It took a tremendous amount of effort, but slowly, Ashlynn bottled up the fury in her heart and pulled her hand back into her lap while she turned her attention to the streets of Maeril rolling past the carriage window. Anything to keep her gaze from drifting back to that golden spire. Anything to keep her thoughts from spiraling down into the dark, furious places where her control frayed like old rope.
The streets were emptier than she'd expected.
Maeril sprawled across both banks of the River Luath, larger than most villages in the march. She'd studied the maps and intelligence reports carefully, crafting a plan that would allow her to seize the village in much the same way Dame Sybyll had, with virtually no loss of life to the common people.
