Page 224 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
And besides, I needed to see to the Unclanned and my own men. None of them had believed we would live to see the dawn, and against all odds, we had.
We hadwon.
Even if it didn’t feel that way right now.
CHAPTER NINETY-SEVEN
The jokes Rowan and I used to make about stamina felt like they were from another lifetime, but I couldn’t help but notice that I was reaching the end of mine now.
I just barely dredged up the strength to head back down to the courtyard.
We had been so enmired in the fighting that it hadn’t entirely sunken in, the way my ancestral home had turned into a mass grave in a matter of days.
Though, the ground here should be well-accustomed to being soaked through with blood after my father’s time as duke.
A brief survey told me that at least the few who remained of my personal guard were uninjured, if exhausted. I let Kirill know to return to his familiar post outside Rowan’s door after he got some rest, then checked the status of the rest of my men before finally heading to talk to the Unclanned.
Taras had begun to arrange for their lodging and treatment, but I redirected him to our men so I could speak with them myself.
They were still picking through corpses to gather their wounded. My soldiers might have normally balked at being among them, but the exhausted men who had fought at my sidefor days on end were barely sparing the newcomers a second glance.
I strode over to the group of Unclanned, wondering if it was Rowan’s offer of coin or food or a new life that had enticed them to fight for the clan they hated. But they hadn’t fought like mercenaries. The fervor with which they had stormed the battlefield was nothing at all like the broken men who had attacked our party on the road—who had killed Dmitriy and Igor and tried to take my lemmikki down as well.
How the hell had she wound up working alongside them after that?
As soon as I approached, a man strode forward, showing none of the deference my own men would have. Whatever had motivated him to fight for our estate, it was certainly not a lingering loyalty toward Bear.
Though he was little more than skin and bones, he moved with a warrior’s grace. His hazel eyes were steady as they met mine, and though theBesklanovvyaround us watched with wary eyes, not one of them moved to interfere.
This was obviously their leader.
“Andrei?” I inquired, though I was fairly certain I knew the answer.
I hadn’t recognized his name, so my father must have branded him—for reasons legitimate or otherwise.
He nodded, eyeing me with thinly veiled suspicion.
“I mean you no harm,” I assured him. “I’m here on behalf of my wife.”
“The princess?” he clarified, something just a bit challenging in his arched eyebrow.
“The Clan Wife of Bear,” I countered evenly.
He didn’t argue, but neither did he agree.
“Your wounded are welcome in the medical wing. There has been space set aside for your sleeping quarters, and rations are being handed out presently.”
If anything, his eyes only narrowed further. “You would allow theBesklanovvyin your estate?”
I took a breath, half wishing I had let Taras speak with the man after all, but I had wanted to take his measure. “If you doubted the legitimacy of my wife’s recompense, why did you come?”
He shook his head minutely, bitterness tilting his lips along with what almost looked like…condescension. “Not for payment. And we never doubted her.”
A muscle worked in my jaw at his double implication, that I had been the one guilty of doubting Rowan. That it was me theBesklanovvydidn’t trust to honor her agreement.
If I had sensed even the slightest hint of attraction from him on top of that, I might have added another corpse to the battlefield, but his gaze shone with nothing but respect for her.
Not for payment, he had said.