“Anna?” Drake said. “I need you to leave the wagon.”
She nodded immediately. “Yes, lord.”
“Val? You stay. You’re going to listen to every word this fucker says and make sure you testify to it when I need you.”
Anna hopped to the door and left without complaint. She didn’t even ask if she was going to hurt Westin. She probably already knew the answer.
If he had to.
Valentia, meanwhile, settled beside him. The glower she directed at Westin would have made it difficult for anyone not to piss themselves. Drake was glad she was here.
The rumble of the carriage told him they were on the move, and a glance out the window told him they were moving off the main road. Drake assumed Samuel had ordered the carriage to wait somewhere close to where it could easily get out of sight.
He also assumed the rest of his people were out there walking alongside him. He didn’t see why they wouldn’t. He normally wouldn’t ask Anna to walk, but he didn’t need her inside his carriage, watching, if he had to get forceful with Westin today.
Or order Valentia to freeze his balls off.
Now, to find out if his impetuous decision to kidnap the son of another manor lord was going to finally get him out of this mess... or just drop him into another pile of problems.
“Westin, raise your right hand.”
The man’s right hand popped up. His eyes were still visibly wet.
“Westin, slap yourself on the cheek.”
Westin slapped himself, quite forcefully, and then gasped. There was no doubt the obedience fetish was working. Drake had total control of his enemy now.
“Just wanted to make sure the fetish worked.” Drake did his level best not to feel guilty. “Now, Westin, tell me exactly how your rarity works.”
The man visibly struggled for a moment, teeth bared and fists clenched, before he gasped and slammed against the seat, breathing hard. “I can change what people recall.”
Fucking finally! Proof. The proof he needed to save his manor and himself... and Lydia. His impetuous decision to kidnap Westin again during his execution had actually paid off.
“How many people has Lord Proudglade ordered you to use this rarity on?”
Westin grimaced again. “No one, lord.”
Westin couldn’t even lie normally, and he was under an obedience fetish. So how...
“Does Lord Proudglade even know what your rarity can do?”
This time, Westin struggled almost a full second before he gasped and slammed once more against the back of the carriage. “He does not.”
Drake finally understood how all of this was possible. Westin had kept his rarity secret from even his own father, or perhaps Lord Proudglade had never asked. That made even more sense now that he knew more about the noble court.
Lord Proudglade couldn’t keep the truth about Westin’s rarity from the noble court. But he couldn’t tell them what he didn’t know. That would be what Drake demanded next.
“Westin, how did you trick Lord Proudglade into not knowing your rarity?”
“I altered my own memory before we spoke. I made myself remember that I had no rarity. I even continued to think that for weeks before I found the diary I left for myself in my room.”
That was... actually brilliant. Westin might be responsible for every plot he’d faced, and as furious as Drake was with the man right now, he was also an evil genius. Westin had changed his own memories to ensure he could give his father false information about his rarity.
Drake had assumed, all this time, that Lord Proudglade was the man pulling the strings for all the manors arrayed against him and all their plots. But now... he wondered if Westin had been pulling the strings all along. If Westin had been the mastermind behind everything.
This also explained why Westin had been at Drake’s execution. Had Lord Proudglade known that his son could alter people’s memories, he’d never have put him anywhere near Drake, even if he was certain Drake was to be executed. In this case, it seemed Westin’s need to keep his rarity secret from even his own father had finally bitten them both in the ass.
Westin might not have had any choice other than to attend Drake’s execution with his father, since he couldn’t tell his father of the dangers. This also explained why Lord Proudglade had been so surprised to hear that Drake had become Lord Gloomwood before Lord Crow attempted that demon summoning during the cabal. Westin had kept that from him as well.
“Westin, who else is knowingly working against us on your behalf?”
Westin sighed. “Lord Redbow knows what my rarity can do. He has been helping me, as was his associate, Captain Ro.” He wasn’t even trying to fight the fetish any longer.
