Page 83 of The Threadbare Queen

Luc wondered if they would have sounded the alarm, even if they had seen him. There’d been no guards on duty. The Jatan must feel safe here, tucked away in the forest.

The tent Tuart and Kym had gone into was in the middle of the long, narrow clearing where the Jatan had settled, but it was still close enough to the tree line that he was standing at the back of it in moments.

He crouched down between it and the tent beside it, straining to hear what was said.

“Sit.” The word was bitten out, curt and angry.

Luc didn’t recognize the voice.

And then the screaming started.

The sound of the feminine cry of pain had him standing, every nerve, every sense, alert.

“Stop.”

That was Tuart. Luc heard a scuffle as if there was some kind of fight.

Kym’s cry cut off, and he could hear her ragged breathing.

“Tuart, get your hands off me.” The unfamiliar voice came again.

“This is not the way, Carvill. She’s part of the Rising Wave, and I’ve met her commander, Luc Franck. He is not someone we want to make an enemy of.”

“From what you say, we’ve already made an enemy of him. What’s one more crime?” Carvill’s words were accompanied by the sound of someone pacing.

“I’ve already set up an explanation for the raids. I told him some of our younger officers have more ambition than brains, hinted they were off the leash. We can talk our way out of that, if we stop now and retreat. Harming one of his scouts on his own land? That is not going to be as easy to brush aside.”

“We need to know about this new queen, though, and what her relationship with the Rising Wave is. And this soldier is going to tell us.”

“I’ve already explained, I don’t know.” Kym spoke through her teeth, her voice shuddering. “I’ve been watchingyoufor the last two months. I rode down to Fernwell not knowing if we’d won or lost, spent one night in a tent outside the city, and then saddle up to ride back out the next day.”

Kym was being forthcoming, but Luc had to admit that nothing she said was a betrayal. Yet.

“You must have spoken to your fellow Cervantes soldiers, what do they say?” Carvill asked.

Luc was interested in hearing the answer to this, too.

Kym sucked in a breath, blew it out. “They say Ava is the queen’s niece, and was imprisoned by the Queen’s Herald with my Commander in a fortress on Kassia’s border with Grimwalt. They escaped together and formed a deep friendship. That’s all I know.”

“See. No torture was necessary.” Tuart’s voice was tight. “And that explains a lot. I couldn’t work out how Franck had managed to get close to the new queen, but the missteps of the Queen’s Herald are legendary. That Herron would be foolish enough to put two of his enemies in a cell together to bond is perfectly within the bounds of what I’ve heard about him.”

“Does she have the loyalty of the Kassians? This new queen?”

Kym was silent for a beat. “I don’t know. I wasn’t in Fernwell long enough. But one story I did hear is that she commanded the palace guards to open the gates to the Rising Wave, and they obeyed her. The Rising Wave didn’t have to break down the city walls, they strolled in.”

There was a sharp intake of breath at that.

“So for all intents and purposes, you’re saying the Rising Wave has full control of Kassia now?” Carvill sounded nervous for the first time. “That this new queen used the Rising Wave to help her take the throne, and they are her source of strength?”

“That’s what I have been telling you since I arrived.” Tuart swore softly under his breath. “And Luc Franck and his soldiers are hot on my heels. They took a different path, I can only assume because they caught sight of one of my watchers, and I cannot say when they’ll appear, but theywillappear.”

“He gave you a missive from the new queen for the Gathering?”

“Yes. We’ll rest here tonight and then I’ll take my unit back to Jatan to hand it over. And I strongly suggest you come with me. It’s time to pack up here, Carvill, while you still can.”

“I have to wait for Hurst.”

Luc wondered why Carvill would have to wait for Hurst, a lieutenant in Tuart’s own unit.

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