“I’d better tell the Bard and the Muse their gifts are needed,” Ashk said. She walked away from Rhyann—and temptation. By her estimation, they were a day and a half away from Willowsbrook, so she’d find out soon enough what she needed to know about the Huntress.

Chapter 34

waxing moon

Adolfo opened the door that led out onto a terrace, letting the rain lash his face, soak the fine carpet beneath his muddy boots. The mud and the wet carpet were a small way to punish the baron’s wife. The woman was not docile, despite the fact that the baron had followed all the procedures to make her so. Oh, she did what was required, said what was required…but hatred burned in the back of her eyes. Should he warn the baron to watch his back? No. If the fool ended up with a knife plunged into his heart one night after using her, it was no more than he deserved.

There was hatred in the baron’s wife that discipline would never exorcise. There was fury in the storm that chained him to this house.

A bitch of a storm.

Adolfo stared out at it, as if his stare alone could crush it. Instead, it was crushing him. His army was mired in roads turned to mud. The wheels of supply wagons were sunk to the axles, and even with men straining until muscles tore in their effort to help the horses pull the wagons out, they advanced a handspan at a time. Their only choice had been to empty the wagons and have men carry supplies along with their own packs, exhausting the men to the point where they weren’t fit to meet the enemy. Lightning struck old trees that fell across the road, forcing more men to expend time and effort to chop and haul enough aside to let men and wagons pass. Fields were drowning under lakes of water. Creeks had risen and washed away bridges.

A bitch of a storm, reeking with magic and fury, aimed right at him.

He knew who to blame for that.

Leaving the door open so that the storm would frame him, he turned to look at the pale, trembling baron.

“Were my orders so difficult that you found them impossible to follow?” Adolfo asked gently.

“No, Master Adolfo,” the baron replied, looking at his hands clasped white-knuckle tight in his lap.

“All you had to do was gather the complement of men from your county and wait for the rest of the army to arrive. Why couldn’t you do that?”