The place we had agreed to meet was not far off. Through the copse of trees until you heard the trickling of a stream. Uesli was waiting for me in a clearing near the babbling brook. I hesitated at the treeline, watching my brother stand, staring down at a dagger and the blood he cleaned from it. His hair had always been lighter than the rest of ours. A shaggy light brown mop that he always kept cut above his ears. Until now. It had grown long and coarse, flowing into a beard that nestled below his chin, stopping at his collarbone. His face had lost its rounded quality and taken on sunken cheekbones and the sharp, angular features of a man honed by battle or hunger or both. He was no longer the lanky teen of his youth but had grown into a tall and toned man, muscles hidden deceptively beneath his Rirdantan garb, the strips of leather and netting their people preferred.

I stepped forward into the clearing and his head popped up at the sound of a twig snapping beneath my foot.

"Brother," I said in greeting.

Uesli broke out into a grin and it was the most familiar expression I'd seen on the man's face so far. He finally, truly looked like the brother I had lost so long ago.

"Brother," he spoke in reply and then we were crossing the clearing to meet one another, embracing and clapping each other on the back.

"I thought you were dead," I informed him once we parted, still grinning like fools as we stood a bit apart in the clearing.

"There were many times in which I thought the same. What became of you?"

"They took me to the mines, slave colonies in the mountains. I worked for a while, watching my fellow slaves die, and then they sold me to a man who raised me, not as a slave, but as a son. He taught me how to fight, he taught me the way of Rirdanta. And then Bento Mathis came and butchered him and burned his property to the ground."

"So it is vengeance you seek?"

"Always."

"On Bento or Etel?"

I just raised a brow and Uesli's grin broadened as he shook his head.

"Where did they take you?" I asked.

"The training camps. But I did not fare well. After I first drew blood, I refused to do so again. They tried to beat me, threatened to kill me, but I refused. So they tossed me into the fighting pits and said I would either kill or be killed. The first life I took burdened my soul. I did not eat for weeks. I became so weak that I was sure the next fighter I faced would kill me. But they did not. Nor did the next one. I do not know how long I was there. I lost count of how many men I faced and killed. Eventually, Etel came to collect me again, claiming I had finally become a warrior. He tossed me into this regiment and I've been here ever since."

My fury grew with every word my brother spoke. My hands clenched to fists at my sides as I renewed my vow, then and there, to kill Etel Albo and all his ilk.

"I can get you out," I told him. "I have made friends."

"The Etzeran royalty, I see that," Uesli answered, raising a brow, something like an amused grin on his lips. "I saw the princess save your man."

"Then you saw me save her as well."

He snorted.

"Let me go and speak with her," I offered. "She could–"

"No, Tyne," Uesli interrupted, holding up a hand. "I am pleased to see you. More relieved than you may ever know. But I could be of more use to you within these ranks."

I blinked at him, understanding dawning upon me.

"You would offer to turn spy," I said, amazed. "For Etzera."

"For home. For Vyndoli. I have no love for these people but I have earned their trust. They have all heard of you, brother. Tyne of Vyndoli. Tyne, the Slayer of Rirdantans. The warrior, the brute. They have forgotten I am your brother. I would seek to help you with your vengeance. I would like to help you bolster your name, hit them where it hurts, where I can tell you to strike."

"You will be in danger."

"I am always in danger."

"Brother–"

"This is the only way I can help you, Tyne. This is the only way I can remain Vyndoli. Please."

Please. We had never spoken that word to one another before. It wasn't necessary on the farm where father told us what to do, never asked. We had always had too much pride to beg, would have found uttering that word insulting. I knew what it meant to him now to say it to me. So I gritted my teeth and gave one curt nod.

"I will send word of our movements as I can. Your man, Wells, he is good at reconnaissance yes?" he said.

"Yes," I answered.

"Tell him I am in the regiment of the Blue Crow. We fly our banners proudly. And we patrol the border. He should not have much trouble finding us should you have need of getting word to me. But now, I am afraid I have been away too long. Rirdantans are accountable to one another. They will look for me soon."

Uesli was already turning to leave. I reached out and grabbed his arm so that he stopped to face me again.

"Until we meet again, brother," I said.

"Until we meet again," he answered with a smile and then vanished into the trees.

I took a moment to gather myself, to let the emotions flood through me before setting them aside, and then made my way back to the camp.

The fires were mostly guttered out. It was so late now that nearly all of the soldiers were in bed, asleep, with the exception of a few stumbling drunks. I made my way to my own tent unnoticed and laid down on my cot, aware that my men had waited up in silence and were only now falling into peaceful slumber once they had known I had safely returned.

The next morning, we rose, readied, and wandered out to our horses. The majority of Lord Brigham's procession were already mounted, including the princess. The commanders rode through the camp, rousing soldiers and getting them onto their feet, ready to march home. A host much smaller than that which fought the battle yesterday would remain to shore up the newly fortified borders. The rest of us would return to the capital.

I found the princess watching me as my men mounted their horses and a soldier brought me mine. I met her eye and smirked but she did not return the smile. Her gaze only turned cold, her lips turned downward in a pointed frown. My brow furrowed in question but the soldier was now shoving my horse's reins into my hands so I turned my attention back to mounting the stallion and falling in line with the rest of my men.

Hawk, Calder, and Wells busied themselves with the excited chatter that always filled the morning after battle, regaling one another with tales from the fight that one hadn't been present to view from the other. Wells' story of the princess saving him earned as much awe as it did teasing. I remained quiet, thinking of my brother, of what he had so selflessly offered, of the danger he was in and how I could not extricate him from it. Perhaps I would add it to my embarrassingly short list of demands when I pledged my service to King Acton.

