“Into women who would never have to know the hand of a violent man again,” Mendalyn corrected. “Including those employed by your father.”
“I plan to close those camps.”
“And what would you do with all the prisoners?”
“Reevaluate their crimes, if crimes even exist, and punish accordingly.”
“And those punishments…”
“Would never include the brutalities and indignities I know are happening to the women there now.”
“And the children. And some of the men,” another woman called.
“Children have no place in camps to begin with,” I said, gut twisting at the very idea.
“And what about the military?” Mendalyn asked.
“What about them?”
“How would you handle them, knowing they are guilty of crimes against innocent citizens as well?”
“If that is the case, they will each be questioned and punished as well.”
“You’ll lose a lot of men.”
“Not good men.”
“You will need more protection,” Mendalyn said, chin lifting.
I glanced around the room.
“Seems like your crew might be up for the job.”
“If you prove yourself worthy of us, we would be glad to serve a more just king.”
“If I have any kingdom left after that,” I said, waving a hand back toward the direction of the palace.
“We have some scouts out there,” Mendalyn said. “They will let us know when it’s safe to make our way back.”
“You plan to come with me?” I asked.
“Not all of us, no. Just me and some scouts. Not until your father has been removed from power.”
“Yeah. I think that plan needs to move forward immediately.”
“Maybe you can have your wife help.”
“My wife?”
“Give him the Grimwood treatment,” one of the women said, smirking.
“His face fell right in his plate,” another woman added, getting a few snickers.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, feeling like I was missing an important piece of information.
“The poison,” the first woman said. “She was so slick with it, too.”
“What poison?”
“The poison your wife slipped into her fake-father’s wineglass,” Mendalyn said, brows pinching. “Didn’t you know?”
“Serin wouldn’t… she wouldn’t know how…”
“I bet it was Stillwater,” another woman mused. “A Daughter of the Lake would know all about that.”
No.
She wouldn’t.
Would she?
But then my memory flashed back. To the damn redcaps. To the way they were being carried out on a stretcher, looking as gray and limp as Grimwood had.
If she was working on a little poison project, though, why had she been keeping it from me?
“You know who she is?” I asked.
“I worked for Grimwood when I was a girl,” the woman told me. “I know Gemma. That’s not Gemma.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “Grimwood kidnapped, drugged, and put Serin in Gemma’s place. But she is my wife. And she will be my queen when I take my throne.”
“Well, a queen who will discreetly drug your political enemies certainly seems like an asset.”
“I saw her saving that young girl,” one of the small, young women in the back said from where she was perched on a top bunk.
“Wait. You saw her? Serin?” I asked, hope swelling. “When? Was she hurt?”
“There was blood all over her face, but it wasn’t hers. She was dragging a girl around with her, trying to get her to safety. But things were getting too wild. I fled back here. I didn’t see anything else.”
She’d been spotted, though.
Uninjured.
Well enough to help someone even more vulnerable than herself. That had to count for something. I had to believe that she could get them both back to the palace.
Because the other reality was too unthinkable.
“The other scouts should be back soon,” Mendalyn, seeming to read the direction of my thoughts, assured me. “They will have more information.”
“Would they also have information on Vishen and Nira?”
“Their instructions were to keep a close eye on everyone closely related to the royal family.”
“Do you want us to see to that?” she asked, nodding toward my face.
I reached up, feeling wetness on my cheek.
There’d been a sword. A slice of pain. But then the adrenaline had made me numb to it.
“No, I’m good.”
“Letting it get infected won’t help you get back to your wife any sooner,” a woman with umber skin and a shaved head said as she approached. “Sit,” she demanded as she grabbed a basket full of little glass bottles that clinked together as she set it on a table.
“You look familiar,” I said, but couldn’t place her.
“I worked under your father’s healer when I was a girl. I had long braids back then.”