Page 54 of The Empty Throne

The man opened his mouth to clearly tellBittersea to fuck off, or something along those lines, thenabruptly snapped it. After a pause he said, "Captain Macker, he'sin the gatehouse."

Bittersea threw the little fishy back andheaded for the gatehouse. People cleared out of his way, despitethe fact that in this weather and all his layers, they wouldn't beable to see much. Nor would they likely recognize him. Prey wasgood at sensing a lurking predator, though.

Inside, he removed the wrappings from hishead and face. "Where is Captain Macker?"

"Who in Shatar's cunt are you?" the man inthe middle of the fracas demanded.

Bittersea smiled, causing those nearest himto recoil sharply. "I am Jethue Bittersea, spy and knife for HisMajesty the Late King Wendeth, and charged with deliveringknowledge and proof of his heir into the hands of Regent Myre. Ifyou do not believe me, contact Cremin, and Acting Regent SobekiMyre will speak for me. I'd say my fiancé would also speak for me,but I'm afraid I've no idea where he is."

"Your fiancé?" Macker asked warily. Athearing his name, the soldiers had retreated even further from him,idle chatter falling away to dead silence. Bittersea did so enjoyhow easy it was to instill fear without doing any more than givinghis name. Even if he hated his name, especially the given one heshared with his worthless fucking father.

Bittersea removed his gloves and presentedhis right hand, where the jewels in his ring gleamed a rich, darkblue not quite turning purple. Soon, though. "I am betrothed toLord Cohea Szelis, the Duke of Lindquist."

"That's a Ring of Binding," a soldierblurted, some poor private who quailed when Bittersea looked athim. "Those aren't legal."

"Neither is killing people," someone elsemuttered, making Bittersea genuinely laugh.

"I wear it on order of His Late Majesty, toprove my devotion. Now if we are done wasting time, I want to knoweverything you do, and I need transportation to Cremin. I havepapers vital to the survival of the kingdom that must be delivered,and I'd prefer not to spill blood to secure a way there, delightfulthough that would be."

Macker and those around him clearly couldn'ttell if he was joking or not. Eventually, Macker said, "There'snone left. We gave everything we had to the civilians so they couldget out of here. We're hoping to fight off the vanguard, buy a bitmore time for escape. That's all we really can do."

That was so nauseatingly honorable, he couldpractically hear Lindquist crooning his approval. "How noble ofyou. What information do you have on the vanguard?"

"Twenty strong, according to the scouts thatreached us."

Twenty? It must have been more than that tostart with. Well done to those who'd trimmed the numbers. "What areyour numbers?"

"I've retained fifty soldiers; the rest aregoing with the fleeing civilians."

That was adorable. Lindquist would be besidehimself over the saccharine stupidity of these loyal soldiers. Whata pity they were all going to die before Lindquist could coo atthem in approval. "When are they expected to arrive?"

"Soon," Macker said grimly. "Even in thisweather, they'll likely arrive within the next half hour. We'reevacuating people as quickly as we can, but the rest of the royalarmy hasn't made it this far yet, and they probably won't for a fewmore days."

If at all, given the weather, but nobodyneeded to say that aloud.

Bittersea moved to the rickety table in thecorner. "I'll take whatever tea and food you have around thisplace." When Macker's pasty face went apple red, he added, "I amgoing to be using a great deal of magic in the fight coming ourway."

That stopped Macker short. "I didn't know youhad magic, uh, my lord?"

Bittersea laughed. "I'm no lord. Theystripped my title from me after I murdered my entire family,remember? Food and tea, now."

Two of the younger soldiers nearly fell overeach other scrambling to obey, and everyone suddenly realized theyhad somewhere else to be, leaving Bittersea and Macker alone.

"You're a murderer, self-admitted," Mackerspat into the silence. "Why did His Majesty just let you flit aboutdoing as you like? There's no way you're actually betrothed to HisGrace."

Bittersea laughed again, but this laugh wassoft and sharp and sibilant. "You're a murderer too, Captain."

Macker bristled. "I am nothing like you!"

"No, you're not, but that doesn't mean you'renot a murderer. How many people have you killed over the years?Nobody makes it up the ranks by keeping their hands clean, and ifyou're here in such a pivotal town along the conquering road, yoursare probablyverydirty. Murder is murder, Captain. Youdon't give a single damn that I've killed. You're simply bitterthat it doesn't bother me, that I'm not suffering nightmares andoverdrinking and a guilty conscience like the rest of you." Hesmiled, sharp as his blades. "Do you really want to continue thisdiscussion?"

Instead of replying, Macker stormedout—nearly crashing into the cadets bringing in the requested food.One of them called after him, but Macker ignored it, vanishing intothe whirling snow.

The two men approached, looking equal partsterrified and fascinated as they set down a tray of food and a potof tea, the kind where the pot set on top of the cup, the poorthing battered and bruised from a life serving soldiers. "Thankyou."

Instead of leaving, the men lingered, untilone of them finally worked up the courage to ask the predictablequestion. "Did you really murder your entire family?"

"Yes."

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