Harthon turned to me. “Besides maps, what do you need?”
“That’s all, I think.”
He gave a sharp nod. “We’ll give you a few days to study them. Once we have a better idea of where the path is, we’ll decide if we pursue it immediately. And if you can’t get more specific within those few days, we’ll reconvene and consider our options.”
Callen and Ana nodded in agreement. North simply ground his teeth.
Unbothered by his defiance, Harthon carried on. “We meet with our cabinet this evening. They’ll have questions for you about your time with Koerlyn.”
The very last thing I wanted to do was relive my time with that cruel man—more than I already did in my thoughts, anyway. My only comfort was knowing it wouldn’t happen for several hours.
Harthon dashed that small relief to pieces when he said, “I want you to share it with us now so we can determine which details you should say, and which you should keep to yourself.”
My body washed cold. “How much of it do you want to hear?”
“Everything. Start at the beginning, after you left the Citadel.”
I swallowed the wool clogging my throat, trying not to let the discomfort show. It was just a story. A series of events. I could tell it, and I would not look weak while I did.
Meeting Harthon’s eyes, I said, “Jac took me toward the hills to the south. He explained that Koerlyn’s men would kill his sister’s family if he didn’t do it. He gave me a draught, then, so I don’t remember any part of the travel, or know how long I was out for. When I woke up, I was in a windowless room inside an inn.”
“Where was the inn located?”
“In a small city somewhat close to the border, but I never heard a name.”
“Issel, maybe?” Ana offered from beside me.
Harthon grunted in acknowledgement. “Continue.”
“Koerlyn was there when I came to. My hands were bound to the bed. I learned that he didn’t have Merelda. Apparently, he hadn’t found her yet, which means she’s no longer in our village. Then he demanded to know where the path was. I told him that, like themagvis, I wasn’t able to tell anyone the path. He thought some motivation might help.”
My voice betrayed me, quavering on that last part.
Dread pooled in my belly, and I couldn’t hold Harthon’s gaze anymore. Not when I might find judgment in them. Not whenhe might blame me for the events I revealed next, just like he blamed me for everything else.
Searching the table, I found comfort in Callen, whose green eyes were steady.
“He had guards bring two men and a woman into the room. They were bound. I don’t know if they were prisoners or just people he found. When I couldn’t tell him where the path was, he killed the two men.”Breathe.“I made something up so he wouldn’t kill the woman, but I forgot to use his title. So he slit her throat anyway. He left the bodies there with me.”
I jolted as a hand squeezed mine. It was Ana’s.
She was trying to comfort me, but I couldn’t bear her pity. I’d given myself up to Koerlyn, and these were the consequences.
Sliding my hand free, I mustered the courage to face Harthon again.
He was as still as I’d ever seen him, his expression sharp. Angry at me, or Koerlyn?
“Did you escape after that, or did something else happen?” he asked.
“I was brought to dinner with him later that night. He said that you only wanted to get into the Domus for power, not because you meant to help people.” There was no need to say whether I believed him. The fact that I was willingly here told them all they needed to know. “I was brought back to my room after and restrained to the bed again.”
In a gentle voice, Ana asked, “He didn’t say anything else at dinner?”
The only other thing Koerlyn had revealed was her and Harthon’s relationship. They’d supposedly been together for years, and when Ana had pushed for something more serious, Harthon shut her down, unwilling to be weakened by a relationship. Koerlyn’s aims had clearly been to hurt me. Toimply that, even while Harthon kissed me and held me, he was only using me as a temporary plaything.
I was not about to shareanyof that at this table.
“No,” I told her. “I escaped in the early hours of the morning. A man there helped me. He snuck me out of the inn and got me to the city’s walls. He killed some men who almost caught us, then told me where to go. I made it pretty far before I was caught by a hunting party, but I was able to get away from them using the river.” I looked at Harthon. “That man who helped me was one of those who’d chased me after themagvischanged my eyes. His name was Kenrick. He said he helped me because he owed you.”