So there it was. Lord Redbow had been speaking what he believed when he said he knew of no thrall who could change what people see, because, instead, he knew of a thrall who could change what people remembered. Drake had been so close. Not close enough.
“Westin, tell me every plot you and Lord Redbow have launched against my manor and Lord Skybreak’s. Answer every question I have about them until I tell you to stop.”
“First, I contracted Captain Ro to assassinate Lord Skybreak’s steward and to escort me to where the assassination occurred. I also ordered him to leave one of her thralls alive. I changed that man’s memory so he would remember Valentia murdering the steward.”
“And that was Oswell? The thrall I called to testify in the cabal?”
“Yes.”
“So why let Valentia and Nicole live?”
“I believed Lord Skybreak would need someone to execute in order to ensure bad blood arose between your manors, on both sides. After she executed your battle maids, whom Captain Ro’s mercenaries would deliver, for a crime Lord Gloomwood knew they did not commit, it would ensure you never trusted each other.”
“And why not change Valentia and Nicole’s memory as well?”
“I cannot. Changing even one person’s memory exhausts me for a full day.”
So that was how it was. Westin’s rarity did have some limits. Otherwise, Drake suspected Westin would simply change the memory of everyone he met and never get caught.
“Westin, who put that sea gate in the Chamber of Council?”
“I do not know,” Westin said. “I also did not know they planned to do that. I would never have agreed to that. I only sought to defeat those who threatened my father.”
Westin certainly believed that. And... maybe he was right. Still, he was going to pay.
“Still,” Drake said to confirm it for himself, “the reason Lord Redbow summoned those kromians and stopped the cabal was because he was worried we’d keep the inquisitions going until we asked the right question. He had to stop it before he was forced to confess that he was working with you.”
Westin nodded. “I can only assume that was his reason. As I said, I was not involved in the decision to use the sea gate ambush to stop the cabal.”
“But did you make Lord Frostlight remember placing it there?”
“I did. It was the only way I could stop her from becoming a threat to my father.”
“So you intended to have Lord Frostlight executed. You murdered her.”
“I did,” Westin agreed calmly. “She was an assassin by trade, a woman who hunted desperate peasants for enjoyment and killed them all in brutal ways. She was no soft flower, and she had already begun to conspire against Proudglade Manor with you, Lord Gloomwood.”
No soft flower must be how they talked about innocents or saints. Drake actually agreed with Westin—about Lord Frostlight—but still, the fact that Westin had tricked a manor lord into confessing to her own execution was ruthless. He had also tried to kill Drake many times.
There was still more he needed to know. “Westin, how did Lord Gloomwood capture you?” That was where they had first met, after all. In Lord Gloomwood’s torture dungeon.
“That was a mistake.” Westin grimaced. “As the final step of my plot against Lord Gloomwood, I planned to meet with him and change his memory so he remembered Lord Skybreak killing his thralls. I asked to meet him to trade information about my manor.”
“And the old fucker really believed that?”
“I intended to tell him some of our manor’s secrets to gain his trust, though I was going to make him forget them all afterward. But he simply ordered his zarovians to knock me out the moment I arrived, then restrained me in his dungeon where he could force it out of me.”
Now Drake was curious about something else. “How do you use your rarity?”
“I must touch someone. I must also maintain contact for a few seconds.”
And once Westin got knocked out and woke up chained to a standing wooden X, he’d been helpless to use his rarity. Moreso after Lord Gloomwood slapped an obedience fetish on him. It seemed Westin was right. He’d been clever, but he’d gotten too ambitious.
And, finally, one last memory clicked. The day he’d agreed to go into protective custody, as he’d left the Judge’s office, Westin had been coming in to speak with her.
“So after we ran into each other a few days ago, you changed the Judge’s memory? By telling her you had information about who had placed the sea gate in the chamber?”
“Yes,” Westin said quietly.
So, by saving Westin from Lord Crow the first day he arrived, Drake had put himself in a world of pain. Not all good deeds, it seemed, were rewarded. Shit happened.
