Page 133 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

While the Creator sends His rain on both the righteous, and the unrighteous, it is my honor to gather the crops.

I pray abundant blessings, and the Creator’s wind under your wings.

The missive was coded for Shadowfang, and straightforward.

Any reference to heat was a warning of the king’s anger or wrath.

The greater good was the king himself.

To harvest any individual was to remove them from where they’d planted themselves, but watching for the season’s change was a reference to allowing the current events to play out first.

Yet, it was the last full paragraph that gave me chills.

While the Creator sends His rain on both the righteous, and the unrighteous, it is my honor to gather the crops.

The king was telling me it was his right to judge Ruin.

Had I read that message on any other mission, I would have had no question. The king was angry. He wanted me to wait until the public event—in this case, the festival—was complete, then quietly but firmly send Ruin home. At which point, the king would judge him.

I would have seen a warning, and impending discipline, or even censure. That is what the message meant.

But after so many days and hours analyzing code and the manipulation of words, one thing stuck out at me: The king hadn’t actually said he’d judge Ruin badly. He hadn’t stated that Ruin would be punished, or harmed.

He’d only said it was his right to make judgment.

Yet, knowing what I knew now, without changing a word this message took on an entirely different frame.

The king commanded me to wait until the following day—the day after the festival ended. The day Ruin had warned Hanson there would be no going back. I was instructed to confront Ruin as his Commanding Officer, and send him home, where he would be judged.

But, having seen the other messages and learned the undercurrents, that sequence of events added up to a very different picture.

This was a trap.

Alexi was the one who’d wanted me—and my dragon—out of the country. I could see how it would have played out if I hadn’t learned what I’d learned, if I still saw Ruin as an ally…

No doubt Ruin and Hanson planned to leave the Crown District after the festival. But Hanson would have informed others of their intended destination.

The next morning, I would discreetly—for the sake of Furyknight honor, and out of respect for the service of a man in my command—seek out Ruin. Ultimately, I would have been pointed to Hanson’s estate, and I would have flown Kgosi out there.

And when I found Ruin, I would also have found my death.

Probably a knife in the back when I least expected it.

Kgosi, weakened by the loss of me, would be set upon by Carnage.

Then Ruin would, indeed, return home for the king’s judgment… which would have been for Ruin’s applause. For his promotion. For his ascension.

If I hadn’t met Bren, known her, learned her history, and ultimately Ruin’s as well, I would have entered this kingdom and this plot with the naïveté of a lamb to slaughter.

For a moment I trembled. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as it seemed I felt the wind of the passing of the guillotine’s blade within mere inches. There was no further question that we’d interpreted this correctly. Alexi had plotted and planned my downfall.

Dear God…

Help me see through any traps I don’t yet know.

I turned from that moment, numb. Resheathing my blade, I walked out of my chamber like a man with a purpose.

Because I was.