Shadowguard

Twenty-Second of Leaffell, Year 1413 AGC

Shroud preferred violence, and the bloodier, the better. It'd been all too easy for Evelina to slip into her old habits, even if her joints weren't as limber and her constitution less than it once was. Scaling walls may be more difficult, and she'd likely throw her back out with a simple flip, but at nearly sixty winters, she had what many of Shroud's younger agents lacked — experience.

Captain Windmore's lapdogs learned that lesson the hard way.

"I asked for a list of names, Evelina," Pala said, peering down at the pile of bloodstained pins carelessly thrown onto her tea table. "Not dead agents."

"They attacked me first." Evelina leaned back against the disgustingly plush couch in front of the table, her back sinking into the soft cushions. Gods, she hated that couch. It reminded her too much of the one Mikha kept in his office. "What did you expect me to do? Let them stab me?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Pala asked, "Where did you get these?"

"The Guard post."

Pala seized the pillow and hurled it. Evelina may not be as quick as she once was, but Pala was never a good shot to begin with. She leaned a few inches to the left as the pillow sailed harmlessly past her head and collided with a shelf lined with fanciful trinkets, behind her. The antique Anvardian vase above her head, which Pala had plucked from the wreckage of the lost kingdom’s castle, wobbled.

"And yet you wonder why your daughter thought breaking into the post was a good idea," Pala muttered. "Lovely. Now I have to come up with a reasonable explanation for why five of Pendel's Guard turned up dead overnight. One that does not incriminate you or your daughter. As if I don't already have enough to do!"

"In all fairness, no one's seen Everna in over a month."

Even as she spoke those words, anxiety clawed at her gut. If Pala hadn't sworn by the gods that Everna was safe, she'd be tearing the region to shreds looking for her. The thought still crossed her mind from time to time, and gods help her, Ronan spent most nights worrying himself sick in the meantime. Evelina wasn't sure she could hold him together for much longer.

The last report of Everna's whereabouts came the morning following her escape from Pendel. The Guard believed that she, along with the rat responsible for her involvement in the ordeal, fled across the border and disappeared somewhere in the Wildlands. It was a wise decision, Evelina had to admit. There was a fortunate quirk in the Inverness's laws which negated all arrests made beyond the kingdom's borders regardless of the severity of the crime. Not one of Windmore's goons knew where she'd gone.

Though leaving the kingdom spared her from the gross overreach of the Courts, it would not spare her from Shroud nor the dangers beyond the border. Though Shadowguard controlled the southern part of the region (at least, they liked to believe they did), Shroud still ran rampant in the unclaimed lands. There were the usual dangers to consider as well; the Wildlands, especially near the mountains, were orc and goblin territory. The thought left her stomach in knots.

The goblins would feed her to whatever monstrosity commanded them, and she didn't dare dwell on what might come of it if the orcs found her. They had little regard for anyone but their own kind, but their fondness for women, especially human women, was revolting. Evelina would sooner wish for her daughter's death, if only to spare her the unspeakable.

She'd never survive on her own. Not in the Wildlands.

Everna might be headstrong and a bit of a scrapper, but she was soft as a lamb at heart. Because of that, Ronan didn't push her as much as he pushed Corden; their daughter simply did not have the grit to take a life. Even if Everna somehow found the will to do so, Evelina doubted she'd have the strength to handle the repercussions. Shroud, Shadowguard, and the monstrosities of the Wildlands would take advantage of that.

Pushing that unpleasant thought aside, Evelina said, "Same story you were planning to tell the town to begin with, with a little altering: Windmore's guilty of treason and they threatened to expose him, so he silenced them."

Pala pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, well, I first have to convince the town that Windmore is guilty of treason, which is no easy feat, given the scene your daughter made that night. Windmore will not stop reminding everyone that he has both her boots and her hair as evidence."

"Maybe if you hadn't told Gillan to stay quiet, it wouldn't be so much of a problem."

"And expose my spy? Evelina, you know better," Pala said. "I've already sowed the seeds of doubt among the more prominent townspeople, but it will take time for them to gain precedence. You know how spooked some of them are. The elders won't open their mouths for fear of drawing Shroud's attention. Andryll and Banor are the only two willing to speak in Everna's defense."

Because they're not gutless weasels, Evelina thought.

