“What kind of people are these?” his general demanded.
“Clearly not the kind we were expecting,” Straton remarked as he stepped away from the pit, unable to stand the smell another second.
“I thought these were farmers,” the general snapped at one of his men.
“They are.” Straton looked around at what remained of the family’s farm. “What annoys me is that I can’t even burn this place down out of spite. They’ve already done that.”
His general came to his side. “Prince Straton, I promise—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Straton cut in. “Just find them. Now.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“What if they split up?” another soldier asked.
“Track the girl,” he spit out. “We can kill her family at a later time. I need that girl dead. Don’t come back until she is.”
CHAPTER 7
The family traveled for three solid days, with Angus leading the way. Caid and his unit stayed in their natural forms and shadowed the family as they moved along.
The plan, as far as Caid knew from his sister, was to take the family someplace they deemed safe and then to take Beatrix to the witches for the confirmation.
Once she was consecrated as queen, the next steps would be decided by Beatrix herself. Until then, Laila was in charge. But she was letting the family believe otherwise. The situation was already tense. The first night had been hard, with the youngest children scared and crying. The older ones bickering and nervous, worried they were about to be attacked.
They weren’t. But Caid was sure they were being tracked. The second night, though, Caid and Farlan handled the two trackers the Devourer had sent out, burying their bodies deep so the next set of trackers wouldn’t be able to find them.
By the third night, they arrived at their destination: a castle complete with moat that was high on a hill with the sea at its back.
“You have royal friends?” Caid asked Keeley, who’d been surprisingly quiet the entire trip unless she was attempting to soothe her young siblings.
She laughed. The first he’d heard from her in days. “Hardly.”
Angus rode until he reached the moat; the metal gate was closed against any intruders.
“Oy!” he called up to the towers. “Archibald!”
They waited but no one came. Not surprising to Caid. Who knew where inside that castle this Archibald was? He could be asleep in his bed or the kitchens in the back of the castle.
“We could be here all night,” his sister complained to him.
She was right. They could easily be here all night. Longer if this Archibald was actually dead.
Angus glanced at his wife and, after a sigh, yelled out, “I know you see us, you bastard! Just open the fucking gate!”
He came out of the darkness. A giant of a man. Bigger than Angus, it seemed. Long red hair in a braid that hung over his massive shoulder, a steel helm with horns on his very large head, and what Caid could only call insane blue eyes gazing down at them.
“Good gods,” Laila muttered.
“Why should I let you in, you fucking bastard!”
“Because you owe me!”
“I owe you shit!”
Keeley and Gemma both rolled their eyes, and their heads fell back in irritation. For once, they looked alike; but they didn’t know it.
“You open this fucking gate, or I’ll tear it down with my bare hands!”
“Just try, you arrogant cunt!”
“That is it!” Emma bellowed. Her horse took her close to her husband. “Both of you stop this! Please!” She looked up at the giant man. “Hello, Archibald.”
“My dear sweet Emma?” The large man’s voice changed, and Caid cringed at the neediness in it. “Is that you?”
“Of course.”
“It’s been so long.”
“Oh, please,” Angus growled out.
Emma punched his shoulder before replying to Archibald, “Could you open the gate? For me? Please?”
“What about him?” Archibald snarled. “Am I safe?”
“No!” Angus snapped.
“Yes!” Emma said over her husband. “You have my word.”
Archibald took his time, but finally replied, “Fine.”
When he disappeared into the darkness again, Emma turned in her saddle to say to her husband, “Could you please stop being a horse’s ass?”
“He started it. He always starts it.”
“I don’t care who started what. I just want our children safe. Remember them? Your little bastards?”
“Of course I remember—”
“Then give me your word.”
“But—”
“Angus, I swear by all that is unholy—”
“Fine.” He cracked his neck and shoulders. “I will do my best not to remind him what a worthless cunt he is.”
“That’s all I ask.”
The drawbridge was slowly lowered and Caid couldn’t help but ask Keeley, “Is