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Does he really think they’ll carry on with his mission after he’s gone?
Didhehonestly believe in his cause that deeply?
I might not be drugged, but my mind is reeling. I crouch down, my fingers digging into the grass in an attempt to steady myself.
Julita’s voice carries through my mind, hesitant but clear.Well, I suppose you accomplished what you set out to do, even if it wasn’t quite what you expected. You killed Torstem. You fulfilled the king’s orders.
I drag in a gulp of the smoky air, and my stomach starts to settle.
She’s right. I got rid of Torstem like the king wanted, but I did it on my terms. I didn’t shed his blood. He decided his end.
I’m no more of a killer than I was before, and that’s what matters the most.
As I watch the conspirators stumble and cavort around the fire, a small smile crosses my lips with the first flutter of relief. They don’t know it yet, but their reign of wildness is over.
Stavros is on his way with a squadron of soldiers right now. They’ll round up this leaderless gang of traitors, and the conspiracy will die tonight just as Ster. Torstem did.
It’s already starting. A couple of the revelers pause, swaying as they peer around them.
“Wheredidour real leader go?” one of them mumbles. “Did he just… leave us?”
“He became the king!” another crows. “The king died!” Then she pauses. “So Ster. Torstem is dead…”
As confusion starts to spread through the gathering, I think I catch a distant yell where I’m crouched farther back from the fire. It’s too faint for my drugged companions to have made it out yet.
Is that one of Torstem’s sentries, coming to warn them of the incoming soldiers?
I have one more task to complete to ensure my mission’s success.
With the conspirators so dazed, I hardly need much stealth, but I move as swiftly and silently as I can through the wavering shadows. A slash of my favorite blade here and another there sets the restless horses free from one wagon and then next. Swats of the knife’s handle send them galloping away, eager to flee the vicious flames that nearly charred them.
Just as I reach the final wagon, the hollers of alarm become more distinct. “The army’s coming! Gather everything and leave! Where’s Ster. Torstem?”
I don’t wait to find out how the traitors will answer. With one last swipe of my blade, I sever the harness straps holding the last animals in place—and launch myself off the wagon onto one of their backs.
I clutch my steed’s mane and dig in my heels. We race away into the night, leaving the traitors to their fate.
Forty-Eight
Ivy
The sound of voices filtering through a doorway rouses me. I shift beneath the covers and blink, recognizing that I’m somehow in Stavros’s bed.
I found him near the hill after the conspirators were arrested and rode back to Florian alongside him, but as soon as we reached the trio of royal buildings, he sent me to the college on my own with a strict order to sleep. From what I recall, I crashed on the sofa as usual.
He must have carried me over here when he finally returned. Maybe he figured I could use a little extra comfort.
If he shared the bed with me, more chastely than the last time, he’s already gotten up. His voice is the one reverberating through the door now.
“I don’t want to wake her. Last night will have taken a lot out of her.”
Who’s he talking to?
I scramble out of the bed, still wearing the turquoise gown I was too exhausted to peel off last night, and smooth out the wrinkles as well as I can on my way to the door.
“I’m already awake,” I say mildly as I push open the door, and halt on the threshold. “What are you two doing here?”
Alek and Casimir smile back at me from where they’re standing near Stavros, Alek a little sheepishly but Casimir with all his usual warmth.
