The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) by Garrett Robinson (elon musk reading list TXT) 📕

“Now. I am not only your sister, Albern. I am lord of these lands, and it falls to me to protect them. What is Kaita doing here? And what brought you here to hunt her?”

“I have only guesses for the first question, though I can answer the second easily enough. I am here to kill her. And I know she wishes to kill me as well. But I think she came here because she wants to kill you, too.”

Ditra frowned. “Me? What makes you think that?”

“Many things,” I said. “Chief among them being the fact that she led me across three kingdoms to get here.”

She shook her head. “Kaita is not trying to kill me.”

I was flabbergasted. “You cannot be that naive,” I said. Her eyes flashed, and I went on quickly. “Ditra, I know you and she used to share a bed on occasion, but that was—”

“It was more than some idle tryst,” said Ditra. “She risked her life to be with me.”

“She … she what?”

A knock sounded at the door. Maia opened it, bearing a tray with food and wine.

“Thank you,” said Ditra briskly. “Give it to him, and then leave us be.”

“Of course, Rangatira,” said Maia. He gave us both a quick, surreptitious glance, but he did as his lord bid him. When the door closed again, Ditra motioned me over to the table. We both sat, the tray between us, but neither of us touched anything upon it.

“When you …” Ditra’s nostrils flared again, and she took a moment to master herself. “When you left. Mother sent Romil to fetch you back. She sent Kaita along with her, as a retainer and a bodyguard. Of course, we both know that Romil failed. But on her journey back here to Tokana, she was attacked by Feldemarians. They killed Romil. Kaita tried to protect her, but she barely escaped with her own life. And when she finally returned home, Mother tried to have her executed.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “Why?”

“For failing to protect Romil.” Ditra’s expression had gone dark. It was plain that she thought Mother’s decision was wrong, even barbaric. “Mother was enraged. Kaita, who had barely survived the Feldemarian attack, was nearly killed again. But she escaped, and then she came to me, and asked me to leave with her, if you can believe it.”

“She thought you would go with her?” I said. “What kind of fool did she—”

Ditra waved a hand in dismissal. “We were in love, Albern. Or we thought we were, the way people do at that age. But of course I told her not to be ridiculous. Mother’s decision might have been wrong, but I would not betray our family. I promised I would keep her visit a secret, and then I told her to go.”

I shook my head. It seemed I understood at last.

“Ditra,” I said slowly, wondering how I could make her see it. “Kaita lost her position in our household because of me. And then she lost you, her lover, when she tried to run.”

“She should not have had to run,” said Ditra. “If I had been Rangatira, it would never have happened. What Mother did was evil. You should understand that better than most. Kaita was her victim, just as you were.”

“You cannot fix all of Mother’s wrongs,” I said. “If you try, you will doom yourself. Mother was cruel to me, and it made my life miserable—but I shed her cruelty as soon as I could, and I purged it from my life. Kaita has taken that cruelty and made it her own. Now she means to tear the family Telfer down, to raze Tokana and leave no one here to contest her. It is part of the Shades’ strategy in their war against the High King. But for Kaita, it is more than that. She is going to destroy everything we have, and she is going to use the trolls to do it. You have to stop her. You must let Mag and me help you.”

“I did only my duty,” said Ditra firmly. “Kaita was distressed. She might have thought, in the moment, that I would abandon my family, but she could not have truly believed it. This matter between the two of you is something else.”

“She is a Shade,” I said. “I have faced her on the battlefield. She is a high captain in their ranks. They are the ones behind the troll attacks.”

Ditra’s nostrils flared. “You did not know Kaita as I did. You barely knew her at all.”

“Do you honestly think she still—”

“You never knew her, Albern,” snapped Ditra. “You only cared about yourself when you lived here.”

I felt my own anger rising to meet hers. “Well, someone had to.”

“No!” Ditra’s bark made me jump. She stood from her chair, planting her hands on the table as she leaned over me. “You do not get to speak to me that way. Me, of all people. Not after you abandoned your duty to our family.”

I felt like a pouting child again, but I could not help the sullen expression on my face. “What duty is that?”

“You know what. Maia is a fine man, but you should be my lead ranger.”

“I grew up thinking you would be lead ranger, and Romil would be the Rangatira after Mother.”

“So you left because you would not have a title?” said Ditra, staring at me wide-eyed. “You were unsatisfied with—”

“I left because I had no reason to stay!” I snapped. “I had nothing here!”

“You had me.”

“You were my sister,” I said slowly, trying to master my temper. “Yes, we had each other. But Mother … Romil …”

“They are dead, Albern.” Her voice caught. “They have been dead a long time. Yet you never came back.”

I could scarcely speak above a whisper. “I did not know Mother had died until I stood in your council chamber a few days ago.”

She dropped her gaze from mine and stepped away from the table. Scooping up her cup of