“Lord Gloomwood,” Westin said, “may I ask you one favor before you turn me over to the capital guards?”
Drake chuckled darkly. “That’s rich. You tried to kill me, like, a dozen times.”
“I did.”
“You directly threatened my people and even got some of them killed. You very nearly killed everyone in my manor. Why the fuck would I do you a favor?”
“Because I never wished to be your enemy. Once we had control of your manor, I knew my father would appoint someone who would treat your thralls properly.” Westin sighed again. “That is my favor. May I tell you, Lord Gloomwood, why I did all this?”
Drake frowned. “You think I’ll care?”
“I would like you to understand.”
“I’m not going to keep anything you did secret. I’m not going to let you go. I’m going to take you to the capital and use that fetish to make you confess every last one of these crimes to the court. Then, they’re going to execute you just like they executed Lord Frostlight.”
“I know all this. I am resigned to my fate and will confess my crimes to the court. But before I die, I still wish to tell you why I did all this... Clint.”
Drake simply couldn’t understand the sudden sincerity in Westin’s voice. “Why?”
“Because now that you have defeated me, I wish to apologize.”
That was not what Drake had been expecting to hear. Yet Westin was under multiple compulsions that prevented him from lying. Was Westin actually this deluded? Drake was actually curious to find out.
“All right, Westin. Tell me why you did all this. Justify it however you can.”
“All I ever wanted to do was bring peace to our realm.”
Drake glanced at Valentia, who looked no more convinced than he did. Then, he turned back to Westin. “So tell me how you planned to do that.”
“Manor lords have fought for dominance and killed each other for centuries. This was the realm into which I was born, and it is not just manor lords who die. Many of their thralls suffer as well, tortured or executed for trivial slights. Countless peasants also suffer every day beneath ruthless manor lords. My father protects his people, but others still hurt theirs.”
Drake remembered Robin’s quest to kill the Asp, the mercenary with the rarity that allowed her to melt people with acid. That woman alone had slaughtered half a town, and many of the others had done worse. He could only imagine how many they’d hurt.
He also remembered Anna and her father, forced into slavery by Captain Ro and Lord Redbow. There must be so many others out there. So many innocents hurt or killed.
“The last Lord Gloomwood was among the worst of our lords,” Westin said quietly. “He tormented his thralls, hurting and executing anyone he believed disloyal or weak. He even attempted to summon a leviathan. You saw it as I did.”
Drake couldn’t deny that.
“When I put my plan into motion to ensure Skybreak Manor and Gloomwood Manor would never ally, I aimed my attack at Lord Crow. He was the man I wished to defeat, not you. Crow’s thralls suffered so much at his hands. I couldn’t stand by and let them all suffer.”
Still Westin wasn’t lying, and he wasn’t wrong. In his own bizarre way, Westin had actually set out to save Gloomwood Manor... and all the people Drake now protected... from their evil overlord. Drake didn’t have to agree with Westin to understand his purpose.
“I had no idea Lord Crow would summon you, nor that you would somehow defeat him and take his place. I also had no idea you would be... this.”
“What, Westin?”
“Noble.” Westin smiled sadly. “Even kind. You have been ruthless when you had to be, but only to protect those close to you. You trust your thralls and treat them well. Had I known a man like you would seize Gloomwood Manor, I would never have launched my plot... but I launched it before you arrived. I was committed, but still, I wish to apologize for my actions.”
Drake stared in disbelief.
“The die that made me your enemy was cast before you arrived in our realm,” Westin continued. “My intent was always to stop the suffering of thralls abused by their manor lord and bring peace to my realm. I set out to eliminate the former Lord Gloomwood, the evil manor lord who would doom the world for his own power... and when you killed him for me, to my eternal shame, I could not prevent you from bearing the brunt of my plots in his place.”
Next Week: Drake has a parley with Lord Proudglade and a visit from the last person he expects.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Read Ahead on the Patreon
Chat on the Discord
“Anna?” Drake said. “I need you to leave the wagon.”
