The Traitor by A. Lombardo (i can read with my eyes shut TXT) 📕

“Are you sure you want to return to Diu without proof?” Rayna asked. “We did not find Iver’s body, we did not find this third person. They will hang you tomorrow. Can we not run? Disappear?”

Rayna's urgent plea and fear were understandable, but he knew that would be no life for either of them. “I failed to understand the loyalty my mother demonstrated to the Katori people all those years ago. Now it all makes sense. I am ready to stand up for my mistakes, but it is not my place to reveal the Katori secrets. My mother spent a decade of her life in torment to prove her loyalty. Could I not do the same? I promised to return to Diu, and my word is my bond.”

Rayna grabbed his hand and squeezed tight. “Kai, I found something—or rather, someone. A body buried in the woods. He is fresh, if you know what I mean.” Her other hand slid through the vines like a knife through butter.

Mind racing, Kai took hold of her elbow. “Where? Show me.”

“Take hold,” Rayna pointed to one of two hooked vines dangling next to the opening. She grabbed one and the vines wrapped around her as she stepped off.

Anxious to follow, Kai grabbed the woody hook and stepped off. Thick vines slithered down his arm and around his waist, easing his descent. As his feet touched the snow, the vines retracted, setting him free to chase after Rayna.

She was nimble and quick on her feet, considering they had not slept since yesterday. She darted around trees and rocks with lightning precision. Vaulting over felled trees and stomps, she ran farther away from Diu. Before Kai could glean the area, she dropped to her knees without a sound and pulled him down beside her.

“Shhh,” she whispered, pointing into the shadows. “Do you see him?” Rayna directed Kai’s attention to the thick underbrush in the woods in front of him, but he saw nothing, only snow flurries dancing amongst the shadows.

Thump, thump, thump. Kai heard someone pounding the ground. “This is our last night together,” a man’s voice resonated through the trees. “I am done watching you rot. Nobody will ever find you here. I promised to hide you well and bury you deep. She made me promise, and I always keep my promises.”

Controlling his pounding heart, Kai gleaned the darkness. Deeper into the woods, a man scooped dirt with a shovel and pounded the ground to flatten the clump. Curious, he gleaned what the stranger had buried—a man with a stab wound on his left side just below his heart, his face too damaged to be identified. Goosebumps covered his skin and pricked the hair on the back of his neck.

The stranger heaved the last of the dirt over the unmarked grave and brushed a few sticks and leaves for good measure. “Good riddance—you will not be missed.” The man stood and dusted his hands and knees.

Did this person work for Nola? Was this another person doing her bidding? Had she been the one to arrange the removal of Iver’s body from the palace? A million questions shot through Kai’s brain at once, and unable to control himself, he darted into the night after the stranger. Fear and excitement pounded in his chest with each step. Could this be Iver? He did not want to lose this person, a possible witness of Iver’s murder. Without care or stealth, he stormed through the woods, focused on the grave and the gravedigger.

Smack! Something struck Kai on the side of his head, sending him to the ground. “Darwin, you idiot!” the man standing over Kai shouted.

Kai squirmed on the ground. Stars danced around his head.

“Carter!” Darwin, the gravedigger, yelled with a Milnosian accent. “What are you doing out here?”

“Looks like I am saving your hide,” said Carter with a thick Port Anahita draw, towering over Kai. “What do you want, boy? Who sent you? Speak, or I will put you in a grave of your own.”

Scattered moonlight offered a meager glimpse of Carter’s features. Covered in hunting gear and furs, he was an ox of a man with stark-white hair blending into a long, white beard. A short wooden staff bounced in his hand. “Speak, boy, or I will thump you again with my stick.”

Head pounding, Kai tried to stand, but Carter knocked him back to the ground with his boot. “I said, what do you want, boy? Tell me or this is as far as you go.”

Considering Darwin spoke with a Milnosian accent, Kai decided to do the same. “I came for my father,” Kai gasped, pointing to the makeshift grave, thankful his disguise hid his true identity. “Who is in that grave?” He tried again to stand, this time ready for the blow that never came.

Carter chuckled. “You are a long way from the streets of Milnos, boy. I doubt he could be your father, illegitimate maybe, but I doubt it. You are too filthy to live the way this man did, I am guessing you grew up in the navel district by your twang. Trust me, this man had fine things, and you, well, look at you. Go home to your mother. You have no business being out in this storm. I do not know you, and you do not know me. Let us keep it that way.”

The more Carter spoke, the more Kai needed to know who Darwin had buried ten feet from where he stood. Could they be speaking of Iver? These did not look like Keegan’s Caroco men, and they were not Katori. Darwin’s Milnosian accent confused him. Was he one of the Regent’s men? Maybe Keegan was not involved. Had Nola arranged these two men to dispose of the King to further the war?

Kai looked at Darwin, hoping this man might be more reasonable. “My