He could have helped her get there. He had had opportunities.. Before Midwinter, before drunken and sober confessions, before he ruined everything. Now Yarrow would no longer listen to him, any more than she would Lord Exsil Vis.
Caelum cursed his stupidity, a familiar habit. Either he would have to smarten up, or.... No alternative came to him. It was time to claim the intelligence that supposedly ran in his family.
He went to his mother's brother, once a courtier himself, and asked for help.
"There's not much I can teach you in two and a half tredicems, boy. What is it you want to learn?"
Caelum raised his arms. He did not know where to begin. All his thoughts were turned to one thing: revenge.
"I want to make them pay."
Pieter looked at him askance. "The bandits? They're but starv