She nodded immediately. “Yes, lord.”
“Val? You stay. You’re going to listen to every word this fucker says and make sure you testify to it when I need you.”
Anna hopped to the door and left without complaint. She didn’t even ask if she was going to hurt Westin. She probably already knew the answer.
If he had to.
Valentia, meanwhile, settled beside him. The glower she directed at Westin would have made it difficult for anyone not to piss themselves. Drake was glad she was here.
The rumble of the carriage told him they were on the move, and a glance out the window told him they were moving off the main road. Drake assumed Samuel had ordered the carriage to wait somewhere close to where it could easily get out of sight.
He also assumed the rest of his people were out there walking alongside him. He didn’t see why they wouldn’t. He normally wouldn’t ask Anna to walk, but he didn’t need her inside his carriage, watching, if he had to get forceful with Westin today.
Or order Valentia to freeze his balls off.
Now, to find out if his impetuous decision to kidnap the son of another manor lord was going to finally get him out of this mess... or just drop him into another pile of problems.
“Westin, raise your right hand.”
The man’s right hand popped up. His eyes were still visibly wet.
“Westin, slap yourself on the cheek.”
Westin slapped himself, quite forcefully, and then gasped. There was no doubt the obedience fetish was working. Drake had total control of his enemy now.
“Just wanted to make sure the fetish worked.” Drake did his level best not to feel guilty. “Now, Westin, tell me exactly how your rarity works.”
The man visibly struggled for a moment, teeth bared and fists clenched, before he gasped and slammed against the seat, breathing hard. “I can change what people recall.”
Fucking finally! Proof. The proof he needed to save his manor and himself... and Lydia. His impetuous decision to kidnap Westin again during his execution had actually paid off.
“How many people has Lord Proudglade ordered you to use this rarity on?”
Westin grimaced again. “No one, lord.”
Westin couldn’t even lie normally, and he was under an obedience fetish. So how...
“Does Lord Proudglade even know what your rarity can do?”
This time, Westin struggled almost a full second before he gasped and slammed once more against the back of the carriage. “He does not.”
Drake finally understood how all of this was possible. Westin had kept his rarity secret from even his own father, or perhaps Lord Proudglade had never asked. That made even more sense now that he knew more about the noble court.
Lord Proudglade couldn’t keep the truth about Westin’s rarity from the noble court. But he couldn’t tell them what he didn’t know. That would be what Drake demanded next.
“Westin, how did you trick Lord Proudglade into not knowing your rarity?”
“I altered my own memory before we spoke. I made myself remember that I had no rarity. I even continued to think that for weeks before I found the diary I left for myself in my room.”
That was... actually brilliant. Westin might be responsible for every plot he’d faced, and as furious as Drake was with the man right now, he was also an evil genius. Westin had changed his own memories to ensure he could give his father false information about his rarity.
Drake had assumed, all this time, that Lord Proudglade was the man pulling the strings for all the manors arrayed against him and all their plots. But now... he wondered if Westin had been pulling the strings all along. If Westin had been the mastermind behind everything.
This also explained why Westin had been at Drake’s execution. Had Lord Proudglade known that his son could alter people’s memories, he’d never have put him anywhere near Drake, even if he was certain Drake was to be executed. In this case, it seemed Westin’s need to keep his rarity secret from even his own father had finally bitten them both in the ass.
Westin might not have had any choice other than to attend Drake’s execution with his father, since he couldn’t tell his father of the dangers. This also explained why Lord Proudglade had been so surprised to hear that Drake had become Lord Gloomwood before Lord Crow attempted that demon summoning during the cabal. Westin had kept that from him as well.
“Westin, who else is knowingly working against us on your behalf?”
Westin sighed. “Lord Redbow knows what my rarity can do. He has been helping me, as was his associate, Captain Ro.” He wasn’t even trying to fight the fetish any longer.
