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me well enough to never let me close again.’
    ‘Duncan’s demise is already arranged,’ smiled Leyla. ‘The commander of the Imperium’s expeditionary force, Prince Gyal, has been made aware that Duncan is cuckolding his empress-to-be. While the rebellion is crushed, I expect Duncan to be assigned some very dangerous missions in the thick of the fighting. Just as many as it takes to give him a hero’s funeral.’
    ‘So what do you need me to do? Stand over the rich boy’s grave and clap as his coffin’s lowered into it?’
    ‘The House of Landor has two heirs who stand to succeed before my son. I removed one of them by turning Willow Landor into Lady Willow Wallingbeck. But when the viscount divorces Willow for fleeing the marriage nest I kindly prepared for them, the silly girl will become an heir to the Landor fortune again.’
    ‘You want Willow dead?’
    ‘I want her destroyed for her treachery. She’s hiding in exile with her rebel friends. Bring her back to me. Willow must give birth in her husband’s estate. I owe Viscount Wallingbeck the squalling brat of an heir I promised him. After that, the gallows for high treason will be a fitting fate.’
    ‘Willow’s in Northhaven?’
    ‘Not anymore. Rodal. The rebel leadership has taken refuge inside the Rodalian capital,’ said Leyla. ‘The borderland is full of rebels and refugees fleeing the advancing southern armies. Remove a rebel uniform from a corpse and you’ll be able to pass over to the other side in the confusion easily enough.’
    ‘Well, you are Willow’s step-mother,’ laughed Nocks. ‘Dare say you know best.’
    I do try hard to arrange a convenient end to matters . Leyla noticed the deadly look in her odious little manservant’s eyes. Hatred, not lust . ‘I need the scandal of Willow’s betrayal erased. Settling scores with Jacob Carnehan and the pastor’s son can be attempted in your own time. Although I suspect King Marcus and his imperial allies will finish the job long before you get around to it.’
    ‘Those two are an itch that needs scratching,’ growled Nocks.
    ‘If it helps, think of the agony Carter Carnehan will endure after you abduct his lady-love and return her for chastisement. And if Carter pursues his unsuitably high-born woman south, then no doubt Father Carnehan will follow his son as he did before. Wouldn’t you prefer the chance to finish your business with the Carnehans personally, rather than hearing second-hand of how they died on the sharp end of a royalist bayonet?’
    Nocks nodded and Leyla knew she had her little beast back on the leash again. She reached behind his neck and scratched the back of his hairy, thick neck. Yes, I always know best . ‘Isn’t that better?’
    Duncan hadn’t visited the town he had been born in for years. The young Weylander had imagined a variety of greetings upon his return to Northhaven, and every one of them had all been happier than this. He fought desperately to hold on to the reins of his horse as it panicked, rearing wildly into the air with a hail of burning timber coming down around him. A fireball expanded out from where the bridge across the White Wolf River had been up until a few seconds ago, the horsemen crossing it incinerated along with their gun carriages. Duncan barely had time to take in infantry columns staggering away from the inferno, blue uniforms shredded or ablaze, before a volley of fire opened up on the road from the woodland to their left. That would have been me if I had been at the head of the column.
    ‘Take cover!’ yelled Duncan. He didn’t wait to see if the high and mighty officers of the Army of the Boles were heeding his advice. Duncan’s battle-trained mare recovered its nerves, and he spurred her towards the cover of a drainage ditch and low stone wall running along the wheat fields on his right. He pulled her down behind the stones and a granite marker indicating the town of Northhaven waited a mile away. It was topped with