35
Harkell rode slowly east along the broad road, basking in the midday sun and the solitude, after so many days of living duplicitously with his former colleagues. His encounters with Jarand had stretched his iron will to breaking point. After years of hiding his reactions, the honesty of his interactions with Jarand’s younger brother had somehow undermined his ability to prevaricate so that he now found it increasingly difficult to keep a check on his temper. He knew he was walking a tightrope with Jarand and that, at any time, the prince might get sick of him and decide to hang him as a traitor. Perhaps the sheer idiocy and danger of the games of cat and mouse had given him the insouciance that Jarand had objected to in their exchanges.
He felt trapped. It crossed his mind that he cou
