Page 46 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

“He’d already healed from his beating four days ago. He says Carnage’s power is growing—that’s something to watch. I told him to make sure and heal quickly, because we had work to do.”

Her eyes widened. “Donavyn—”

“He was disrespectful.” To you. I didn’t add that. I didn’t want her thinking about what he might have said. “As I told Kgosi, it was discipline. Not revenge.”

She stared at me for another long moment, then sighed and shook her head. “Well… okay.”

“He now understands that if he’s to stay here, he has to report daily. To no one but me when he’s in the castle, and to send reports daily when he’s not.”

“You think he’ll do it?”

“I think he’ll play the game as long as it suits him to do so. He tried to intimidate me by implying he’d let the king know about my misconduct in bringing you here. He’s either a very good liar, even better than I thought, or he really didn’t know you were with me, or that you’d been tested. Which would make sense since he hasn’t been back to Vosgaarde.”

I sat on the end of the bed to take off my boots. She sat next to me.

“So… what now?”

I shrugged, my chest tight with uneasiness and switched to the bond. ‘Nothing has truly changed. We still need to determine what he’s told Hanson, and whether he’s working with the Fyrehold King, or planning to use him.’

I sat up and tugged off my shirt, then realized she was staring at me.

I went still. “What is it?”

“I’m just… a little stunned by how calm you are,” she said softly. ‘You’ve been so angry and… agitated. He’s defied you and you’re… you’re just turning to face the next hurdle.’

I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been, and how much it had affected her. I reached for her, putting a hand to her face. ‘You don’t need to worry. I’m not going back to that place. He made me angry tonight—very. But I didn’t lose control. And I won’t again.’

She nodded, and for a moment I thought she’d kiss me. But then she looked away and the moment passed, so I continued to undress, and tried to think of anything else I hadn’t told her.

‘I don’t think he’s quite as confident and composed as he appears. He’s a very good liar, I don’t deny that. But he’s only a few years older than you, and I heard him stumble tonight and mention Draeventhall. He covered it well, and quickly. But that’s death for a spy. I think he’s more off balance than he’s letting me see. Even though he resisted telling me who he’s pursuing, he gave up more than he realized.’

‘Which was?’

‘We know more about the dragons now. I don’t believe his claim that Carnage is outside the borders. I’ll have Kgosi investigate, see if he can find any hints of the male’s location. We also know he’s doing something “on the side” with Hanson. Something he admitted was for selfish gain. Financial, probably, given Hanson’s wealth. But, I’m not sure he realizes he let that slip. Perhaps he’s just arrogant enough to truly think it isn’t a problem. He thinks I brought you here for my personal gain. Regardless, it doesn’t change our plan. You have to pursue this with Hanson and find out what they’re up to.’

‘I cast suspicion on Ruin for Hanson tonight.’

‘Good. The more they look sideways at each other, the less energy they have for thwarting us.’

‘But, even though he came back for me this evening, I’m not sure what else I can do without making some kind of agreement with him. Every time I ask him questions, he gets skittish because I haven’t committed.’

My gut tightened, because I knew exactly what she meant. ‘We’ll have to keep trying and see what he offers.’

“Maybe I can get him to talk about Ruin since we both work with the dragons, and then you can find out if Ruin’s telling the truth about what’s between them?’

‘We could, but it would prove nothing. As a spy he has every reason to deceive Hanson. It’s his intentions for the throne and Vosgaarde that need oversight. But I have to let him think he’s got me on the back foot about you. Keep him cocky so he slips up.’

Bren sat next to me, staring at the wall, chewing her lip. ‘He knew about the safehouse. Horace said he’d been faithfully reporting… can we intercept some of those reports? Figure out what he’s sending back to Vosgaarde, and to whom? Could we watch all the safe-contacts, see when one is sending something? Hope we catch them?’

‘If he’s following protocol, he’ll be sending the same report—coded—through all three networks,’ I sent. Bren’s brows shot up. ‘It’s in case one message is destroyed or intercepted. That’s part of why we figured out we had a mole—because reports were coming in differently from the same areas.’

‘So, he’ll be using a messenger from the Inn?’

‘Yes, but it would be nearly impossible to intercept—we can’t know when he’ll send a report. Part of our protocols are to be random in both time and source of the intelligence reports we send. Not only is it difficult to pin down when he’d send word to Vosgaarde, it’s very risky. If we interfere with a messenger and he learns about it, he’ll go underground. It’s one of our lines—spies are warned to leave the moment their lines of communication are breached. And worse—if he is the mole, and he finds us interfering with communications, he could use that as false evidence that I’m the problem.’

Bren frowned.

I waited, but she didn’t speak. ‘What are you thinking?’