She nodded, thoughts plainly elsewhere. “Yes, that’s me.”

“What about the others?”

“There are no others.” She closed her eyes. “Not outside Branghall. Malatriant’s thralls are ringed about those walls three deep – so many that Eskavord’s deserted. I’ve found no one else. And I’ve looked, Viktor. Every farm and village, one edge of the Dark to the other. It’s horrible. Simply horrible. And it’s all my fault.”

He frowned. “How do you conjure that?”

“After my horse bolted, I fell deep into Skazit Maze – maybe even below Skazit Maze. I saw her. Bound behind walls of light. The memory’s so hazy, but I . . . I know I set her free. I’ve been running ever since.” She jerked upright, eyes taut with sorrow. “And now look what’s become of my home.”

Guilt crowded Viktor’s thoughts. “You’re not to blame. Someone erred. Someone so desperate for victory that they didn’t stop to consider the cost.”

Calenne’s gaze hardened. “That Hadari witch.”

It would be so easy to lay the blame on Melanna Saranal, to free Calenne of her guilt and his. But he’d been nothing but truthful with Calenne from the moment they’d met. How could he now be otherwise? Better to lose her trust through honest mistake than wilful deception.

“No,” he murmured. “The Hadari had no part of this.”

She gazed at him, expecting more. Then her throat bobbed and she stared down into the fire. “I see.”

Silence reigned, broken only by the thin crackle of the flames. Viktor breathed deep of the bitter smoke and scrabbled for an explanation. But truth was he’d little more to say. Pride had loosed great evil. All else was evasion.

Calenne’s lips thinned. “So where do we go from here?”

“We destroy Malatriant.”

She snorted. “Just us?”

“No. An army is coming.”

“I thought the Council didn’t care about the Southshires.”

“A great deal has changed, and for the better.”

“And my brother?” Her tone held no concern, only polite interest.

“Rides at the army’s head.”

She laughed, none too kindly. “So Josiri finally slipped from under his mother’s shadow?”

He shook his head. “I’d say rather that he’s found purpose.”

Viktor laid out all that had occurred, sparing only his personal dealings with Apara and his late father. “I told you much had changed. And it began here, with you and I.”

She leaned forward, a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Have you nothing more to say to me?”

“I don’t follow.”

“You’ve spoken of the city, the Council, my brother. Your eyes have shone with the joy of it. So I ask again, have you nothing more to say to me, the woman who is to be your wife?”