"We passed through the fish markets on our way into the city," Ashlynn explained as she gestured for Sir Elgon, Devlin, and Sir Beathan to join her at a table along with Hugo, Isabell, and Liam. "Liamâs father was kind enough to offer us a ride on his river boats, and the guards werenât willing to cause much of a fuss for Loghlanâs retinue."
"The markets were meager at the end of the day," Ashlynn apologized as she took her seat. "But there was enough for one giant pot of stew. It isnât quite as good as Master Ivarâs, and I didnât catch the fish myself, but..."
"My lady," Delvin interrupted as he wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye. "Thank you," he said, filling the two simple words with all the feelings that welled up in his heart.
For a moment, a silence fell over the room as Morwen and Cadeyrn threaded their way through the hall, passing out cups of stew and freshly baked biscuits to everyone in the common room as people clustered at the tables closest to the warmth of the hearth.
"So the Dunns are your allies," Elgon said, breaking the silence and nodding his thanks to the young squire who placed a steaming cup of hearty fish stew in front of him. "And I gather the Hanrahans as well?" Elgon asked, glancing at Hugo, who was trying to make himself seem smaller as he wedged into a place between Liam and Sir Beathan.
"But then, if Baron Dunn is already here, where is Baron Ian Hanrahan?" Elgon asked. "Do you have him waiting outside the city walls with reinforcements if something goes wrong? Or securing an escape route?"
"Thatâs, um," Ashlynn started, uncertain how she should breach the topic when Hugo surprised her by speaking up.
"My father was executed for his crimes after the Battle of Hanrahan," Hugo said bluntly, unwilling to retreat from the topic no matter how tender it was. "My cousin, Sybyll, rules Hanrahan now, but she couldnât leave Hanrahan to support us now even if it were possible for her to join us... She has a whole barony to bring order to after my fatherâs crimes were made public, so..."
"The Battle of Hanrahan?" Elgon said, blinking in surprise. All around them, everyone sitting at the tables nearby had gone quiet, leaning closer in their chairs and hoping to overhear what was being discussed at Lady Ashlynnâs table.
"Master Isabell," Elgon said tentatively, glancing at the youthful-looking engineer. "Is that why you went into the wilderness? To help Lady Ashlynn conquer Hanrahan?"
"She didnât need me for that," Isabell said, shaking her head. "Just like she didnât need me to destroy the Summer Villa. Ashlynn made it very clear that she didnât want me to build war machines for her, and from the way my talks with Loghlan Dunn went, the first thing Iâll be building in the spring is a set of aqueducts and drainage channels."
"Iâve had enough of war, Sir Elgon," Isabell said flatly before her tone softened. "Which is why Iâm glad that Ashlynn is working so hard to prevent one from breaking out."
"So you were the one who attacked the Summer Villa?" Elgon said, staring at Ashlynn in surprise.
"I was there," Ashlynn acknowledged. "Sir Ollie helped breach the gates so we could rescue the staff and Samira. He knew the Villa better than anyone else."
"I spent enough summers there in the kitchens," Ollie said a bit sheepishly. "But I canât take credit for much in the battle. I just helped Virve get to the salley gate; she did the rest. I even got shot with an arrow for being foolish," he said, lifting up his tunic to reveal a small scar along his ribs where a bodkin arrow had parted the links of his mail and pierced the gambeson underneath.
"You did the important thing," Ashlynn countered. "You got the innocent people out alive and kept them calm all the way home. It would have been much harder without you."
"It sounds like the past year has been anything but calm," Elgon said, furrowing his brow as he gave Ashlynn a pained look. "Can you tell me, can you tell all of us," he amended, gesturing to the rest of the Blackwell household. "What happened? What started all of this in the first place? Because we all thought you died at the Summer Villa, but if you were the one attacking it..."
"Itâs a long story, and thereâs a great deal of it that you arenât ready for yet," Ashlynn said slowly as she considered how much to reveal. "But it started on my wedding night, when Owain beat me half to death and ordered his knights to dispose of me at the border of the Vale of Mists..."
In the end, Ashlynn decided that her people deserved to hear the truth, or at least the bare bones of it. That she had been rescued by Nyrielle and formed an alliance to topple the Lothians. That she had ventured beyond the mountains and learned that the Eldritch werenât very different from ordinary people and that it would be better to live beside them than to continue fighting endless, pointless wars for the Church and the Kingdomâs greed.
And that, when tomorrowâs âGrand Ceremonyâ came to an end, she intended to sit upon the throne of the march, bringing it under her rule as part of a new kingdom that refused to suffer under the yoke of the Churchâs oppressive doctrines and the Kingdom of Gaalâs exploitive rule.
They were revelations that should have provoked accusations of heresy from Sir Beathan and his Templars, but they didnât. Ashlynnâs plan should have drawn protests about treason from Sir Elgon, but that didnât happen either.
Here on the frontier, both men had seen what loyalty to Church and Crown really bought, and neither of them wanted any part of it. So when Ashlynn reached the end of her story more than an hour later, as the fire in the hearth burned low, they both had the same answer when she asked if they still stood with her.
"One ship, one crew," they said. "Wherever you lead, weâll follow you."