So there it was. Lord Redbow had been speaking what he believed when he said he knew of no thrall who could change what people see, because, instead, he knew of a thrall who could change what people remembered. Drake had been so close. Not close enough.
“Westin, tell me every plot you and Lord Redbow have launched against my manor and Lord Skybreak’s. Answer every question I have about them until I tell you to stop.”
“First, I contracted Captain Ro to assassinate Lord Skybreak’s steward and to escort me to where the assassination occurred. I also ordered him to leave one of her thralls alive. I changed that man’s memory so he would remember Valentia murdering the steward.”
“And that was Oswell? The thrall I called to testify in the cabal?”
“Yes.”
“So why let Valentia and Nicole live?”
“I believed Lord Skybreak would need someone to execute in order to ensure bad blood arose between your manors, on both sides. After she executed your battle maids, whom Captain Ro’s mercenaries would deliver, for a crime Lord Gloomwood knew they did not commit, it would ensure you never trusted each other.”
“And why not change Valentia and Nicole’s memory as well?”
“I cannot. Changing even one person’s memory exhausts me for a full day.”
So that was how it was. Westin’s rarity did have some limits. Otherwise, Drake suspected Westin would simply change the memory of everyone he met and never get caught.
“Westin, who put that sea gate in the Chamber of Council?”
“I do not know,” Westin said. “I also did not know they planned to do that. I would never have agreed to that. I only sought to defeat those who threatened my father.”
Westin certainly believed that. And... maybe he was right. Still, he was going to pay.
“Still,” Drake said to confirm it for himself, “the reason Lord Redbow summoned those kromians and stopped the cabal was because he was worried we’d keep the inquisitions going until we asked the right question. He had to stop it before he was forced to confess that he was working with you.”
Westin nodded. “I can only assume that was his reason. As I said, I was not involved in the decision to use the sea gate ambush to stop the cabal.”
“But did you make Lord Frostlight remember placing it there?”
“I did. It was the only way I could stop her from becoming a threat to my father.”
“So you intended to have Lord Frostlight executed. You murdered her.”
“I did,” Westin agreed calmly. “She was an assassin by trade, a woman who hunted desperate peasants for enjoyment and killed them all in brutal ways. She was no soft flower, and she had already begun to conspire against Proudglade Manor with you, Lord Gloomwood.”
No soft flower must be how they talked about innocents or saints. Drake actually agreed with Westin—about Lord Frostlight—but still, the fact that Westin had tricked a manor lord into confessing to her own execution was ruthless. He had also tried to kill Drake many times.
There was still more he needed to know. “Westin, how did Lord Gloomwood capture you?” That was where they had first met, after all. In Lord Gloomwood’s torture dungeon.
“That was a mistake.” Westin grimaced. “As the final step of my plot against Lord Gloomwood, I planned to meet with him and change his memory so he remembered Lord Skybreak killing his thralls. I asked to meet him to trade information about my manor.”
“And the old fucker really believed that?”
“I intended to tell him some of our manor’s secrets to gain his trust, though I was going to make him forget them all afterward. But he simply ordered his zarovians to knock me out the moment I arrived, then restrained me in his dungeon where he could force it out of me.”
Now Drake was curious about something else. “How do you use your rarity?”
“I must touch someone. I must also maintain contact for a few seconds.”
And once Westin got knocked out and woke up chained to a standing wooden X, he’d been helpless to use his rarity. Moreso after Lord Gloomwood slapped an obedience fetish on him. It seemed Westin was right. He’d been clever, but he’d gotten too ambitious.
And, finally, one last memory clicked. The day he’d agreed to go into protective custody, as he’d left the Judge’s office, Westin had been coming in to speak with her.
“So after we ran into each other a few days ago, you changed the Judge’s memory? By telling her you had information about who had placed the sea gate in the chamber?”
“Yes,” Westin said quietly.
So, by saving Westin from Lord Crow the first day he arrived, Drake had put himself in a world of pain. Not all good deeds, it seemed, were rewarded. Shit happened.
