“Tell me, then, am I to go through the emperor for permission to accompany you? Or shall I go to Captain Baldur?”
“Neither. As I said before, I’m in charge now. You don’t need the captain’s permission, and besides, if you went to him, he’d send you right back to me anyway.”
“Then yes or no, which is it?”
Samuel could not hide how annoyed he was by it all, but he had no reason to hide it either. In the end, he was clearly reluctant, but—perhaps thanks to Reinald’s presence—he agreed to us joining him.
“Fine, come. It won’t take long. But you’re not to talk to the prisoners while I’m out of earshot.”
“Ah, so you don’t trust me after all.”
“Oh, please. You’re a hero. You killed your own best friend for the sake of our very nation. How could I possibly doubt you? My worry is that the father and mother of an enemy of the state might try something funny.”
Every word was exaggerated and drenched in Samuel’s disgust, but he’d given us the answer I wanted. He then turned to Reinald.
“Your Highness, surely you aren’t going to concern yourself with such a matter?”
“It was not my intent to get caught up in the weeds of it all, but I can’t let my friend undertake such a thing alone.”
“Huh. The bond of friendship. What a wonderful thing...”
Samuel then left to bring out Ern’s parents. I made to follow him into the building but was stopped—not by Samuel, but by Reinald.
“It is not just Ern’s parents who are being held in that building,” he said. “There are some in there who would not take kindly to the arrival of a young woman. You’d best wait outside.”
“But...”
“Geoff, do you mind?”
Geoff followed Samuel inside. His was a presence that was not easily ignored, and Samuel clearly didn’t like the company. Begrudgingly, however, he continued inside with my guard right behind him. Perhaps having Geoff go in my stead was the best option after all—it allowed time for Reinald and me to speak alone.
“May I ask you something, Sir Reinald?” I started. “When one speaks of a banishment in the capital, does it mean exactly what the word suggests? Samuel said it would be over rather quickly, but what happens to Ern’s parents’ belongings? Are they to be banished without so much as a coin to their name?”
“That all comes down to what Samuel decides,” replied Reinald. “Regardless, they will be taken far enough by carriage that they will not enter the capital again.”
In its most simple terms, banishment simply meant that Ern’s parents would be left by the roadside and told to never come back. To ensure that was what happened, they’d also be branded with a magical seal which would alert the authorities if they ever entered the capital again.
“Are prisoners allowed to make preparations for their banishment?”
“That, too, is up to Samuel. However, Quach’s parents are the family of a betrayer of the state. I doubt they’d be afforded any luxuries at all, no matter how small.”
“So they’ll be left to wander the roads and forests empty-handed? Is there anything you can do to ensure they aren’t attacked out there?”
Even if Samuel remained true to his word and simply banished Ern’s parents somewhere outside of the capital, that by no means ensured they were safe from the dangers that existed beyond the gates.
“I can likely get in touch with a merchant or two to provide aid, but I can’t promise anything in the way of dedicated protection.”
“That’s fine, just please—whatever you can do to help. Can you also loan them some money? You have my word that you will be repaid, of course. Some money will at least allow them to travel with a merchant caravan, allowing them a path to somewhere safe and secure.”
Reinald had said he would accompany me, but I couldn’t rightly allow the crown prince himself to see off the parents of an enemy of the state. I assumed that it would be only Geoff and me accompanying Samuel, which was why I asked if he could get things moving behind the scenes.
“Surely there must be something else we can do too. What else do Ern’s parents need...?”
“Karen,” Reinald said, a slight warning in his tone, “you must remain calm of mind.”
“I know. I’m aware it might prove difficult, but I’ll do my utmost to find a way to speak to them without Samuel overhearing us.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Reinald sounded troubled, like a parent trying to calm an overexcited child. His face, too, mirrored his voice. It was not an expression I saw often, and I wondered if I had asked far too much of him.
“The two people you are about to meet have just lost their daughter,” he said, making things as clear as he could. “If nothing else, they will have at least been informed of that fact.”
“Well, yes, of course I understand, but—”
I felt my gaze drifting.
