Page 112 of Ashborne Forged

Mother remained blank-faced.

“Break the marriage contract, Mother. Pave my path to Grace. And in return, you will have the legacy you always desired—and I will conveniently forget what you did.”

“Don’t you think the queen might be a touch suspicious of a man—a spy, I assume—who reports his own family?”

“Oh, I’m not stupid enough to implicate myself. You raised me better than that. You should, however, be very concerned about your friends.”

“I have many friends.”

“All of them neck-deep in this, I’m sure.”

“In what?” she asked, faking innocence as if it amused her. “I am a lonely widow, on a remote estate, with a tragic past, who wiles away the years enjoying the generous friendship of many wealthy families. They might have their fingers in political pies, but I couldn’t be expected to know everything they do, could I? I stay out of the court, out of politics—”

I leaned in, locking eyes with her, and keeping my voice low, but casual. “You’ll do the me the favor of not underestimating me. I trained half the men that will be sent on this mission.”

She arched one brow. “I see you inherited your father’s cocky self-belief. Why would I worry about men trained by a boy—”

“A boy who was trained for this at his mother’s tit,” I said with the dark smile I’d learned from her. “Yet, I understand why you question. Let me put your concerns about my incompetence to rest: First, I will point them to your friend, Marta. Unimportant. Easily dismissed. They won’t pursue it deeply. But your name will be raised at some point, and recorded in the files.

“Then, I’ll show them how the code we uncovered most likely points to Lord Moorhaven. Same result, I’m sure. A minor Lord gets his cage rattled. But before they walk away… whispers of the woman who used to be his mistress.”

Her lips thinned. “A past affair is hardly an offense for execution.”

“Of course not. But after that, they meet Lord Hargate, and then Lady Crale. And in both cases, there’s that dratted name again…”

She stared at me flatly.

I smiled. “I have more names, and I can provide them, and even if some aren’t right, or others are out of date… eventually, in every case, your name will crop up. At some point, the threads begin to tangle and the queen questions where she’s heard that title before? Then you have investigators appearing uncomfortably close, digging in your affairs… speaking to friends and enemies… asking questions…. Appearing on your remote estate at inopportune times. Following your carriage on your trips at Solstice—I can continue, Mother. Because I have a web of my own, just as you taught me. I have already proven my worth, and saved lives that were important to the queen—namely, her own. The moment I point and say, look what I found, she will eagerly listen. And I am not an idiot to lay a trail too obviously. They will find you without me pointing a single finger in your direction.”

I sat back again as my mother tipped her head and her eyes narrowed. “If you’d intended to cast suspicion on me, you would have done so already. I suspect an empty threat.”

“I do not make empty threats. You taught me that. Father learned it was true.”

Her jaw went tight. “Then, what held you back? You despise me. This was your chance to use me for your own personal gain. Two birds, one stone.”

I let my smile broaden. “Why do you think I’m here?”

She didn’t speak for a beat. Then, “My guess is you failed, and have no other choice. Coward.”

“No, Mother. I finally found something I love more than I hate you.” The moment the words were off my tongue, I internally screamed and wished them back. They’d come instinctively—should have been a blow. To any person with a heart that hadn’t already rotted out of their chest, to hear their son say such a thing would sting.

But my mother’s eyes flashed with delight, because I’d given something away.

Love.

And once she decided it was slip, rather than an intentional trail, she would use it against me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I could only scramble to play as if what I loved was the baby.

“So touching. How long until she gives birth? Is she showing yet? I can’t wait to meet her,” Mother said with mock eagerness.

I let my gaze remain flat. “I didn’t come here for you to play Grandmother. God save us all from that.”

“Then what, dear son and heir, did you expect would come of this conversation? Why would you come at all if you didn’t believe…” she trailed off and her eyes darted to me—no doubt, remembering the weapons she’d discovered on my person and how I might use them on her here, shut together in a room behind closed doors.

I smiled. “Don’t think I haven’t considered it.” —if I was quiet, I could fist the blade, and plunge it into the back of her neck, right at the base of her skull where—