A peal of thunder rolled out from the hills, and a curtain of hammering rain washed over the bridge. Rennic raised his arm, sodden clothes hanging slack. ‘You see? Even Almighty God doesn’t want this bastard crowned!’

Chel took a determined step, hands open and wide, imploring, rain streaming down his face. He had to raise his voice over the rush of falling water. ‘What are you doing, Rennic?’

‘I’m finishing the job.’

‘What job?’

‘Torht’s job, the Rau Rel’s job, your job! What we started with Ruumi, what we almost accomplished in Arowan. Destroying the church, lifting the curse from the land. Cleansing the corruption!’

‘Corvel is dead, the Order of the Rose disbanded. It’s over. We won.’

‘Horseshit!’ Rennic replied, setting down the crossbow and draping his soggy cloak over it. ‘It’s all still there. This is about more than just the man, remember? We have to pull it apart, or the next henchman down will simply pick up the reins.’

‘It’s not going to happen overnight, you need a little patience.’

‘You said you cared about doing what’s right! You abandoned us! After what he did!’

Rennic’s snarl was instinctive, his hands clenching. Already they were circling, moving in a slow orbit, a bedraggled stand-off. Below them, the royal procession slogged onwards in the rain, hunched and leached of majesty.

‘The right thing was letting go.’

‘The wicked must be punished! He killed Whisper, he said it himself.’

‘Is this what she’d have wanted?’ Chel said, one eye on the shrouded crossbow. All he had to do was sling it over the side and Tarfel was safe. They were all safe. ‘You throwing yourself away in petty vengeance? She knew the choice she made, denying her that is insulting her memory.’

He didn’t even see Rennic move. An instant later, he was on his back in the slopping rain, feeling the echo of the cold stone at the back of his skull. The centre of his face felt very hot against the rain, the streaming sensation from his nose more than just precipitation.

Rennic stood over him, snorting, snarling, then turned his back, walking back to the crossbow. Blinking through water, Chel pushed himself up on an elbow, feeling the crest of the pain waves rolling out from his head. ‘No matter what he said to you, it was just bad luck, and she gave herself that we could live. She decided. For once, break the cycle of vengeance.’

The big man paused, relaxing his grip on the soaking cloak. ‘And the others, little man? Foss won’t speak to me, he’s taken up the cloth again, rejoined the fucking church that spat in his eye year after year. Lemon won’t leave Arowan … They’re broken, gone. There’s nobody left.’

‘Loveless is out there. You could—’

‘She turned her back, made herself clear.’

‘She left because she’s pregnant!’