Page 51 of Oaths & Vengeance
“Until we can break Aella’s curse, I do not want her uncle to know she’s married to me. We can’t keep her away from him for more than a few days since she cannot eat or drink in her current state. She will grow weak before long. If we give her back, and he is aware I’m her husband, I suspect he’ll punish her for it or possibly kill her. I cannot abide by that.”
“And we don’t have legal justification to kill him overtly,” Lord Gannon said, grimacing.
“It would solve so much if we could.” I raked my hand through my loose hair. “I’d hoped to catch him on the battlefield yesterday, where I could have killed him without breaking the king’s law, but as always, he proved elusive once again.”
We began suspecting years ago that once the Lord of Therress entered a battle, he donned glamour to blend with his troops or perhaps hid somewhere. Our spies also reported that he always kept a soldier with strong shield powers close to him to keep him safe. That combination made it next to impossible to kill him.
My father drummed his fingers on his desk. “We must also save face with our people if we return her without telling them the truth. The only thing I can think of is to exchange her for the fury, Csilla, and the elf, Quim. I’ve been trying to find a way to free them for the last year since they were captured, so perhaps your wife is the answer to those troubles, at least.”
I could hardly argue with him. While the two Veronnians we’d lost when we attempted to assassinate Lord Morgunn a while back were important to us, we’d had nothing of equal value to trade. I couldn’t say why they weren’t executed immediately, but my spies told me they were still alive, though suffering greatly. If there was a way to free them, we had to take it.
“Considering his niece’s rare and powerful gift, we can also ask for holmium powder,” I said, considering the matter further. “The nameless ones know that he makes it difficult and expensive to acquire since Hisgar is the only other land to produce it, and they only sell meager amounts beyond their borders. Not to mention, we must nearly freeze to death, acquiring every allotment the ice giants give us, and portal hop our way there and back.”
Lord Gannon appeared to mull it over. “Yes. That is a good point. Your sister was due to take her turn next month, so you’ll make her happy if she can put it off a while longer.”
That was my thought exactly. Faina always became ill-tempered when dealing with the northern fae, and it was a wonder they hadn’t killed her as a result. She lacked a certain finesse with her words. Our father felt she needed the experience anyway, so he kept her in the rotation no matter the potential consequences. I’d gone last month, and my older brother, Hagen, the time before that.
“I will send a message to Therress,” I said, giving my father a pleased smile.
It had been a while since we could agree on much of anything or have a conversation that didn’t end in a fight. I’d thought for certain I’d have to work a lot harder for him to see the advantages with Aella, but he was undoubtedly tired of our curse and more of our land dying as the years passed.
Aside from the newest patch of dying land he’d mentioned, a section in the north where the vegetation had withered away years ago finally lost its magic last month. Thankfully, we’d already moved all the fae out of there before it became too deadly to stay.
The harshness of Lord Gannon’s features softened. “You’ve done well, son. This plan could very well save us all if we handle it carefully.”
“Thank you. With luck, we’ll have our assassins back within the next few days.”
I left out the unsaid part. We had no way of knowing how Lord Morgunn would react to his niece’s capture and the sacrifices he’d have to make to get her back. She may very well pay a price for it, but the only other choice was to keep her here, wasting away until she died. That, or break the curse. The whole reason Therress had prisoners of ours to exchange was from trying to kill her uncle surreptitiously once before, so trying again on short notice wouldn’t be possible. I could only monitor Aella the best I could through my spies once she returned.
Chapter 23
Darrow
Istood in my father’s office, reading the missive from Therress that Lord Gannon had just handed me. It had taken two full days of negotiating back and forth, but we’d gotten what we wanted. In eight hours, we would meet Lord Morgunn’s son, along with a small retinue of his soldiers, at the border to make the prisoner exchange.
“It’s ironic he believed our threat about killing Aella and has no idea that legally, she belongs to us,” I said, shaking my head.
Lord Gannon snorted. “For someone who is so protective of his wife that he won’t let anyone near her body, you did provide quite vivid imagery for what you would do to her before killing her should Lord Morgunn delay any longer. I think that likely convinced him to agree to the deal.”
“Sometimes, my dark reputation works in my favor,” I said, scowling. “I’ve never forced a woman, much less a sleeping one, and I certainly wouldn’t slit her throat afterward.”
My father lifted a brow. “Are you going to have difficulties returning her to our enemy?”
“Yes.” I ground my jaw, imagining handing her over to those bastards. “But I have no choice in the matter. Somehow, I’ll find a way to free her from that place for good.”
He patted my shoulder. “I know you’ll do what’s best for Veronna.”
“Don’t I always?” I asked. I wasn’t bitter but certainly frustrated.
Lord Gannon grunted. “Not without arguing and second-guessing all my orders. You’ve always had difficulties doing things in any way other than your own.”
Only my father could reduce me to the young boy I’d been decades ago. Little did he understand how my time away in Karganoth had left me sour and angry, as my mother’s family worked to extract every ounce of weakness from me during my visits. They’d been brutal—physically and mentally. Dark elves took pride in producing strong children who didn’t flinch in the face of pain or danger, and my grandfather had made certain I wouldn’t bring him shame.
“I only argue when I believe there is a better way.”
“Or do things behind my back so I can’t stop you,” Lord Gannon said, giving me a wan smile. “Such as getting married.”
I lifted a brow. “You can’t argue now that it wasn’t the right call to make.”
