Ignoring the question, I stood and approached my captor. "Who's your friend? The one who tried to kill King Ailithir?"
"Friend? I'm here alone."
"Was he there five years ago?" I continued. "Wereyou?"
Quinn studied me intently, feline eyes narrowing. The fire threw shadows across his face. "You're talking about the Emperor's death? Tsuyan was lucky we didn't raze it to the ground for allowing Emperor Andreas to die on their watch."
"Yourpeople were responsible."
A strange expression crossed the man's face. A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "No one's made such an accusation before."
"Because I'm the only one who noticed."
"Shame you're a woman, then. They won't listen to you."
"Will you listen, then?" I stepped closer. "Let me go, and I'll find your Emperor's murderer for you."
The smile tugging at Quinn's lips broke into a full grin. "Bold. For a lesser Iceborn to speak to a Solheart that way—for a woman to dare challenge a man."
My lips curled into a snarl, which only seemed to intensify his amusement.
"No, you'll be coming home with me," Quinn said, turning his back. He cast a glance over his shoulder. "To Tsuyan."
I twisted against my bonds again, to no avail. "What are you even doing here?"
"Delivering a message." He leaned against a tree and folded his arms. "I saw that storm over Kentoro. Aenir's Paragon is dead. Cierthine was calling to its new master."
"Shouldn't you help them, then? Deliver a message to the queen?"
"No." He studied his fingernails. "Darkness like that doesn't stop at a border fort. It'll spread. To your home, more than likely. Someone ought to warn them. Someone they'll listen to." He met my eye. "Because I doubt they heeded Aenir's messenger."
"They didn't," I confirmed.
"At least the scrutiny will be off you."
"Ha!" I stared into the flames. "War isn't enough to distract my Father from punishing me."
"Maybe not war." Quinn's smile vanished. "I didn't come here to deliver a message about Galasvar—I only just learned of it. Compared to my message? Your return will seem like good news to your father."
I raised my head. "What's your message?"
"A massacred city. A dead Paragon lying at its center. All traces of their killers, gone." Quinn leaned off the tree and returned to my side, looking down into my eyes. "Killian wasn't the first to meet such a fate."
It struck me like a brick, what he was about to say.
"Your Paragon is dead too, Diar," Quinn said quietly. "One hundred years of service—found dead in a remote village filled with blood and viscera."
Paragon Ishii was dead? I staggered back, stunned. The old Paragon had visited us countless times—he'd trained my father, years and years ago. Akemi had looked up to him, eyes glittering like a child's whenever the Paragon came around.
"So, yes, Diar. I think your father won't give your little adventure much thought." Quinn pulled a pipe from his cloak pocket and fitted it into his mouth. A flash of light touched his fingertips, and smoke trailed into the air. "Hell itself has come to the Empire, and it's going to knock at your doors next."
Chapter 13
Mare
I'd held a sword once before—as a child. Liam had become strangely fixated on weaponry, and he'd dragged me out to the yard to practice with him.
We'd used wooden sticks back then—foolish weapons. Aenir trained elite longbowmen and elk riders with weighty lances. The only people in our country who used swords were Tirnanog's myrmidons.
