Queen's Shadow || Kingdom at the End of the World - Book II

[20] No Man

Kayla Starr awoke with the muzzle of a gun pressed against her forehead.

The figure standing at Kayla's bedside was blurred by sleep and shadows, but was undoubtedly female. Kayla smiled softly.

"Mika?" she asked.

The hand holding the gun tensed minutely. After a moment, it withdrew altogether. Kayla's smile went with it.

"Lord MacLean," Kayla greeted. She sat up stiffly, body sore and mind still chasing after her dead sister's ghost.

"At ease," Lady MacLean said. She still had the gun in her hand, now pointing at the floor rather than Kayla's head.

Kayla lay her hand flat on her knee. She kept her back straight and her eyes politely averted from Lady MacLean's face. It was not her place to question a Lord's actions, no matter how strange it was to find Sabina MacLean in her room in the middle of the night.

This was not their first meeting, although Kayla doubted the Lord would remember. Lady MacLean was the only active soldier among the five Lords of the Queen's Court, and was well-known and respected within the Amith Capil. Her genius with firearms was legendary. Mika had worshipped the woman, and was granted the honor of receiving personal training from Lord MacLean once her own talents inevitably drew the Lord's attention. Kayla was present for Mika's very first session. She remembered the brilliant smile on Mika's face with painful fondness.

Unfortunately, Mika's tutelage under Lord MacLean ended prematurely. Lord MacLean departed on an urgent mission, leaving a high-grade firearm for Mika's use and no note of her whereabouts or promise to return. Mika had worried after her absent teacher until the day she died.

"Eyes on me," Lord MacLean said.

Kayla snapped to attention. Lady MacLean raised her free hand, and signed as she spoke.

"You are in charge of Dimitri Radev's interrogation," she said. Her hands shaped,

Listen to what I sign, not what I speak.

"Yes, M'am," Kayla responded. Her mind shifted into full alert, and her downturned palm grew warm with sweat.

"What have you learned from him?" Lady MacLean asked coldly.

What do you know of the rest of his team?

"Nothing of any worth, M'am. He insists that Ira Hale is innocent, despite evidence of her crimes against the Court and Samodevia's citizens. Victor Fair, codename Shadow, is missing in the field and suspected dead." Kayla kept her discovery of Dimitri's unexpected guardian to herself. Lady MacLean was still a Lord of the Court, and as such would not greet news of Kayla withholding vital information favorably, whatever Kayla's reasons. Kayla had no good reasons to offer, besides. Nothing aside a gut feeling, and a growing disgust with the entire process of torturing a confession out of a man she had once seen as a friend.

"This visit was a waste of effort on my part, then," Lord MacLean said, sounding dissatisfied.

"I vow to increase my efforts," Kayla began.

Lord MacLean waived the words away. "It no longer matters. Report to the crematorium at sunset, and send him on his way."

Kayla's breath caught. "He is –"

"Dead, yes. A bit prematurely, but death is a traitor's due by rights," Lord MacLean said.

Kayla's eyes fell to the woman's hands, too quickly. Lord MacLean gave her a knowing look. She had been testing her, Kayla realized – sounding out her attachment to Dimitri. Kayla prepared for punishment.