“Look at me, Karen,” said Reinald, gripping my shoulders. “From what I have heard, they are just ordinary people. Ordinary parents. Do you think they’ll just stand there calmly when they’re faced with the woman who killed their only daughter? Have you completely forgotten the broader circumstances?”
I didn’t answer immediately. Truth be told, Reinald’s words scared me because I hadn’t realized what I’d been doing. It was like reality cutting in abruptly to inform me that, yes, I had been trying to forget. I didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that Ern’s parents would never willingly accept money from the murderer of their own daughter. Reinald had shattered the illusion I’d been trying to entertain, but it was not something I could criticize him for.
“Could you please find some reason to have money delivered to them? I don’t want to think that Samuel has something up his sleeve, but some money will at least help see them out of any potential binds.”
“How about keeping watch over them from afar?”
“No. We came here to see them, and I don’t trust Samuel that much. I want to be close by. They might hate me, but it is what it is. They’ve lost their daughter—it’s only natural that they despise me.”
Encountering Samuel here had been entirely unexpected, but bumping into him before Ern’s parents were banished was something like a stroke of good luck.
“As long as you know what you’re in for, I’ve nothing more to add,” said Reinald.
It was then that we heard the creak of a door opening. Samuel and Geoff emerged from it, followed by a gaunt middle-aged couple and another set of guards.
“Uncle, auntie...” I uttered.
I wanted so badly to run to them. I hadn’t forgotten what Reinald had just said, and even though I had pictured the hatred etched into their faces, some part of me clung to the hope that things would be different. What I wanted was for them to feel some relief at the sight of me. Some sense of solace.
Reality had other plans.
When Ern’s parents saw me—their daughter’s friend—their faces filled with shock, and soon after, rage. Flashes of pain, anger, and sorrow ran rampant through their eyes and expressions as they bit down on their own lips. Had their hands not been tightly bound by rope, I felt certain they would have come flying toward me. The only reason they remained silent, in fact, was because they had been gagged earlier.
“I told you I won’t put up with any moaning and groaning,” said Samuel, “so you’ll both be quiet, please.”
He raised a finger, at which point Ern’s parents were brought to a halt.
“They’ll be banished as they are,” he informed me. “We’ll head out to see them to their fates, so please do not fall behind.”
“As they are?” I exclaimed. “What about their belongings?”
“Excuse me? They have their lives. They don’t get anything else. But how joyous this must be for the two of you, Mr. and Mrs. Enemy of the State. You must have thought this was going to be such a lonely little send-off, but now you have this wonderful young lady to watch you go. And a former friend of your daughter, no less.”
I cared little about Samuel’s snide remarks. But I knew now that Ern’s parents were to be banished without a thing. The expectation was clearly that they would simply die by the road somewhere. I could have complained, but it seemed wiser to put my trust in Reinald.
“You, young lady, are a hero,” proclaimed Samuel. “The executioner of the immoral. You will not be riding with the parents of a criminal.”
“And I assume that you won’t be either, so I suppose I’ll ride with you.”
“And please don’t tell me we’ll have the prince with us. I’ve got enough on my hands already.”
“Karen,” said Reinald. “We’ll speak later.”
He took his leave, but I had faith it was to see to what we’d discussed. When Ern’s parents were readied in their own transport, Geoff and I boarded a carriage and were met with a grand, theatrical sigh.
“And to think I could have done all of this on horseback if you hadn’t come along,” Samuel lamented.
“Thank you ever so much for readying a carriage,” I replied.
“Oh, please, how could I possibly expect a noblewoman to accompany me on horseback? Besides, carriages make things so easy. I couldn’t be more grateful myself.”
“You needn’t go overboard. By the way, I don’t suppose people sometimes tell you that you have a rather spiteful quality about you, do they?”
“Don’t you worry, I get that all the time.”
“Lady Karen, you mustn’t entertain the man,” said Geoff. “It’s not worth sullying your mouth.”
“Given the master, I daresay I should have expected as much from her servant...” grumbled Samuel.
It struck me then that I had become quite adept at swallowing my own rage. It felt like quite some time since I’d last had to.