A Flight of Ravens by John Conroe (thriller books to read TXT) 📗

and to our enemies.  That was another mistake Father made.  He kept Toothaker tucked away, hidden from sight.  Then he’d send him to murder someone or wreck something.  He used fear as a weapon, but he did so awkwardly, like a poor swordsman waving his blade.  I want the world to know you are by my side.  I want you in overall command of the Shadows and the RRS.  In time of war, you will have overall command of all military forces.”

“Ah, are you sure?  I don’t have anywhere near the experience of General Ewald, particularly with heavy infantry and cavalry.”

“But you listen.  Most of them don’t.  I’m confident that you would recognize Ewald’s good council and take it.”

“But how will he feel about it?”

“Feel?”

“Many of the same threats you mentioned regarding your position as queen are similar for me if I took overall command.”

“Ah.  Yes.  I see.  Which is why you would only be given full command if we go to war.  Ewald didn’t win the last war… you did.”

“I followed his command to disrupt the enemy.”

“You disrupted the enemy so thoroughly that the enemy had to sue for peace.  Anyone can give a command; hell, Father commanded Ewald to win the war and he, in turn, commanded you to disrupt the enemy.  And you did.  Completely and utterly.”

“You’ve thought this through?”

“For a very long time.  I was neither happy nor sad to take the steps I took.  They were necessary. So is this.”

“My father will be a problem,” I said.

She smiled.  “Rucian is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is. Your brother Tallen is alive and well.  Rucian will find it hard to lie and twist his way out of that truth.”

“I would like to see him.”

“Your father?  No, your brother,” she said.  “Of course.”

“And I need to find Ash.”

“Another giant blunder by Father.  Is he still around?”

“Yes.  I don’t think he’ll go far from Sissa.  But he bit Fontina’s head off.  I don’t know what that will do to him.”

“Ash Newberry is a Shadow, now and forever.  You handle the Shadows, Savid.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.  Which reminds me.  Toothaker was never found.  The squad you sent after him lost his trail completely.  Can you Find him?”

“I don’t have anything of his.  The river washed all his blood off my weapons.  If we could locate where he lived or stayed when he was in Haven, then yes.”

“Hmm, we’ll have to look into that.  Now, your queen has grown bored of this talk and you’ve rested,” she said, raising one brow.  Her hand disappeared under the covers, only to make its presence known almost immediately.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said as I rolled up and over her.

But after, while she slept, I lay awake, working my way through her actions.  She set up Slinch to panic, to trigger emergency plans, and then she foiled them—mostly.  Her own father was collateral damage from her actions, and she was okay with that.  Her reasoning was consistent with the Brona I have always known: Montshire first, foremost, and always.  And Helat had been slipping, perhaps even before the striker venom.

Technically, she was acting queen, as per the kingdom’s laws of succession.  But if Helat failed to improve within six months, she would become queen fully and permanently.  And from her own lips, she had told me that he would not recover. He might even just pass away from his wounds, the odds of that half natural and half… arranged.

I had always known that the day would come when Brona would ascend to the throne, and I had imagined many, many scenarios whereby this would come to be.  Her father dying in combat, of old age, from illness, assassination, by accident.  Those were the ones I thought most likely, and in every one, I pictured myself by her side, protecting her from all threats.  But deep in the recesses of my mind, there had always been another potential chain of events. This one, I shied away from, choosing to let it hide in the darkness.  See, I knew my princess very, very well, and once I made my decision to mold myself into a tool, a weapon for her eventual use, she had made her own decision.  To mold herself into Montshire’s ultimate protector, one who would let nothing and no one threaten her kingdom and her people.  Not her father, not her councilors, and likely, not even myself.  But she also made me swear a childhood oath, one that still bound me, one she still reminded me I had taken.  Should she ever become a threat to Montshire, to her kingdom and her people, then it was my job, my duty, to take whatever steps were necessary to remove that threat.

Epilogue

It took some time for his rage to subside, for his combat fury to cool.  It didn’t help that he could still taste the blood of his prey in his mouth, could still feel the crunch of her bones, the tearing of her flesh when he visited his revenge upon her.  His anger flared as he thought of her killing his packmate, her bolt striking the man down.  His response had been instant, overwhelming rage, his leap carrying him to the ground far below his rooftop perch, his feet propelling him to her, jaws delivering his immediate judgement of her actions.

But that was the past, maybe not too distant a past, but still it was in his yesterdays.  Today he followed the woman, the one he must always follow, always protect, always hunt for—the mate.  The boy and the boy’s mother were with her, all of them pack.  They walked in the sunshine while he watched from the shadows, their boots noisy on the stone roadway while his paws stayed silent on the slate rooftop.

They moved at a steady pace, the women holding several thick blankets, the boy lugging a basket that hovered on the very edge of his ability to carry it.  Down each street, around each corner, they moved