“Lord Gloomwood,” Westin said, “may I ask you one favor before you turn me over to the capital guards?”
Drake chuckled darkly. “That’s rich. You tried to kill me, like, a dozen times.”
“I did.”
“You directly threatened my people and even got some of them killed. You very nearly killed everyone in my manor. Why the fuck would I do you a favor?”
“Because I never wished to be your enemy. Once we had control of your manor, I knew my father would appoint someone who would treat your thralls properly.” Westin sighed again. “That is my favor. May I tell you, Lord Gloomwood, why I did all this?”
Drake frowned. “You think I’ll care?”
“I would like you to understand.”
“I’m not going to keep anything you did secret. I’m not going to let you go. I’m going to take you to the capital and use that fetish to make you confess every last one of these crimes to the court. Then, they’re going to execute you just like they executed Lord Frostlight.”
“I know all this. I am resigned to my fate and will confess my crimes to the court. But before I die, I still wish to tell you why I did all this... Clint.”
Drake simply couldn’t understand the sudden sincerity in Westin’s voice. “Why?”
“Because now that you have defeated me, I wish to apologize.”
That was not what Drake had been expecting to hear. Yet Westin was under multiple compulsions that prevented him from lying. Was Westin actually this deluded? Drake was actually curious to find out.
“All right, Westin. Tell me why you did all this. Justify it however you can.”
“All I ever wanted to do was bring peace to our realm.”
Drake glanced at Valentia, who looked no more convinced than he did. Then, he turned back to Westin. “So tell me how you planned to do that.”
“Manor lords have fought for dominance and killed each other for centuries. This was the realm into which I was born, and it is not just manor lords who die. Many of their thralls suffer as well, tortured or executed for trivial slights. Countless peasants also suffer every day beneath ruthless manor lords. My father protects his people, but others still hurt theirs.”
Drake remembered Robin’s quest to kill the Asp, the mercenary with the rarity that allowed her to melt people with acid. That woman alone had slaughtered half a town, and many of the others had done worse. He could only imagine how many they’d hurt.
He also remembered Anna and her father, forced into slavery by Captain Ro and Lord Redbow. There must be so many others out there. So many innocents hurt or killed.
“The last Lord Gloomwood was among the worst of our lords,” Westin said quietly. “He tormented his thralls, hurting and executing anyone he believed disloyal or weak. He even attempted to summon a leviathan. You saw it as I did.”
Drake couldn’t deny that.
“When I put my plan into motion to ensure Skybreak Manor and Gloomwood Manor would never ally, I aimed my attack at Lord Crow. He was the man I wished to defeat, not you. Crow’s thralls suffered so much at his hands. I couldn’t stand by and let them all suffer.”
Still Westin wasn’t lying, and he wasn’t wrong. In his own bizarre way, Westin had actually set out to save Gloomwood Manor... and all the people Drake now protected... from their evil overlord. Drake didn’t have to agree with Westin to understand his purpose.
“I had no idea Lord Crow would summon you, nor that you would somehow defeat him and take his place. I also had no idea you would be... this.”
“What, Westin?”
“Noble.” Westin smiled sadly. “Even kind. You have been ruthless when you had to be, but only to protect those close to you. You trust your thralls and treat them well. Had I known a man like you would seize Gloomwood Manor, I would never have launched my plot... but I launched it before you arrived. I was committed, but still, I wish to apologize for my actions.”
Drake stared in disbelief.
“The die that made me your enemy was cast before you arrived in our realm,” Westin continued. “My intent was always to stop the suffering of thralls abused by their manor lord and bring peace to my realm. I set out to eliminate the former Lord Gloomwood, the evil manor lord who would doom the world for his own power... and when you killed him for me, to my eternal shame, I could not prevent you from bearing the brunt of my plots in his place.”
Next Week: Drake has a parley with Lord Proudglade and a visit from the last person he expects.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Read Ahead on the Patreon
Chat on the Discord
