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

[27.1] Found

Dimitri Radev was born under a strange star.

These were the words his grandmother used, at least. Others were far less kind in describing the terrible luck that clung to Dimitri since childhood. Where people found misery, Dimitri found fortune – and since one required the other, he did not come out looking too good. His parents were most eager to send him off in service of the Kingdom when the Amith Capil came knocking. Whether they truly feared their son or simply despised the neighbors' gossip was unclear.

A plague swept through the small village scant months after Dimitri's departure. By the time the Amith Capil allowed him leave for a visit, there was no one left to ask.

Dimitri laughed under his breath. His companion turned to him with an ugly glare.

"Is there something you find amusing about our situation?" Sir Valeri Beaufort demanded through gritted teeth.

"I was thinking that we make quite the pair," Dimitri answered, still smiling.

Dimitri's luck was born in misery. Beaufort, on the other hand, had fortune spilling out of him like sand from a broken hourglass.

Valeri Beaufort was a man of means, power, and unfair good looks. His greatest achievement to date was surviving his own foolish choices. Of all the quiet nooks in Samodevia, the man chose to burrow in Elsendorf. He employed a housekeeper trained to kill his kind and almost married a creature set on chewing out his heart.

In retrospect, Natalia Gondin's betrayal was but par of the course.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," Dimitri noted wryly.

Beaufort's lips pressed into a thin line. The man turned his face away in a futile attempt to ignore Dimitri's presence. Dimitri grinned at his back, following the vampire's gaze to their unwilling hostess.

Miss Gondin made for a sorry sight. Tussled like a chicken in torn, bloodied bedsheets, she looked every bit the tortured hostage. The blood was Dimitri's and the woman had no one to blame for her current state but herself. Even so, her pretty face was dark with hate and unspoken grievances.

"It will be in your favor to confess quickly," Beaufort told her.

The woman glared at them both with reddened eyes. Beaufort attempted to coax her a few more times, first with logic, then with threats. Miss Gondin remained stubbornly silent.

"Let her be," Dimitri sighed, thoroughly bored and greatly disappointed with Sir Beaufort's interrogation tactics. No wonder the man got swindled everywhere he went.

Beaufort turned to him with a scowl. "I need to know what she has done, so I can take appropriate measures and protect us both," the man snapped.

"She's dying; what's her incentive to speak? Why would you trust a word out of her mouth?" Dimitri asked.

"What do you suggest, then?" Beaufort demanded.

"Consider what is known," Dimitri said. He counted off on his fingers as he spoke, "The time-frame, her means of action, the interested parties.

Let us begin with the timing. How long since she began to exhibit signs of poisoning?"

Beaufort considered the woman. She was pale and sweating, her eyes bright with fever.

"She was healthy when we arrived, and throughout our stay," he said at last.

"Breaking the oath would result in immediate repercussions, so we know she acted recently. Was there time when she was not under your direct supervision?" Dimitri continued. He was rather enjoying guiding the vampire through the thinking of a soldier, the sense of irony greatly gratifying.