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“I want to help him escape from the Hakobyan estate,” I blurted, though I didn’t regret the words once they were out.
Ludvig’s brow flew up. “You want to help that villain?”
I nodded. “If I can help him get out of the Hakobyan estate, I think he’ll go straight to the waterfront and find a way onto a ship headed for one of the kingdoms over the seas. If he can get there without being caught or captured, we’ll never have to see or hear from him again.”
“But if he’s captured and put through some sort of trial or ordeal, he’ll be part of our lives that much longer,” Ludvig said, following my logic.
“And if Magnus kills him outright, the way he did with Bela, or that other man who raped Peter, then I’ll have blood on my hands,” I said.
“And we can’t have that,” Ludvig said with a sympathetic smile.
“So I have to figure out where he’s gone to hide here in the estate, and then I have to figure out how to get him out, even though the estate is locked down.”
“How long does Lord Vikhrov plan to keep the estate sealed up?” Ludvig asked.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Until Eneko’s murderer is found and all the turmoil surrounding the spies is resolved, I suppose. But Ludvig, there’s more.”
“More?” Ludvig arched an eyebrow.
I blew out a breath. “I’m not supposed to tell you what Dmitri told me,” I said. “I told the Sons, and we agreed to keep it a secret for the time being so that Magnus doesn’t just up and kill Dmitri.”
“Because that secret is the only thing keeping Dmitri alive,” Ludvig said, proving he followed my logic.
“Magnus knows that Dmitri has told me,” I said, “but he’s willing to wait a bit before I share with him. He says, and he’s right, that they have other things to worry about, and I assured him that there’s nothing he can do about the information right away anyhow.”
“So, what is the information?” Ludvig asked.
This was it. This was the moment of truth, the moment I broke my vows of secrecy to the other Sons so that I could tell the man I owed so much of my life to a secret that would change his life and mine forever. I felt horribly guilty for betraying my friends…and yet, I felt as though they would understand.
All the same, I leaned very close to him and whispered, “You know all those men General Rufus was recruiting in the eastern forest?”
“Yes,” Ludvig said.
“He isn’t building an army with them, he’s building a kingdom. At least, that’s what Dmitri said.”
“Yes, I know,” Ludvig said, nodding.
My jaw dropped. “You know? How?” And why hadn’t he told me?
Ludvig looked a bit bashful. “I heard the guards placing bets about whether General Rufus would make the king’s city of his new kingdom in Seymchan or whether he would build something new closer to the center of the forest.”
All I could do was gape at Ludvig. All this time, he’d known what Dmitri was keeping a secret. Dmitri couldn’t have known that. Otherwise he would have known there was nothing shielding him from Magnus’s wrath and he never would have come with us to Good Port.
“There’s more.” I rested my hand on the chair beside Ludvig’s leg. “General Rufus knows that King Julius would take exception to him betraying his position to start a kingdom, and that he would send another army after him,” I said. “So he’s planning to destroy the mountain pass connecting the frontier to the Old Realm. He’s going to sever us from the Old Realm completely.”
Ludvig’s eyes lit with understanding. “So the whispers I heard in the hall outside of our study prison were true after all,” he said. “And if he does that, all of this business with spies and King Julius trying to manipulate the frontier from the inside will be a moot point.”
“Exactly,” I said with a nod. “So it won’t matter whether the people or person who committed these murders in Good Port was connected to the Old Realm or not. All that will matter is that Lord Vikhrov has an enemy within his own city.”
“And once that enemy is exposed, they won’t have the support from their king that they thought they would have,” Ludvig said, putting even more pieces together.
“They’re likely to be shamed out of whatever power they have, unless Lord Vikhrov decides to have them banished or executed,” I said.
“And then the only thing Magnus and the rest of us will have to worry about is building up the Wolf River Kingdom and making sure we are all well-fed and prosperous.”
Ludvig and I looked at each other, in complete agreement about what might happen. We were probably in agreement about what Magnus should do next as well.
And it bruised my heart in a way I hadn’t expected. Ludvig and I worked well together, in spite of everything. I wished I could have been more to him. I wished I could have given him everything he’d wanted from me when he’d bought me two years ago.
