Page 64 of Kept to Kill
Quin snorted. ‘We’ll have people loyal to the Brothers in attendance as well. They’ll keep you safe while you do what you were brought here to do. Our concern is to kill the men that threaten the Army and our relations with the king, the men behind the burnings of the women outside the city walls.’
Bastian rolled his eyes at Quin’s words, designed to appeal to Lily’s goodness.
She set her cup down on the table. ‘How will I know these men?’
‘Likenesses of them will be delivered so you will know them by sight. There won’t be more than twenty men there tomorrow, and they’ll be away from the others, so you’ll be able to find them easily.’ Quin sighed. ‘I know you’re afraid, but their followers are of a number that, if they join forces with the king, the war will wipe out the Dark Brothers. If that happens,’ he explained, ‘the balance of power will shift to the north.’
At her blank stare, he continued. ‘The portals up here are closing more quickly. Nine of twelve were north of the mountains. The king has his eye on the south, and the Dark Army is the only thing that stops him. We are two equally matched forces.’
Lily frowned. ‘But he’s the king. Can’t he just … buy the Dark Brothers?’
Quin shook his head. ‘Believe it or not, the Dark Army has some scruples. If the king used us to take the south, it would be bad for business. Besides,’ he added with a cold smile, ‘the poor bastard can’t afford us.’
‘And if I do this for you, for the Army, what happens to me after?’
Quin glanced at the others, clearly not sure what to say.
Bastian cleared his throat. ‘You are bound to us,’ he reminded Lily. ‘Where we go, you go.’
Quin frowned at him and then looked at Lily once more. ‘I will give you enough gold to disappear, to be safe, and …’ he didn’t look at his Brothers, ‘I’ll break the bond. You would be free.’
The knife Mal had been sharpening clattered to the floor. Bastian’s mouth opened and closed, but he said nothing, stunned into silence.
‘I thought it was unbreakable.’
‘Not by me,’ Quin said softly.
Lily’s expression gave nothing away for once.
‘Very well,’ she said, standing up and going to the door, her voice flat. ‘Tomorrow, then.’
And she was gone.
As soon as the door closed, Quin turned to look out of the window again, heaving a sigh.
‘You will not break the bond,’ Mal snarled, pushing himself from the wall and advancing on Quin menacingly.
‘She’s stubborn as an ass. If that is what it takes for her to do this, I will,’ Quin said, unmoved by his Brother’s threats.
‘You don’t like any of this any more than we do, Brother. Why are we following this plan?’ Bastian ground out.
‘I can see no other way for the good of the Army … and for the many who are being killed here. Have you seen the outside of the north wall? Have you seen how many charred, shriveled bodies hang on the gibbets, their limbs cut away, their heads hacked off?’
‘Many,’ Mal said quietly.
‘How long before this madness spreads more than it already has? There’s already talk of it in the south, wise women being hanged in the forests, crones being burned in their houses by mobs of townsfolk.’
‘What of Lily? If anyone suspects that she killed them, she’ll be taken to the dungeons beneath the palace, tortured and killed. They’ll hang her on the walls with the rest.’
Quin didn’t answer.
‘You may not care for her, but we do,’ Bastian said in disgust.
Quin struck the table hard with his fist. ‘I am the Commander for a reason. I must put any feelings I have aside for the good of the Army – and for all our futures now as well. Who else but us could keep the balance of this realm? You’ve been with our unit since midwinter. It’s time you understood that your decisions aren’t just yours.’ Quin sneered. ‘Perhaps we should have a talk about where exactly you came from, Brother. How you know so much about things that you shouldn’t?’
‘What do I know about?’ Bastian airily scoffed, drawing back, not ready to spill his secrets just yet.
Perhaps he never would. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them. But he feared the look on Mal’s face when he discovered the truth – and Lily’s as well, for that matter. How differently would they treat him if they knew from whence he came and what sort of a being he was?
