The Bride and the Ashen Knight novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Crown's Debt
My father lay propped on three pillows in the great bed, and half of his face still would not move.
The words came slowly, thick and careful.
"Sigrid," he said. "You came."
"I came to hear you say it again, in front of the council."
I had brought them with me, the old lord and eleven others, and they stood in a line along the wall.
Garrick stood at the foot of the bed in a borrowed coat.
My father's eyes went to him, to the clean neck and the bare throat, and a tear ran down the good side of his face.
"I did it," said the King of Varnholt. "All of it."
"I will say so in the square tomorrow, and sign it, and let every lord of Rhenmark read my name."
"I called it statecraft. It was cowardice."
"Ser Garrick, I ask your pardon."
Garrick said nothing for a long moment.
"You asked me to burn the fields," he said at last. "I'd have forgiven that, given time."
"You asked me to forget that you asked. That, I will not give you cheaply."
"I know."
"Then what will you give?"
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Bride and the Ashen Knight are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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