bluntly, my enforcer,” Thren said. “He ensures my orders are obeyed, without any troublesome deviations.”
As Senke sat down, the other man stood. His skin was dark, and his eyes were darker. He had thin lips and wide eyes, and his clothes seemed about twenty years out of fashion. His enormous frame seemed to dwarf the table.
“My name is Will,” he said. He did not offer his hand.
“Will trusts no one,” Thren said as the giant man returned to his seat. “And I may be partly to blame. He has been with me since the very beginning, and every turncoat or sellsword knows that if he deals with me dishonestly, he will find Will beating down his door.”
“I don’t like liars,” Will said, as if that explained everything.
“Neither may be the smartest council,” Thren said, smiling a little at Senke’s feigned insult, “but they are honest with me. Too many quiver at the notion of the word ‘no’ when in my presence. However, I do not think you are a succubus that will drain my life dry while whispering sweetness into my ear. I can judge the character of a man, or woman, just by being in their presence. In you, I sense the ability to call me false. Am I correct?”
Her eyes darted between the three. She was being tested, she knew, but the correct answer seemed in doubt. Telling them she wasn’t an ass-kisser was too obvious, too easy. Something was off, but what?
Then she knew.
“You want me to agree,” she said, a smile growing against her will across her lips. “You want me to appear the fool, agreeing with you in that I will never agree without reason. You cannot judge me by my mere presence. My answer, though, will tell you much. So let me ask you, did I pass or did I fail?”
Senke laughed.
“You passed girl, and you know it. Aaron said you were special, but I thought that was just the crush of a young boy for a lovely lady. Clearly, he is smarter than we give him credit for.”
Thren nodded in agreement.
“You have risked your life for my son. Again, I thank you. Matters of similar importance have come about, and I want you to aid me in this endeavor.”
Kayla took a seat before them and crossed her legs.
“What might that be?” she asked.
“Those that betray me must be punished,” Thren said. “Loyalty until death. Death to the disloyal. I have based my entire life around those two laws, and I will not break them now. The king has imprisoned Aaron’s former tutor, an elderly man named Robert Haern.”
Kayla’s cheek twitched at the name, and Thren misinterpreted it as recognition.
“Indeed, the king’s former tutor was also my son’s. When the soldiers stormed his home, Aaron insists he helped him escape. I must know if this is true. I must know what part Robert played in that fiasco. If he saved my son’s life, then I owe him dearly. If he was a willing member…”
Will cracked his knuckles.
“You want us to break him out of prison,” Kayla said. “You have never done so for any of your other members, but now for this old man you will risk all our lives?”
Senke nudged Thren’s elbow, clearly amused. Thren was not.
“Someone was behind the attempt on my son,” he said. “Someone with the power of the castle. I must know who. I will not assassinate a king until I am certain of his guilt.”
His tone made it perfectly clear he was not joking. Kayla felt a knot swelling in her throat, and she swallowed it down.
“What do you want of me?” she asked.
“I will be leading this endeavor,” Senke said. “Will is coming, too. We need a third, but it’s possible the attack on Aaron was orchestrated with the help of someone within our organization. We need someone clean. So what do you say? Want to help break into the dark dungeons of Veldaren?”
Insane, Kayla thought. Absolutely insane. We will be caught, and killed, all for an old man who may know nothing, nothing at all…
Thren was watching her, they all were. She knew what denying a role would mean. She would never join their private talks again. There would be no seat for her there, not when her cowardice could win out over her loyalty. All hopes of wealth and power and fear would be lost forever.
“I’ll go,” she said. “I’ll most likely die, but I’ll go.”
“That’s my girl,” Senke said with a wink. Will only