Page 138 of The Duke and the Disciple

Rahn urgedhis horse to the limit, chasing Drazhan’s grueling pace as they stormed the Compass Road on their push north. The deafening thunder of hooves drowned out the sharpest points of his imagination, which had been on a wild tear.

Voyager’s Rest was their destination, the seeker had claimed, with more confidence than Rahn thought appropriate for someone who had merely sniffed a nightgown, rolled their eyes back as though possessed by the mythical demons themselves, and spit the words out with a snake-like hiss that had half the room cowering in alarm. But it was all anyone had, and he wasn’t opposed to calling upon the darkest magic out there if that was what it took to find her.

The soothsayer believed Aesylt wasn’t alone. At least two men were with her, one who loved her and one bent on her destruction.

The second had to be Marek. Everyone assumed the first was Valerian, which gave startling validity to Pieter’s disturbing claim.

Drazhan had sent a dozen of his men back to Witchwood Cross and another dozen south on the Compass Road, just in case. The other twenty-five joined them on their hard ride to Voyager’s Rest.

The village was a waypoint stop approximately midway between Witchwood Cross and Wulfsgate. Drazhan said he’d stayed there once with his father, and so had Aesylt, on another trip. Her familiarity gave the seeker’s proclamation further legitimacy.

Drazhan raised a hand, and the contingent came to a sliding halt. He spun his horse to face everyone, wiping snow off his scarf, and waited for the rabble to subside. “We’ve reached the outskirts of the village, and in another half a mile, we’ll be within the border. The town itself is small, but the farmland extends for miles. If Marek Barynovisthere, Aesylt is already in danger. I, Tindahl, and four of my guards will approach the main roadquietlyand search the inns.Uli will lead a company to the south, Lord Rustan to the west, Lord Pieter to the east, and Baron Augher will hold a barrier in the north. No one is getting in or out of this village without coming through us, and anyone who resists leaves us with but one choice and no hesitation. Clear?”

Everyone gave their enthusiastic assent.

“Uli, you divide the men for the perimeters.”

“Tak,” Uli said. “On it.”

“Pieter, send the healer with us. Keep the others with you.”

Pieter nodded.

Drazhan looked at Rahn. “I made you that sword because all men—all women—should have steel. But if you don’t know how to use it, then keep it sheathed, unless you want it taken and used against you.”

Rahn’s head was swimming. Pain. Confusion. Gods, was he soaked—to the very bones of the bones, as his mother would have said, but his mother wasn’t there. Neither were his father or Jemma, because they were still in the inky-black sea all the others, bobbing for something to hold onto. Rahn had been right there with them, until a wave had carried him away, sending him crashing into the rocks.

He reached for his side and pulled back blood. That was when the swoon hit.

“Mama,” he moaned and stumbled onto his face. “Papa. Jemma.” He threw up into a tangle of mossy weeds.

“Jemma!” His mother howled, but it was the following sound, the feral, guttural cry coming from his father, that gave Rahn the strength to rise to his feet.

He squinted against the moon’s blinding reflection, because he couldn’t trust what his eyes were seeing. Dacian Rhiagain, Carrow’s eldest, was wielding a wooden plank. He smashed it to Jemma’s head, and she slipped off of the wreckage and into the sea.

Rahn raced down the slippery rocks to the sound of his own screams. He looked up right as his mother went flailing into the sea... and then his father and then... Calder Rhiagain staring directly at him from the piece of wreckage he’d wrested from Rahn’s loved ones. Smiling. Laughing. He pointed, and Dacian looked up as well. Smirking.

“Adrahn?”

Shrill ringing shook his balance. “Lost myself for a moment.” Not just for a moment but for the second time that day. Aesylt had been enduring the same experience with her own dark history, and she’d linked the resurgence of memories with her heightened physical and emotional state as a result of the physicality of their research. She’d shared that with him for a reason. She wanted him to understand her and had felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable. And instead of telling her how proud he was of her courage in self-reflection, he’d given her space. “I understand.”

Drazhan looked ahead as he spoke. “You’re with me because I can see in your eyes something I’ve seen in the mirror. I recognize a man intimate with desperation. I know what horrors can follow.” He swung his sharp gaze back to Rahn. “Nothing reckless, Adrahn. If not for me, then for her.”

Rahn felt as though he and Drazhan had conducted an entire conversation in the spaces between his words.

No, no, no, no, no. Rahn screamed the words with his lungs. He battered them into the rocks. Mama, Papa, Jemma!

He bore down to shove the thoughts back.

But even at eight, Rahn knew what he’d seen. He knew what had been done. And he knew he was alone in the world.

He could hardly hear himself speak at all when he said, “I respect your lead, Drazhan.”

“How?”Aesylt demanded. She balled her hands at her sides, thrusting out her arms to make herself bigger, as Drazhan had taught her.

“How?” Marek flicked his head back. “You used to be smarter than your own good. Not anymore, aye?”

Aesylt swept back a step when he drew nearer. She commanded her body to heal, as she’d always done when the celestial air filled her lungs, but nothing happened. “If you could starwalk, I’d have known.”

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