Andryll and Banor remembered the worst of it; they were under Shroud's dominion long before she'd come into the world. They'd been the first to join Arden and Ronan in their campaign against Mikha and the loudest opposing Shroud. She'd learned, much later on, that they helped Arden escape, just as they'd helped her when she could no longer stomach the atrocities she committed in Shroud's name.

"And you've kept your silence," Evelina pointed out.

Pala wrung her hands together, the picture of poised calm. "It would not do Everna any favors if I were to take a stance. Our perceived noninvolvement is the only thing keeping Shroud from moving against us. Without us, there will be no one to dispose of Windmore and his subordinates. Until that happens, it won't be safe for Everna to return to Pendel."

Evelina scowled. "If I ever get my hands on that Shadowguard rat—"

"That rat, as you insist upon calling him, spared her the noose," Pala interjected. "Ironic, isn't it? He both loosened it and tightened it at the same time. Though the fact remains, she would not have escaped both the Courts and Windmore without his aid."

Damn her and her flawless logic.

Per Gillan's report, Windmore meant to lure Everna to the Guard post under the pretense of a summons from Sir Swiftbrook. Had things gone as planned and she arrived alone, he would've caught her at the scene. If Shadowguard's rat hadn't expedited those plans, it would be her daughter's grave before her, not Pala's disgustingly lavish study.

And until Windmore lost his temporary control over Pendel's Guard, it remained a possibility; he would execute Everna without delay to ensure no one could prevent it a second time.

"Once my son arrives, it won't matter," Evelina grumbled. "Corden will undoubtedly trust Gillan's word before he trusts Windmore's, and no one in Inverness would dare question the judgment of a High Knight."

Pala ran a hand through her hair, her fingers snagging on her curls. "If the capital doesn't see his connection to Everna as an issue."

Ah, that pesky issue. Evelina had considered that when she sent the request, but Corden was her son. He would push the Courts to the limits of their patience and beyond until they relented. If they refused still, she had plenty of material that Corden could use as leverage.

She kept that thought to herself. Pala would not approve of those methods, as they violated their agreement with King Keeland. If they weren't careful, they might join Everna at the gallows. The Courts would hold them accountable for their history with Shroud.

"I'd wager the capital's prepared to send whoever's going to sort this mess, regardless of their familial ties," Evelina said instead. "Perhaps they believe Windmore is responsible. They may see my son as, well, bait. Windmore would not take well to having one of Ronan's children ordering him around."

Pala narrowed her eyes, her lips pressed into a firm line. "You believe the capital may attempt to use him to accomplish what they couldn't with Everna?"

"Finish what Everna started," Evelina corrected. "She did pressure Windmore into moving again, which, if your sources are correct, was the Courts' intention."

Pala turned to the window, her jaw set. "Corden may rectify the immediate dilemma, but it will not exonerate Everna. My sources in the Courts say many of them aren't as convinced of her innocence as they were before Sir Swiftbrook's death. Being framed twice seems a bit too convenient in their eyes — and many believe she may have broken into the Guard post to interfere with the investigation, which is a direct breech of the agreement she made with the Inquisitor."

Evelina blew out an irritated breath. Both Pala and Sir Swiftbrook knew of the Courts' insane gambit, but neither felt it necessary to inform her of it. It wasn't until after Everna fled that Pala, reluctantly, explained the situation. She should've known, but Everna never mentioned a word of it, and she'd assume the Courts had enough sense to see through such an obvious framing.

She also should've known the Courts would have their hand in it. They were not the moral and just entity they paraded, but another cog in the ever-spinning apparatus of corruption that was the kingdom's ruling factions. Evelina would bet every coin in the tavern's overflowing coffers that most of the Arbiters knew of what was happening in Pendel and actively impeded any attempts to settle it on any other terms but their own. It would not be the first time the Courts acted in Shroud's interests.

It was a wonder Shadowguard could stay the noose. Shroud might have failed to hang her daughter, but they'd stirred up enough trouble that only a direct confession from the assassination could pull Everna out of it. Intentional or not — and she was certain Windmore acted of his own accord, as he so often did — Shroud destroyed Everna's reputation beyond repair. Should she somehow get her hands on it, the Courts would discredit and discard any evidence she had of her innocence.

That may be why they released her; they knew she'd come before them again.

Evelina released another sigh. If Everna had told her from the start, she could've done something. She'd have kept a closer eye on Windmore. She wouldn't have let her go to the Post alone.

What in the Nine Realms was her daughter thinking, keeping all of it to herself?