Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

He lied to Lyv.

He didn't show up the next afternoon. Didn't even show up in the week after, even to meet with the king. Both of them sent ravens, asking if they were okay and why they hadn't heard from them. Neither he nor Gideon answered.

He told Gideon what he overheard happening in the queen's rooms the moment his friend was sober the next morning at the cottage.

"So those rumors are true," Gideon murmured into his cup. Jett was sitting on his shoulder, trying to get a drop of the tea himself. "The queen is basically trying to start a rebellion."

"And by the sounds of it, her plans of starting are almost complete."

He snorted. "And controlling the guardsmen by the cocks, it sounds like. What is the plan to track down more information?"

"Remember what we did in Ajolak a few years back?"

Gideon's grin was answer in and of itself.

They stayed in the city, renting a room at an inn near the northern gates. The plan was easy to formulate, especially when they'd done something similar before. They slept all day and went out at night...hunting.

It was easy, tracking down the guardsmen in the night. They were patrolling the streets, drinking in taverns, and laying with whores in the pleasure houses. But when they dragged them out into darkened alleyways, pulling back the hoods of their cloaks, most of the guardsmen were so frightened they talked immediately. The information they were giving up, however, wasn't what they were needing.

It wasn't until the fourth night that he overheard a few guardsmen in a tavern...and recognized one of the voices as the one he'd heard with the queen.

So, they sat and waited, listening to them from outside the tavern talk about nothing of importance...until they were discussing a hidden cache of weapons hidden in the mountains of Ceron. He glanced at Gideon, who undoubtedly heard as well.

"...we only have a few more weeks," the guardsman said quietly, even though the rowdy crowd wouldn't have heard anyway. "You know what our orders are. She will give the word when everything is in place. Then we will not have to stay silent under the reign of an idiot king who wants us to side with monsters."

Several of the guardsmen he was speaking with murmured their agreement.

He and Gideon stood in the alleyway across from the tavern, both of them fading into the shadows so no one would see them. It wasn't until the men left that they stepped from those shadows and pulled the young guardsman into the alleyway.

"Who the f-?" he started, but then choked as he tightened his hand around his throat, slamming his head back against the stone wall.

"Tell us what you know," he demanded. "And do not think I cannot get it from you one way or another."

The guardsman raked his fingernails across his hands and arms, trying to get him to loosen his grip. It didn't even hurt him or break the skin. He didn't budge.

Lifting a hand, he pulled back the hood of his cloak and the guardsman's eyes widened before a seething look flared in his gaze.

Hand loosening enough so he could speak, the guardsman spat at him. "My queen will rule these lands without that traitorous husband of hers. She has seen him time and time again fraternizing with you of all people. That will end soon. And before long, her reign will extend from Escarral to Dalcaine...once she gets that bitch of a daughter to do what she wants her to."

"What are her plans with the princess?" He slammed his head against the stone again and growled. "Tell me!"

Spitting at him again, the guardsman merely laughed. "The queen has a friend in your land...one more powerful than you will ever know. It is only a matter of time."

He growled again, this time in anger and frustration, and snapped the neck of the guardsman without a second thought.