Chapter 130: Treason
Deranian geography was Adelaide’s ally. She knew that land as well as Vivianne knew her maps. The land gave out an illusion of being flat and continuous, but it ondulated and, if you stayed in the low lands, you were invisible in the distance.
Some of the northern army had regrouped and prepared to attack again. Adelaide took them by surprise. It was a long, tiring, desperate battle. The northern warriors were desperate and that made them strong, but the Franish warriors taste victory and it felt good to kill someone that was not Franish. After four hundred years killing each other, it was good to shed someone else’s blood. They were all united under Chambert’s flag: a red eagle on a white field.
From the top of the Wave, Nuille and Lucille watched the Franish vicory. Lucille was cheering for Franária, but she cried the death of all those northerners. Like War, they were only trying to survive. Nuille put a bulbous hand on her shouldee, pointed West, where Marcus, Luc, Bojet and Germon defeated what was left of the northern army. They were more merciful than Adelaide, who killed everyone. They let the survivors go back up the Wave to Farheim and Inlang. They knew, Vivianne had told them, that no enemy of Franária could ever cross those mountains again. Adelaide knew it too, but she killed them anyway.
That night, in Adelaide’s camp, the soldiers celebrated victory.
In her tent, Adelaide dismissed her servants after removing her armour, dipped her hands in cold water and washed her face. There was no sign or sound, but Adelaide knew when she was no longer alone. She turned, grabbing her sword in the same movement. Then she held her breath.
Standing behind her was a man. Though twenty years in Anuré had changed him to the point his own daughter didn’t recognize him, Adelaide knew who was the skeletton in her tent.
‘I knew you would return,’ she said. ‘I still have dreams about you.’
‘You betrayed me,’ he said. ‘You made me kill your husband, then you betrayed me. For twenty years I wondered why, then I found out you have a son. You thought I would kill your son.’
‘I knew you would.’
‘I would have given you another son. Ten other sons.’
‘Children aren’t like husbands,’ said Adelaide. ‘You can’t replace them.’
The Skeleton was silent for a few moments.
‘I understand,’ he said. ‘But I can’t forgive you.’
His sword clashed against hers. With the celebrations outside, nobody heard the duel inside the royal tent. In the mornint, they found the wueen and the Skeleton together in the middle of the tent, lying in a dry pool of blood. His sword went through her heard, her sword through his. The Skelleton’s hand grew cold and hard holding the hilt of his word. Adelaide died holding his hand. The man she had loved and sent to Anuré.