Page 129 of The Duke and the Disciple

She stayed to watch the raven fly away and didn’t leave until he disappeared into the stormy night sky.

The final words of her appeal played in her head, over and over, as she stared at the clouds settling over the village.

Tell him it was where my ota, Hraz, and the two of us spent a frosty night. Val will know the place. If he’s inclined to come, he needs to come now, before they find me. You’re the only one I can trust with this.

Don’t forget the grimizhna tea.

“Please,” she said, wiping away the last of her tears as she walked back to the inn to wait.

Slayer of Monsters

Chapter24

A Future Yet to Be Decided

Until Niklaus anxiously slipped him the coded letter from Aesylt, Valerian hadn’t realized it was exactly what he had been waiting for all along.

He’d been chasing her all their lives. As toddlers, in their shared nursery. As adventurous children, through the safe parts of a forest that was almost never theirs. As adults, into a future yet to be decided.

Valerian had never questioned that future would lead to Aesylt as his wife.

Not because she was a Wynter and a political catch.

Not because he was one of the few young men in the Cross worthy of her.

Not even because she was beautiful.

Because he loved her, and she loved him.

And yet, he’d known her promise in the barn was less about love than fear. He hadn’t expected to survive his trial, but he wouldn’t have held her to her word. That was how he knew he loved her, because he’d never shied away from taking what he wanted. All the beauties of the Cross he’d availed himself of in corners and shadows—who kept coming back for more, even after the thrill had subsided—had been delightful reminders he had something worth offering, something more than being the son of Baron Esker Barynov and the spare heir of Hoarfrost.

The name would take him no further. His father had chosen treachery with his whole heart. No matter how the current conflict resolved, the Barynovs would fall, and far. Valerian didn’t care where he landed, only that he was likely to lose what mattered most.

He’d alreadybeenlosing Aesylt, inch by inch, ever since the scholar had ridden into town, offering the things Valerian could not. Oh, how he’d tried though. It wasn’t even pretending, because he’d desperatelywantedto share everything with Aesylt; he needed to understand her curiosity about the world, her passion for discovery. And if he hadn’t wanted any of it so badly, he never would have learned Old Ilynglass, and he wouldn’t be riding to Voyager’s Rest on the heels of her desperate plea.

It all had to do with the scholar somehow. When Valerian had learned she’d been sent away with Tindahl, he’d never known such raw jealousy in his life. Such animosity.

But in the end, Aesylt had called forhim.

And he hadn’t, not for a second, debated whether he would answer.

Drazhan wasn’t blind.Nor was he a fool, at least not a great one. He hadn’t missed the longing glances passed between his baby sister and the scholar, nor Imryll’s almost amusing neutrality on the matter.

Until Rahn had stormed into his bedchamber in a panic, stammering about his “gut feeling” that something was wrong with Aesylt—a gut feeling that turned out to be suspiciously accurate—Drazhan had just never dreamed the man was foolish enough to act on any of it.

It reminded him of how he’d behaved when he’d thought his revenge against the crown had cost Imryll her life. Ten years of careful restraint had shattered at the thought of a world without her.

But Drazhan had let this maninto his homeand trusted him with Aesylt’s safety.

He would deal with the duke later.

Aesylt was missing.

Her note said onlyI will no longer let our village suffer. If you feel the same way, you’ll let me go.

“She cannot... She cannotpossiblythink...” Rahn rattled the chair he held tight to.

“Why was she sleeping in the keep?” Imryll asked as she fastened her robe. She was unsteady on her feet, having only fallen asleep a bit ago. No chance, however, he could convince her to go back to bed.

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