⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅ ◈ ⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

The man was carelessly thrown at the foot of Landon's throne. The man wore dark green breeches and a brown shirt splattered in blood and mud, torn and ragged. Judging from the bloody cut cleaved down his side, slicing through his shirt, he had tried to run. He heaved and gasped, his chest rising and falling with each breath, blood pulsing out of his wound with every beat of his failing heart. Jax peered at the man from where he stood at the right of Landon's throne, then looked up at the guard who had brought him in.

Jasper grinned victoriously. He had a dominating presence with his muscular build and wavy coppery hair hanging to his chin, falling into sharp brown eyes, almost black. He had killed a guard earlier in anger by throwing him against the ground, but Landon still let him live no matter how much Ethelind had counselled him otherwise. Maybe Landon just liked having a guard to do his dirty work for him. He couldn't tarnish his pristine reputation by publicly interrogating prisoners and killing, so he let Jasper do it for him as a necessity. Ethelind knew Landon could take on those tasks when duty called for it, however; he could wring a confession out of anybody, and could make anyone do his bidding.

Well, except for Audrey, Ethelind mused.

Jasper glanced at Jax, who watched the dying man with unreadable purple eyes. The two men sustained a steady hate for one another, and Ethelind could feel the disgust emanating off Jax despite his stiff expression.

Grace had quickly established herself a position in court and stood close to the throne with her three ladies and her guards scattered across the castle, Gioffre and the female samurai named Akina staying closest. One of Grace's ladies had approached Ethelind during the coronation, and she had the feeling Grace had something against her by the way her steady gaze watched her and didn't make any secret of it. She discomforted Ethelind, not that Ethelind would ever show it.

"Why is he here?" Landon asked. He had been searching for news of Audrey for the past few days with no luck. She had thrown herself off the cliff into a deep pool beneath, conjoining with the River Bluston that led to the sea a few miles further east. There had been no bodies—the jump was high, but the water was deep enough to spare them. The real threat to Audrey's life was hypothermia, not the fall.

"Heard he's been bad-mouthing our king," Jasper replied.

The man coughed blood, his eyes bulging.

"Saying what?" Landon seemed to lose all interest. Ever since Audrey had escaped, he had sent some spies out for news; spies that could have been used against the West, gone for a girl with blue eyes and a sharp tongue.

"That Audrey is the rightful ruler. That Everwoods have always kept the North." Jasper kicked the man, and he began to violently convulse. Landon just watched, no emotion on his face.

"Am I the true king?" Landon asked him, disinterested.

"Yes!" the man blurted. "All hail King Landon. All hail..." he began sobbing, his voice turning croaky.

"Get him out. He is making the floor dirty with his blood," Landon commanded.

"P-please, my king, my forgiving king," the man begged, blood frothing at the side of his lips. "Give my son... he is so talented..."

"He's already been taken care of," Jasper said, leaning forward so his face was inches from the man's. "We ripped out the boy's heart while it was still beating. A handsome lad, right? So brave. He tried to—"

"Stop playing with the man," Landon snapped. "Get him out of here."

Grace pursed her lips, her grey eyes fixing on the man. She did not turn away, however, unlike Emiko, who was pale and clutching Hatsuko's hand. Terumi, the shortest of Grace's ladies but the only one who openly carried a katana, scowled at Jasper, who sneered back.

"Such a pity, that he should die in such a way," Grace observed quietly.

Landon turned to his cousin. "Xasa ycanita," he said lowly.

She glared back at him. "Yitutsu."

Ethelind was very annoyed that she didn't understand Xiakyaore when she saw Landon's raised eyebrows and heard Terumi's snort of suppressed laughter.

Landon smiled wryly, then turned away, his face turning into disapproval again as he caught sight of the dying man again. "Just get rid of him."

Jasper advanced on the man. Before he could make it any further, however, Jax crossed the room and sunk his sword into the man, who made an inhumane noise before going still.

The throne room was silent. Apart from a few guards, it was lacking the usual lords and visitors; Landon hadn't opened it for audiences yet, and the silence echoed around the place, an internal resonance of the loss of an inconsequential traitor's life.

"Get a maid in here to get rid of this mess," Landon ordered a guard after a brief pause. "Jasper, I want you to go down and check on the prisoners."

"Of course, my lord," Jasper said. He was glaring at Jax for taking his kill, irritated.

"Get to it, Jasper," Jax commanded coldly and Jasper walked out, his face flushed with rage. Jax lifted the dead body and left too, his face stoic.

