It didn’thelp.
She lay beneath him panting, pleased, glowing. “You don’t say much, do you?”
He pulled out. The wet sound between them was louder than her voice.
She whimpered as he stood, reaching for her dress. “Will you see me again?”
“No.”
He didn’t look at her as she left.
Chapter five
Whispers on the Eastern Front
The map room smelled faintly of ink and old parchment, of wax seals broken and remade. Morning light bled through the mullioned windows, casting the tables in gold and dust. Across one of them lay a vast map of the realm—ink rivers winding through valleys, banners marking borders, pins and string tracing the fragile line between peace and war.
Aerion leaned over it, robe open at the throat, fingers glittering with rings that caught the light like small, defiant suns. “Tell me again,” he said, exhaustion nagging at his voice, “how many soldiers they’ve moved to the eastern ridge.”
Captain Thorne, a scarred man in the Archduke’s service, cleared his throat. “As of the latest report, my lord: five companies. Nearly three thousand men. Mostly archers and light cavalry.”
“And all of them gathered under the banner of Redmere.” Aerion’s gaze sharpened, following the crimson pin that marked the enemy’s border. “They haven’t dared this much movement since the Treaty of Silverspire.”
“Provocation, my lord,” Thorne said grimly. “Or preparation. Our scouts say they’ve built new fortifications along the river. They claim it’s for flood defense.”
Aerion’s mouth curled. “Ah yes, the yearly floods that require catapults and siege engines. I’ve heard they can be quite stubborn.”
The room’s laughter was nervous, fleeting. None of the men present—officers, aides, even the cartographer hunched in the corner—missed the tension beneath Aerion’s mockery.
He straightened, resting one hand on the map, fingers splayed over the borderlands. “If Redmere wants war, they’ll find our walls ready. My father’s bond with the king was forged on battlefields far worse than this.”
One of the younger aides shifted uneasily. “With respect, my lord, the Archduke’s health—”
Aerion’s eyes cut to him, sharp enough to still the air. “My father’s strength is not in question. Nor his loyalty. The king trusts him above all his lords, and by extension, his son.”
It was known, but not spoken of, that in the bloody fight between princes for the throne, Archduke Valemont, the second prince, slaughtered his brothers to place the current King, his younger brother and the fifth prince, on the throne.
Clyde stood at the far wall, silent as ever. His eyes tracked Aerion’s every motion, the tilt of his head, the restless way his hand lingered over the map. There was sharpness beneaththe performance, a calculating mind hiding under the peacock’s plumage.
Aerion tapped the table once. “We’ll double patrols along the eastern watchtowers. Send word to Fort Halvern that they’re to keep signal fires ready. And recall the Third Cavalry from the southern border—if Redmere marches, they’ll strike north first.”
Thorne hesitated. “And the reports of… the creatures, my lord?”
The question hung strangely in the air. Even the torches seemed to flicker.
Aerion’s expression shifted—small, barely there, but enough that Clyde noticed. “Creatures,” he repeated. “You mean the demons.”
“I wouldn’t use that word, my lord,” Thorne said carefully. “But yes. Our men claim they’ve seen things in the forests. Wolves that don’t bleed. Boar carcasses torn apart from within. One patrol went missing two nights ago—no tracks, no struggle. Just gone.”
Aerion’s gaze drifted toward the window, where morning light struggled through the fog rolling down from the hills. “And this is nowhere near the border?”
“No, my lord. The sightings are west of the river, deep within our own lands.”
The silence that followed was thick as tar. Aerion’s fingers stilled on the table. When he spoke, his voice was softer, stripped of its usual mockery. “It’s not Redmere, then.”
“No, my lord.”
Clyde stepped forward, his tone low but certain. “Whatever it is, it moves like a predator, not an army. Your walls won’t stop it.”
