Page 116 of The Flame and the Forsaken

“Power is a curious thing, Erran. It may be absolute, but it is never absolutely yours.” Rylahn dug into his pocket and withdrew a round, smooth stone. He set it atop the pile. “Review our histories some time. You’ll see the way power in the Southerlands has transferred hands, often brutally. Read closer and you’ll see why.”

Erran glanced at the darkening sky. They hadn’t even started their ride through the villages, yet he craved home. Mariel. He missed his sister. His father’s conscience was a burden too big for Erran to carry. Rylahn would either honor the ransom or he would not, and the persuasion for such a choice had lived nowhere but within the man himself. “Dusk is fading, and we still have more to see. You can tell me whatever else you have to say at the inn.”

“We’re not staying the night. Everything you need to show me, I’ve already seen.” Rylahn mounted and turned toward the road. “The auction was my compromise to the barons for ending the contract. It was an immediate wound inflicted on the people to avoid greater injury. They agreed, on the condition I put an end to Obsidian Sky and make an example of its leaders. No one wanted that more than I, so of course I agreed. Heartily. I had no inkling two of them belonged to our family.”

A terrible thought came to Erran. “It wasn’t brigands at all who took Sessaly, was it? You know who has her?”

Rylahn stiffened. “I have my suspicions.”

“Why would they demand you return the land then? Landtheywanted.”

“They’re testing me to see where my loyalties lie, if I have a weak spot. There’s at least two of them who still have their eyes set on my seat and welcome any excuse to make a play for it.” He spurred forward and back onto the road.

Erran caught his father’s pace. “Ah. And with this more recent agreement, you thought you could appease them with the names of two Obsidian Sky outlaws. You didn’t care who, as long as it wasn’t your daughter-in-law or... or brother.”

Rylahn didn’t answer.

“And the auction?”

“What about it?”

“Do you still intend to take all that land and give it to the men who watched entire families wither and die for their own sick benefit?”

“How else do you propose I bring your little sister home?”

Erran thought for a moment. There was something about the whole retelling that didn’t sit right, and it went well beyond the words themselves. “Those barons, did they commit any crimes in the act of... service?”

“Aye. You know they did.” Rylahn snorted. “Many.”

“Crimes they could be punished for?”

“If someone had the mind to, I ken.”

“These same men who held others to account could be held to account?”

“If you’re suggesting?—”

“I am.” Erran stopped riding and waited for his father to do the same. “Look, if the men who benefited from the land confiscated from criminals are they themselves criminals, then you have legal basis to confiscate those same properties. They’d be yours to allocate as you please.”

Rylahn shook his head. “I’ve already thought of that, but there are dozens of them, Erran. You’re not seeing the scope of the matter. We arrest one, the others know before we blacken their doorstep.”

“Don’t you see? All this happened for a reason.Marielcoming into our lives happened for a reason!”

His father sounded exhausted when he slowly said, “Son, I’m not following.”

Erran’s glee was concealed by the darkness. Mariel would have dozens of better solutions, undoubtedly, but he liked to think she’d be proud that he’d added to his cunning through her education. “You have an auction happeningsoon.Where all these criminals will be gathered to purchase more confiscated lands.”

Rylahn watched him, drained but attentive.

“Grandfather used to say any man could be a prolific fisherman if he stocked his own pond.” Erran couldn’t be certain the idea was a good one, but itcouldwork. “The auction is a stocked pond, Father. Your pond. I ken if you really mean to undo the hurt and make things right, it’s time to go fishing.”

Chapter26

One Million Ways

Thirty-seven. The number of barons arrested.

Three hundred sixty-eight. The properties confiscated from said barons.

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