I caught the princess looking over her shoulder from time to time, directly at me. I noted the Captain Ridley's absence and found it curious but made no mention of it to my men. They were lost in their camaraderie and had earned the right to laugh and chat for a day. I wouldn't interrupt it with my paranoia.

So I remained quiet, contemplative, on that whole journey back to the palace of Etzera, noting the princess' glances and the low way she spoke to the husband that rode beside her, listening to my men joke and taunt one another until we were finally passing through those gates.

I leapt from my horse and took a few long strides toward the princess but she was already being led away, by none other than Captain Ridley himself. Curious.

"Tyne of Vyndoli," a sweet feminine voice cooed and I turned to find a beautiful young maiden with flowing blonde hair and a smile on her lips. "The King wishes to see you."

The slight arch of my brow the only indication of my surprise, I gave the girl a curt nod and followed after her. Her skirts trailed on the stone floor as she led me through the halls toward, not the throne room, but a private study behind it. She opened the doors to reveal the king inside, bent over a map on a table, completely alone.

"Tyne of Vyndoli, Your Majesty," the girl announced.

"Thank you, Kyla," the King said without looking up from his map.

The girl gave me a knowing grin and then slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. When she was gone, the King finally looked up at me.

"Tyne of Vyndoli," he said by way of greeting, "I am told you fought honorably."

"And who might have told you such a thing, Your Grace?" I asked.

"I have many sources, Tyne. The fact of the matter is that I set for you a test and you passed it. With flying colors, I might add. So your service to me, which you offered before, I accept it and your terms with it."

I hesitated, weighing the cost of informing him of my brother. I could ask for whatever safety the king could grant him but somehow felt it would be wiser, safer to hold my cards close to my chest in this.

"You will command a regiment of Etzeran soldiers along with your men and whatever other Vyndolish flock to your cause. You–" he began.

"My men were not a part of the bargain," I interrupted.

"You and I both know they will not abandon you," he said then and I understood.

He had known all along that he would be getting more than my service in this deal. He would get my men, highly trained and driven to destroy Rirdantans at all costs. He would get a primal warrior class, ready to fight and kill so long as the enemy remained the same. And all he had to do to get it was promise me my vengeance when the time came. I had been shortsighted. I hadn't thought this through, hadn't meant to pledge their lives alongside mine.

"Etel Albo is across the sea," he said then. "In his castle, tucked safely away on the coast."

He pointed to his map and my gaze flicked down to that far away country whose warriors had come to conquer my lands, to kill my people.

"Vyndoli stands between us and him. To reach him, we must retake your homeland," he said. "I promised you your revenge when the time came. I tell you now that it will not until we take Vyndoli back, until we kill every last Rirdantan on the soil of this continent. Then, and only then, can you board your boat to hunt down Etel Albo."

I gaped at him, seething with rage.

"You tricked me," I snarled.

"I've done no such thing," he replied. "We made a deal. Your service until we have access to Etel Albo. It just so happens that access to Etel Albo only lies on the other side of this war."

"It will take years."

"Perhaps."

"And you knew. You knew that I was promising to serve you for years."

"I am a king. I make the deals which are best for my people. As it turns out, Tyne of Vyndoli, my people need you."

I did not let him speak another word. I turned away and stormed from the room in my rage, leaving that trickster king with his map in his study. I wasted no time at all. I strode straight for the door and out to my men, passing them by on my way to the tavern without another word.

I'd had too much to drink. It had been some time since I had been truly drunk. I wasn't so far gone now but I was getting there. Good. It was the only thing I could think of to bring about the oblivion I sought, to forget about the king and his deals, the one which I had so foolishly agreed to. Years of my life promised to the service of Etzera, to a foreign country I owed no loyalty, to a king who stooped to the levels of trickery and lies.

The palace was quiet when I returned to it. The king had found the grace to find me a room in his halls. Not my men, they were too lowly for him, but for me, his commander. I stumbled toward them, righting my footing under the flickering candlelight, hissing when my knee banged against a poorly placed decorative table.

I saw her as I rounded a corner near the dining hall. She was walking briskly down the hall, a door closing behind her as she exited the room of who knew who. I gritted my teeth and stormed toward her until I was standing before her, halting her progress so that she could not pass, crowding her space.

"It was you, wasn't it?" I snarled, looking down into her proud face. The princess raised her chin to meet my gaze, her own darkening, hardening. "You're responsible for this. Of course you are. He isn't clever enough to think of such a ruse himself."

"Why were you seen crossing into enemy territory after the battle at the border?" she asked.

The sudden question and what it alluded to sobered me instantly. Eyes clearing, I cocked my head to the side and stared down at her. But I hid my surprise a moment later, letting my gaze darken as well.

"Why didn't you tell me you were married?" I asked and was rewarded by the slight pink tinge of her cheeks. "I suppose we both have our secrets."

I wasn't sure what I expected her to say to that. Likely, she would stomp on my toes and storm away, leaving me reeling in the hall behind her. But instead, she crossed her arms and leveled her gaze at me and told me something I never would have expected her to admit.

"My husband is my husband in name only," she said.

I blinked at her, stunned my the admission. Likely, I should have commiserated with her, offered her sympathy or given her space to speak freely. But because I was who I was and because that personality was intensified tenfold when I'd been drinking, I merely allowed my lips to spread into a smirk and lowered my voice.

"Does that mean your bed is available?" I drawled.

Finally, she did as expected. With a roll of her eyes and a huff, she pushed past me and stormed away down the hall beyond.

"The battle was meant to prove you could be trusted. It did not," she snapped and he knew she was referring to his secret, to whatever reason he had for crossing into enemy territory that she did not know of, to Uesli. "Perhaps a few years in the King's service will humble you and do the job that the battle could not."

And then, as she disappeared around the corner, my fury returned.