He let go, but I kept my mouth closed as I tried to get my stomach to settle.
Morning mist crawled around my feet. I looked around and found tall square towers and a wall that stretched around us.
Daigen had dropped us in the center of the fortress courtyard. I looked up at the closed wooden doors at the top of the keep’s steps as Erik and Endre settled on my shoulders. Endre hissed while Daigen snapped that hetechnicallynever put me in danger.
My heartbeat slowed as I forced myself to take measured breaths. If Daigen had sensed that Astrid needed help, I needed to be as calm as possible.
The golden Bloodstone and Ravenwood pins weighed on my sternum as my chest rose and fell. The North was mine. Magic was mine. But what did I have to show for it?
A toothless title and a worthless heart.
“By Ganora’s mercy!”
“They appeared in mid-air, I saw it!”
“She’s a–a-”
“Sorceress! Sorceress!”
Daigen’s dark violet eyes swept across the courtyard. “I shouldn’t keep poor Astrid waiting any longer.” He shot me a wink. “Let’s see if you can use your magic without burning anything down.”
He stepped backward into the air and disappeared.
Endre lowered his head and extended his wing as I turned my head. Dozens of Bloodstone soldiers in their red uniforms ran toward me with swords drawn and arrows notched in their bowstrings.
My stomach dropped. So much for commanding my own army.
In sheer desperation, I held up my hands. The soldiers halted, some of them tripping backward over their own feet.
I might not know how to enchant them, but I could use their fear against them. “I-I am indeed a sorceress! And your new Baron! Do not come any closer!”
One of the soldiers gripped the hilt of his sword, but stayed still. “Oh yeah? Where’s Riyan Bloodstone? Did you kill him and steal his pins?”
The company of soldiers rumbled with suspicion. Before I could protest, a voice I recognized piped up. “She couldn’t have killed him, she’s his wife!”
I turned toward the voice and a short soldier stepped forward. His face was much smoother than it had first seemed under torchlight, but he was the soldier who had played the flute as Riyan and I danced days ago.
A lankier soldier—the one who had played the lute—stepped beside the shorter. “But she brought omens of Death into the fortress!”
The soldiers murmured. Erik and Endre stilled on my shoulders.
The shorter soldier turned to the taller. “Then we let Captain Mydina handle it.”
The rabble quieted. I swept my eyes over the soldiers and bit my tongue as my mind raced. CaptainMydina?How could the captain of the Bloodstone army be from the noble House of Mydina?
The shorter soldier jogged to me, but stilled as soon as he looked at Erik on my shoulder. His round eyes darted from Erik to Endre. “Uh, please come with me sorcer…uh, Baron.”
He held out his arm but then quickly drew it back. He shifted on his feet and kept his eyes down. “B-Brandt Olson, at your service.”
Maybe I did not need to frighten poor Brandt. I gave him a disarming smile as I followed him toward the keep. The eyesof every Bloodstone soldier drilled into my back the instant I ascended the first step.
Landing in the middle of the courtyard was a mistake I could not repeat. Any form of sorcery in Lycaster was a capital offense, though none of the soldiers would report me to the Hytons. The Bloodstone army merely existing was treason, a capital offense in of itself.
Still, I needed to tread carefully or else the superstitious soldiers might take an axe to my neck themselves.
Brandt tripped up a step and clumsily recovered. Easing his nerves might calm the rest of the army down too, so I put on a smile. “I remember you. Your flute-playing was wonderful.”
A small smile flicked up his lips as he ascended the steps. “Well…I just followed Calder’s lead—Calder Anson, I mean. We were bunkmates at the military academy. He was the one playing the lute and he hasmuchbetter rhythm than I do.”
