Page 106 of A Crown of Lies

“No, you won’t.” Rowan grabbed Peter and yanked him forward, holding him by the collar. “I want to make myself very clear here, Peter. You are not to make a rescue attempt. Not you, not your brothers. We will get Ewanback. But first we must defeat this army.”

Peter pulled away. Neither he nor his brother seemed happy about Rowan’s orders, but they would respect it.

“Go see a healer,” Rowan ordered of Peter. “You and Tofi will command the mages at the battle, and I need you in good shape.” He waited for Peter and Liam to leave before turning back to the table. “Now, all that remains is for the rest of you to decide what I should be doing.”

“You will hang back with the second wave,” Ieduin said, tapping the map where the Wytchwood was. “If we fail to kill Divina, then we need fresh troops in reserve to come in and fight the undead. You’ll order that charge, but you’re not to ride in. Understand? If you get bitten…”

“I know,” he said with a sigh as he stood. “I understand.”

“Good then. There is a plan.” Tofi said it a little too cheerfully. “Tofi will need some Crows to help peel the bark from the yew tree.” He glanced apologetically at Rixxis. “And we will need to remove the bodies sooner rather than later. Tofi will see to Ellisar’s remains. What preparations can be made for your father?”

She took a deep breath, folding her hands behind her back. “He was an ardent believer in the Eight Divines. I would like to honor his wishes with a pyre.”

Rowan nodded. “I’ll instruct the staff to build one just outside the palace walls overlooking the hills. People will be curious, though. We don’t burn our dead here, but respect the tradition. It’s up to you if you want an audience or not.”

“Thank you. I’ll… reserve my decision for later, if that’s all right.”

“Of course, Rixxis. Anything you need.”

“There is one more thing we need to discuss before we take you anywhere near a battlefield.” Ieduin sighed and rolled up the map. “While we’re on the topic of lines of succession, we need to draw one up. Just in case.”

“For that, you do not need Tofi, so Tofi will go.” He started for the door but paused next to Rowan, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Tofi’s people have a saying. Arguing with a Yeutlander is like pissing on a venomous snake. One is more likely to have his cock bit off than to win.” He patted Rowan’s shoulder before leaving.

The door closing behind Tofi sounded almost too final.

Ieduin dragged a chair over to the table and sat in it, shuffling through some papers that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. Damn him and all his paperwork. Rowan and Rixxis exchanged a glance before they grabbed chairs of their own.

Ieduin licked his thumb and sorted through a few before he found the page he wanted, bringing it to the top. “We need to decide two things. First, who you’re going to leave in charge since you’re marching away.”

“That’s easy,” said Rowan, interlacing his fingers. “Martha McGovern and Gallaway will run things.”

“Uh-huh.” Ieduin made a note on his papers. “Okay, that’s settled. And now for the part nobody wants to talk about.” He put the papers down and folded his hands on top of it. “Since you’ve got no heirs, and you two haven’t tied the knot yet, there’s no clear line of succession. Without that, Greymark could fall into chaos if you were injured or worse. So, we’ve got to get it down on an official document for how things would go should the worst happen.”

“If I were injured, you two would run things until I recovered,” Rowan said with confidence.

Ieduin didn’t seem pleased with that answer. He glanced over at Rixxis before he sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Rowan, that might work for a few days, but what if you were permanently debilitated? What if you…” He swallowed and had to force himself to finish. “… died?”

Rowan considered Ieduin’s words carefully. Before, he might’ve given everything to Ewan, and then to Martha and their children. The McGoverns were close family friends, and essential to running Greymark. The more he thought about it, though, the less viable that seemed. There was magic in the McGovern bloodline, for one. Martha could make some decisions, but without Ewan to support her…

There was a part of him that wanted to fix all of it before they left. Yet it didn’t feel right to do it in the shadow of Captain Leopold’s death. Rixxis had just lost her father. He didn’t want their union to come in the shadow of tragedy.

“Then you two had better keep me alive,” Rowan said.

“Rowan—” Ieduin started.

Rixxis put a hand on Ieduin’s wrist. They shared a look before Rixxis turned to him. “No stupid risks.”

Rowan nodded slowly. “No stupid risks.”

“And we’re putting this Wild Hunt shit to bed,” Ieduin declared. “No more of that. That counts as a stupid risk, Rowan.”

He sighed, but he agreed to that too. Now that the bandits had all moved on, there was no point.

“You realize they’re going to dangle Ewan in front of you, hoping you’ll do something stupid, right?” Ieduin said. “If they haven’t already killed him.”

“We’re bringing him home,” Rowan said firmly.

“His rescue has to be secondary to winning this battle, Rowan.”

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