Chapter 190 - 191
"Your Grace," came the collective address from everyone within his immediate vicinity.
He acknowledged them with a nod and then ordered a nearby arcanite to go inquire as to the nature of the holdup up ahead, the middle-aged man dismounting from his horse and disappearing into the congested procession after assuring that he would do so in a timely fashion. Ignoring Arienne’s discreet glances—the female knight that Vestach had sent to keep an eye on him—he walked around to the head of the carriage where a sharp-eyed woman with handsome, finger-length strands of black hair sat quietly at the driver’s side, her thin frame leaning back in her seat in an aloof manner.
"Deena," he said, meeting her sharp, dissecting gaze with a stern look. "Don’t forget your task."
Dressed in hard leathers the same colour as her freshly-trimmed hair, the woman did a poor job of suppressing a snicker and then gave him an assuring nod. Subtly, her gaze drifted over to Arienne, who she was tasked with supervising for the duration of the trip.
"Worry not, Your Grace. I’ll keep my end of the bargain." Meaningfully, she added, "Just don’t forget what you promised me."
While she could be quite wild and difficult to control, Deena was his most capable follower and also the first person that had ever accepted his curse of compulsion. The daughter of a sinful and selfish noble, her father had been infamous throughout the empire for bringing shame to his house and then consigning it to ruin. Every member of his household had been sold off to pay back the massive amount of debt that he had accumulated in pursuit of satiating his ravenous desires, including his wife along with his one and only child, Deena.
It went without saying that Maels had purchased her freedom—largely because they had been acquainted during their childhood and he hadn’t liked the idea of her being sold off to a brothel as had been her mother’s fate—under the condition that she accept his curse of compulsion. He had promised her that so long as she served him loyally, he would return her freedom to her on her fortieth birthday, which was now only a few years away. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that the young, angry girl would go on to become one of the most capable battle mages on the continent, though he had welcomed this development with open arms.
"Can you tell what’s going on up there?"
"They seem to have found someone," came her cool reply. "Though I’m sure you already sensed that."