Forest of Ruin by Kelley Armstrong Page A

opinion of yourself,” Edwyn said dryly.
    â€œNo, I have a high opinion of the danger Ash faces, and I don’t trust anyone else to understand it. Clearly your guard did not expect fiend dogs.”
    â€œNo one expects fiend dogs,” Ashyn said.
    â€œTrue, but at least you and I expect the unexpected.”
    Edwyn cleared his throat. “Perhaps so, but I still ask—”
    â€œNo,” Ronan said. “If you wish to have Ashyn, you must take me as well. As her guard. At her side. Always.”
    Edwyn’s brows rose. “Are you her guard? Or her guardian ? To suggest that you would prevent her from helping me, when she clearly wishes to . . .”
    â€œRonan speaks brashly,” Ashyn said. “He is a warrior. It is their way. He knows he cannot determine my path for me. Yet I will insist he stay at my side, as my personal guard. I presume we’ll be moving on as soon as your scouts . . .” She looked between the two of them. “And that doesn’t matter now, does it? We cannot wait for the scouts to return with news of Moria. Fiend dogs mean Alvar Kitsune is near, which means we must flee, quickly, before he sends something else after us.”
    â€œOr comes himself,” Edwyn said. “Yes, we must presume that the creatures are his work and that they were sent to attack us and allow his men to capture you, which would explain why you were not attacked. We must leave. Quickly.”
    â€œWe will,” Ronan said. “But as we go, I want to know more about these dragons. How far is the journey? How long willthis require? Because I know Ash’s main concern is her sister, and while duty to the empire will take her along with you, she will not wish to be gone far or long.”
    Ashyn glanced over with a faint smile, thanking him for saying what she dared not.
    â€œCome then,” Edwyn said. “I’ll explain as we pack.”

FOURTEEN
    T he bandits had lied. Shocking, truly. They apparently hadn’t “stumbled upon” Moria and Gavril the night before. They’d already been on the trail of Gavril’s mother when the source they’d paid handsomely for that tip had brought them another—the traitor and his supposed lover had been spotted together nearby.
    When the bandits left them in the wagon again, Gavril sank into the corner, his expression one she’d seen before. At Edgewood. When he’d discovered that she had not lied about the massacre.
    Moria had spent the last fortnight telling herself she’d imagined that haunted horror in his eyes. But now, seeing it again, she knew it was not a reaction he was capable of manufacturing.
    He hadn’t truly believed her when she’d first said Edgewood had been destroyed. She’d thought then that he believed her a foolish child with an active imagination. But while he’d suspected his father had raised the shadow stalkers they’d fought in the forest, he still had not believed him capable of massacring a village. Then he’d seen it for himself.
    She remembered him staring at the corpse of the baker’s wife.
    â€œIt’s all . . . I don’t understand. This isn’t . . . Something’s gone wrong.”
    He’d known his father had planned some sorcery. Likely the raising of the shadow stalkers in the forest. But letting them massacre a village? Never.
    Moria crouched in front of him now. “These men will not harm your mother.”
    â€œHe said her corpse was sufficient—”
    â€œHe lies. You know the emperor has no bounty on your mother. Toman only hopes one will be paid. He said he wouldn’t take a chance delivering my corpse. He will not with hers either.”
    Gavril looked up. “I wouldn’t have let him—”
    â€œâ€”kill me? You wouldn’t have had a choice, Gavril. I did not suspect you were serious when you said you’d be happy to see me dead. Not yet anyway. Perhaps after another