"So, you are going to kill everyone who speaks badly of you," Ethelind mused to Landon. "You might as well kill everyone in the kingdom."

"I didn't command his death." Landon didn't seem to care. "He was dying already."

"Hm, fine. Audrey escaping has made them question your leadership, though, I can say that much."

"My men are finding her as we speak. She couldn't have gone far without a horse, and there are rewards being offered." A storm passed over his face. "I want her alive, and her companion dead. Lady Hill has sent men to interrogate people who might know anything."

"Lady Hill seems to get around."

"She has soldiers and power."

"And she is getting more control every day," Ethelind said calmly. "Give a person more, but still they want, as is human nature. And they will grow expectant, ungrateful."

"My business is not yours."

"Why, isn't that the purpose of an adviser?" Ethelind's face was innocent.

"An adviser cannot advise without a head," Landon said, his tone honeyed.

"Once I take the West for you, I will set out to find Audrey." Ethelind smiled at the frown spreading across Landon's face. "I have been nothing but loyal to the Shadowharts. Your father himself named me adviser to him, and I will serve the same role for you. I just ask that you give Lady Hill no more power than she deserves. She asked Audrey to accept her help to escape, you know." Landon had slipped his face into a careful mask of no emotion. "Give me more power than Lady Hill, and I will do much and more for you."

She was pleasantly surprised when Landon smiled, taking advantage of the situation. "Here's the deal, then. Get me my betrothed. Take down the West. Then I will consider giving you a title. Clear?"

Ethelind smiled, curtseying. "Clear, Your Grace."

"You will leave tomorrow," Landon commanded. "The ships will be at the docks by then."

"I will bring you back a dominion." Ethelind gave him a sly smile, then made her way to the exit without looking back.

* * *

Ethelind set out with Jax and the army early the following morning, atop her own horse like she had often fantasised about as a girl. Jax rode beside her down the cliff, the cavalry going down in twos and the infantry going in lines of five. Jax was clad in heavy silver armour, a cloak wrapped around his neck to keep out the chill of the day, and Ethelind wore light chain mail under her warm tunic, although it wasn't visible and appeared as if she wasn't wearing armour. She had Silence sheathed and carried a longbow on her back just in case. While they went for the West, Asher would start his sea raids on the South.

"Why didn't you let Jasper kill the man yesterday?" Ethelind asked Jax as they rode. Even if she knew the answer, she wanted to hear it from his own lips.

"You can see the man's face. He enjoys tormenting. Let him learn how to kill and he will become addicted," Jax replied, not facing her.

"And you aren't addicted to it?"

"Of course not!" Some emotion came into Jax's voice as he spoke, his cheeks flushing red ever so slightly. "I kill because I have to. It isn't fair to take a person's life for your own pleasure, and it is a pleasure that I shall never succumb to."

"I don't enjoy killing, but I enjoy the victory of standing alive. Knowing that you were victorious," Ethelind said.

"There are ways to duel without killing."

"They are boring."

"You are messed up."

"And you are boring."

Ethelind was observant enough to notice the tug at the edge of Jax's lips, a faint trace of a smile.

"Yet I am the one leading an army into war," Jax said.

"Are you not going to say 'we' because you're annoyed to share your command with a lady?"

"No, it's because you called me 'boring'. And, anyway, you are anything but a lady," Jax responded, his purple eyes turning to her slightly before looking back at the road. They were almost at the bottom of the cliff already.

The plan was simple. They would head to the docks, where battleships would wait for them. They would take the ships most of the way, instead of having to push through the border, before laying siege to the capital city of Valkitia until the West surrendered.

"You have a thing for flattering me with the most unlikely things," Ethelind said, reaching the bottom and heading towards the sea. The sun was rising, showing which way was East, and Ethelind felt good about their odds. Maybe once they got rid of the West and Landon betrayed the East, as she assumed he would do, she would stick a sword in Landon's back.

Ethelind rode down to the ships and, when the army started to march onto them, she felt good about herself. Only by looking at Jax's sullen expression did her mood drop slightly.

To war, Ethelind thought, and touched Silence's hilt. She had been rebuilding her stamina over the past few weeks for this moment. But, for a brief moment, seeing Jax's face, she felt a pinch of doubt.

No, I am a soldier, she reminded herself. Another killer, and a pretty one, at that.

But the thought couldn't shove away the conflicting hesitation that had buried itself inside her.

Ethelind and Jax to war ✌️

Love you all,
Shelly M x