It took a few more seconds before Mattox got to his feet and went back inside the house. He found Caralas kneeling over her father’s body amid the large pool of wetness that covered the floor. Going over to her, he crouched beside her.
“The arrow hit his jugular,” she whispered. It explained the massive blood loss. The man bled out and died perhaps moments before the Blood.
“I’m sorry, Cara. If I hadn’t speared that creature—”
“No. No. Don’t apologize.” She glanced over at him. “It was an accident. If you hadn’t thrown your sword. If the naydo hadn’t taken off the roof. If someone hadn’t targeted us.” She shook her head. “It was fate. It was meant to be.” She took a shaky breath. “Where did you go?”
“I went after the Blood to stop it before it had the chance to escape,” he answered in a soft voice.
“Did you?”
He nodded. “Cara, we know who ordered you to be killed. It was Borlee.”
She blinked in disbelief. “Reech Borlee? Are you sure?”
Mattox swallowed hard. “The Blood told us before he died.”
“But-but he’s my father’s second. Why?” Dawning came over her tear-stained face. “Is he…”
“We’re searching for him now.”
She pressed her forehead against his arm. “Why, Matt? Why would he want me dead? He and Daddy are…were best friends.”
“We’re going to find out,” Mattox grimly stated, giving her hair a gentle caress. Getting to his feet, he turned to leave when she held out a hand to him.
“Matt.”
A sound at the front door drew their attention. Atty walked in, along with two guards. Mattox watched as his mother went over to the woman he loved and pull her into her arms.
“Edge is dead,” he informed her. “The name the Blood gave us? Borlee? He’s her father’s second.”
“Edge’s own second?” she asked, stunned. “Why?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out right now.” He started to leave again when Atty stopped him.
“Wait. Don’t go just yet to accost the man.”
“Why not?” he angrily challenged her.
“Your father will be here in a moment. Then we’ll all go. Together. As family.”
36
Blame
Yulen and Mattox strode into the square where temporary tents had been set up to house the battle lords after the naydo struck and destroyed their campsites. The troops were reassembling after the Bloods seemed to magically disappear as quickly as they’d appeared.
“It was all a diversion,” Mattox stated after explaining what had occurred in the lodge.
His father agreed. “While our attention was focused on what we could see, it enabled that assassin to get past our defenses.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” Seeing his father’s confusion, he explained. “If his scheme had succeeded, Borlee knew he had to convince Edge that his daughter’s death was all Tanger’s fault.”
Yulen paused to mull over this new development. “For the exact reasons we’d assumed,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
“Further dividing the two men, until one of them initiated a war between the compounds. Mostly likely Edge.”
