“I’m an admiral. Why in the name of the Saints would you expect me?”
“Well, the two of you, to be more precise. You carry the weight of the kingdom on your shoulders, no easy burden.”
“We are but two knights.”
“Ah,” said Orlina. “You are much more than that. Tauril guided you here for a reason.”
“We were merely on our way back to Lidenbach. It was the road that brought us here.”
“Yet you spoke of an attack on the baron’s men. I assume you were delayed in your journey?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“It was not your fate to die in that ambush.”
“Are you suggesting Tauril delayed us?”
Orlina smiled. “That is precisely what I’m suggesting, though if it makes you more comfortable, you may attribute it to your Saint.”
“The Saints don’t interfere in our lives.”
“If you truly believed that,
