Page 4 of The Last of the Dark Lords

He glared at me, and then bowed his head. “Yes, Grandmother.”

“Please rise,” Grandmother said, gesturing to Jelenna, who got off her knees. “You mustn't let Athard get to you, Skye. When he is Prime, the two of you must work together. You will be all that’s left of the Adfelds, at least until one of you has children. ”

“Yes, Grandmother.” Athard had deliberately provoked me, and I was annoyed that I’d let his words get to me. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He wore a spoiled pout. “When he speaks of the Archers like that—”

“I know, my love.” Grandmother smiled. “When your parents died, you found your purpose in the Archers and the defense of Greatfalls. Athard had other pursuits.”

I nodded. It took a small effort not to say out loud what I thought, that his pursuits were foolish and selfish. More fighting would be pointless.

“Would you rather you were heir?” she asked.

Athard sputtered at Grandmother’s words. He opened his mouth to speak, but Grandmother silenced him with a sharp look.

“Commander of the Archers is all the title that I want.” Jelenna placed a hand on my back. I was lucky she was so often there to calm me. “I’m not interested in politics.”

“Then as his family, his most important support system, we must help him grow into his role as Prime.”

Athard mumbled something under his breath, but I ignored it. Grandmother was right. Our strength was as the Prime family. I wouldn’t do anything to undermine that.

Grandmother stepped back from the table, sitting down slowly in a large wooden chair. “Now tell me why you are here in the middle of the day. Shouldn’t you be with your company?”

“I come from them. And although I wouldn’t call them unruly,” I said, glaring at Athard, “theywereunsettled. Any word from the scouts?”

“No.” Her face was inscrutable. “The last report said the Dark Lord’s troops were thirty leagues to the southeast. They have stopped advancing on us.”

“We aren’t his target, then.” Athard had shrugged off his petulant mood to participate in the conversation. At least he could take things seriously when it was required.

“Who do you think the target is, if not us?” Grandmother asked. “Between Ashfuror and here there’s only wasteland for a hundred leagues in either direction, and behind us are the mountains. No Dark Lord has crossed the mountains since long before I was born. Who knows what lies on the other side.”

“He’s coming here,” I said.

“Yes.”

I was suddenly aware of the sweat sticking to my palms. I was not particularly prone to fear, but the last of the Dark Lords was something else. He was a figure of terror, and he was responsible for the great tragedy of my life.

Athard reacted to the alarm on my face. “Don’t be such a coward.”

I didn’t respond. He wasn’t wrong. I was a military commander, not a milkmaid. But I was overwhelmed with flashes of memories from when I was young.

“Skye,” Grandmother said. “Do not let your emotions be ruled by grim rumors of the Lord of Ashfuror.”

“The death of our mother and father is not a rumor, Grandmother. He killed your son and took our parents from us. To murder diplomats on a peace mission…” I wrestled my voice under control as it threatened to crack with childhood grief. “I can’t even remember their faces. He took away my chance to know them.”

“I know, my love.” Grandmother stood, coming to me and enveloping me in her arms, the top of her head brushing my chin. It was always astonishing to me how this tiny woman could exude such strength. “I miss them both, every day.”

Athard grunted and stomped out of the room. He was impossible.

Grandmother broke from me and stepped back, her hands on both of my arms as she continued. “Pay him no mind. You know he cannot stand thinking about your mother and father. Someday he will learn that there is strength in confronting the past head on. But listen. We have always stood against the Dark Lords, and we will against Cyrus as well.”

“Cyrus? That’s his name?” Jelenna’s voice cut through my anxiety with her curiosity.

“Yes, dear,” Grandmother answered. “His father is the one who killed my son and his wife.”

I blinked in confusion. I had always assumed that the current Dark Lord and the killer of my mother and father were one and the same.

“How did he die?” My voice wavered as I spoke. As an adolescent I had imagined leaving Greatfalls, riding beyond the wall and into the wasteland to Ashfuror to track down my parents’ murderer and mete out justice. I had let that fantasy go years ago, but a small part of me held onto the idea that one day I might get revenge.

“You were so young at the time.” Grandmother closed her eyes, as if conjuring a memory. “After your parents were murdered, we were able to get an assassin through to Ashfuror. He managed to take out the Dark Lord, although he lost his life in the process. It’s not something I’ve spoken about much. The people of Greatfall can get…upset about the realities of political rule.”

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