Page 75 of The Bones of Benevolence

So I stood and watched. I stood and watched the flaming ship. I stood and watched a dozen men die that I could have saved if I helped. I stood and watched as her sister’s leg was tangled in the rope, and as the rope was pulled into the churning harbor by the sinking debris of the ship.

But I couldn’t stand and watch as Autumn Eyes finally started moving toward her sister. She finally took off in a dead sprint toward the impending explosion, and so did I. It was far too late though, and she froze for a moment when a flaming plank of wood speared her sister through the throat as she was pulled into the harbor at the exact moment the ship collided with the seawall.

Now, Lord Castemont sat behind his massive mahogany desk. I was across from him in a brocade-upholstered chair. He clutched a wine goblet, staring me down in the silence.

“This could all be over right now. But you saved her.”

I swallowed hard, my eyes set on his. “I wasn’t going to let her die like that.”

He placed his hands flat on his desk, a fragile calm laid over the quiet rage that I knew was behind his eyes. “That is exactly how she should have died. An accident. That accident was divine intervention. That accident was the Saints keeping your hands clean. This entire thing would have been handled for us had you just let her die.”

She’d been blown back by the explosion, but flaming debris continued to fall to the earth. She was sitting dazed in the midst of it all, with a massive gash on her face and blood spattered across her clothing. Somehow she stood up again and immediately began stumbling back toward the epicenter of the explosion. I didn’t think, I just grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back, my eyes glued to the sky as chunks of wood and metal rained down. She fought like hell against me, screamingLarkathe entire time, until I finally turned her around, holding her face in a firm grasp as I screamed. “Go! You need to get out of here! She’s dead!She’s dead!”

Her eyes rolled back, the wound on her forehead jagged and oozing as she collapsed. “I’ve got you,” I whispered to her as I hauled her away, just far enough out of the melee that I knew her family would find her laying limp and bleeding. “You’re okay.”

Lord Castemont stared hard at me, and I stared right back. “It’s your blade in her back now.”

“I’m aware,” I answered flatly. “Just like we planned.”

“Like you planned what?” I spun to see Aunt Berna standing in the doorway of the study, her expression unreasonable as she stared at me. “Your blade in her back? What’s going on?”

I looked back to the Lord, his face betraying the tiniest sliver of shock. “Bernadet, I–”

“What’s going on?” she repeated, her eyes hard on me.

“It’s just an expression,” Lord Castemont offered with a smile, feigning nonchalance.

She stared at me with a mix of sternness and pleading in her petite features. I inhaled, the weight of the world pressing in on my chest. “I have to kill the Daughter of Katia.”

A thin brow raised as she made sense of my words, jutting her chin forward. “You have to do what?”

Lord Castemont’s face was laced with disappointment, sucking his teeth as he shook his head before he turned to Aunt Berna and offered her a smile. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Aunt Berna didn’t move. She didn’t move when Lord Castemont asked her to sit again. She didn’t move as I told her the plan, and why we had to do it.

When I’d explained the last of it and the room fell quiet again, she finally shifted on her feet, her face melting into concern. “Evarius…” The uncertainty in her voice was tangible. “You want him tomurderher?”

Lord Castemont’s face softened as if we weren’t talking about ending a life. “I know it’s morbid. But if she’s not taken care of–”

“Taken care of?Call it what it is, Evarius,” she snapped. “You want her murdered.”

The Lord pursed his lips and closed his eyes against her words. “It’s not as simple as that.”

“You’re usingmy boyto doyourdirty work, and I’m not going to stand for it.”

I cleared my throat, righting myself. “I’m capable of making my own decisions, Aunt Berna, and I’ve chosen to follow Lord Castemont’s plan.”

Aunt Berna laughed, a sickening sound that bounced off the marble. She peered at me from behind her lashes with one brow raised. “You believe a Saints-forsakenBloodsingerthat the Daughter of Katia is not only here, but that she plans to burn the world to the ground? You believe that the only way forward is to murder an innocent woman?” She shook her head, blinking hard. “Saints, she’s barely more than a girl!”

My eyes narrowed on her as I sorted through the reasons in my mind, but I couldn’t escape the familiar feeling of dread. “Do you think I want to take her life, Aunt Berna?”

“No, I don’t. I think, despite the passive-aggressive shit between the two of you, you’re so far up Castemont’s ass that you’ll do whatever he says regardless of how insane it is.” Her voice was still even and measured, but I could tell that a furious heat was rising within her. “Aren’tyousupposed to be the King of Widoras?”

Lord Castemont stood suddenly. “How dare you speak to your King that way.”

Aunt Berna stepped forward, staring at him from across the desk, her tiny frame dwarfed by the man who was supposed to love her. Her stare was hard and her stance steady. “How dare you involve him in something so vile.”

“Stand down, Castemont,” I commanded, but the Lord didn’t budge. His face had gone distant, a manic heat pulsing from him as his eyes bored down on my aunt, his fists clenched and knuckles white. “Stand down, Castemont,” I repeated. “That’s an order from your King.”

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