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WOLF FINDS THREE RABBITS in various traps set around, and two of them are roasting on the fire. Ginata’s mouth is watering, even as her stomach is twisting. Finn has sunk to the floor as well and appears both upset and defiant depending on when she looks at him. If he catches her watching him, he looks away, shame or guilt making him antsy.
Millard watches them both with amusement. “Finn, you look a little sad. Not regretting your decision to switch sides, surely?”
Finn shakes his head quickly in denial.
While Ginata and Finn are silently brooding, Millard is humming to himself and Wolf is turning the rabbits, ensuring an even cook.
“Never regret serving your King, Finn. The only other option is disobeying him. And the end comes quickly for people who displease me. Unless you’re unlucky like this one.” He gestures at Ginata, who refuses to look at him. “Not feeling the love today Ginata?”
She shakes her head and Millard laughs, a nasty sound that fills the small cottage.
Ceryn comes around with a groan, mopping up the blood from her lip and nose on her mask, pulling it off in the process.
Despite her injury, she cannot help but grin at the look of shock and repulsion on Millard and Wolf’s faces.
Millard stands up. “What the hell is that?”
“Mark of the devil, my King.” Ceryn holds her face up to the light so he can see it all the better. “Do you like it?”
Millard is glancing from her face to the hand he used to strike her, turning white with fear. “Is it catching?”
Ceryn shrugs. “Let’s wait and see, shall we?”
“Ginata. Is it catching?”
Ceryn watches Ginata closely, looking for the love between King and servant. She cannot see it. Ginata looks sick. She lifts her head, and looks at Ceryn, the angry red mark that stains her skin. “Who can say?”
“Do not toy with me. I will kill you both. Is. It. Catching?”
Ginata shakes her head, her gaze resting on the floor again. “I don’t think so.”
“Think or know?”
“Know.”
He takes a deep breath, malevolence tinging his features again, mixed with definite relief. “Well that puts me in a good mood. And let me tell you both, I am feeling remorse today. I have been thinking about poor Lanorie, how she died with no witness, no one to shed a tear for her, and I won’t do that to you two. I want to make sure Everleigh is watching every move I make when I kill you pair tomorrow.”
Ceryn spits on the floor. “Everleigh will kill you the minute she lays eyes on you. She cannot wait for the end of your life to come, your last breath. She will celebrate for a year or more. Spit on your grave.” She snorts. “What grave? The river and the Ashes are too good for you. And she’d never want you buried near her dear mother. Sorry, your mother. The animals can have you. And when I don’t come back to the castle she’ll come looking for me.”
“Wolf!” Wolf comes to Millard’s side and they have a whispered conversation before Wolf leaves the cottage. They hear a loud whistle from outside and the sound of footsteps running. Wolf comes back inside and nods at Millard.
“Now where was I?” Millard lifts his hand to hit Ceryn again and she juts out her chin, inviting him to touch her mark. He stops himself, kicking the chair she’s sat on instead.
“Everleigh hasn’t a chance. I have Wolf and my soldiers. She has only three protectors. And I have one of them here.”
Finn lowers his head.
“Unless I’m missing anything? Finn?”
Finn looks up, shaking his head.
“No hidden army that I’ve missed?”
Finn shakes his head again and Ginata and Ceryn both want to shed a tear for him. Whatever prompted him to betray Everleigh and a cause close to his sister’s heart, he seems to have changed his mind about helping his King any further. He is keeping the secret of Weaver’s mission, for whatever reason, and when Millard finds out he will end his life, for sure.
“So, an easy mission, then. Kill you pair, with witnesses, kill Everleigh, kill anyone who tries to stop me or gets in my way, is pretty much my plan.”
Wolf takes the rabbits off the fire, putting one on a plate for Millard and the other one on a plate for himself.
“Nothing for Finn here? Our newest and most helpful friend?” Millard’s voice has gone a touch higher, laced with menace. Finn scrabbles to his feet.
Wolf nods and pulls a leg off his rabbit, passes it to Finn, whose hand is shaking.
“And of course, you girls wanted to know how I know young Finn. To understand why he’s helped me, when he was in your band of merry men?”
Ceryn snarls at Finn and Ginata can’t help but smile. If Millard didn’t kill him, Ceryn might.
“Why don’t you tell them Wolf? After all, you recruited him.”
Wolf nods, fat from the rabbit dribbling down his chin. “Met him in the pub. Crying into a cup of ale.”
Millard claps his hands. “And guess why he was crying? When Wolf got him talking – after several more drinks – guess why he was sad, poor boy?”
Ginata and Ceryn both shake their heads. Finn has frozen, rabbit leg half way to his mouth.
“Broken hearted, our boy was.”
Finn shakes his head, a sad look on his face, resignation too.
“Our boy here has been in love with my darling sister since he was a lad, helping his father cart meat up to the castle. And he thought he was in with a chance. Archer was dead – or so we all thought – and she was ripe for the plucking. And then, just as Finn here was warming up, getting ready to swoop in, Archer’s back from the dead, Everleigh’s madly in love again, nigh on ignoring him, and he has to drown his sorrows.”
“Pity he met me,” Wolf says, eyes dancing.
“Ready for a new cause, he was, something to help heal his broken heart. His angry heart. Would have killed her too, I believe, if I’d have let him. Of course, that’s my job. I wouldn’t let anyone else do it. Her head is mine. And the crown upon it.”
Tears are falling down Finn’s cheeks, splashing on the rabbit’s leg.
Ginata feels a deep tenderness towards him, knowing what it’s like to be ensnared by this affable young King. Ceryn wants to scratch his eyes out.
“Wolf. Eat up, then tie my two beauties up together. They’ll keep.”
“And me?”