Chapter 137: Duties and Demands
When all was said and done, almost a season later, just as the heat of summer was starting to set in, they finally arrived in Crowvar once more. As an errand for the domain, it probably had not been worth that much time. However, Simon had learned enough that he really didn’t mind. It wasn’t like time held real value for him, especially not on a level without an exit.
Still, as they got close enough to the city to make out the details, he was pleased to see that his other hard work had paid off. The walls of the town were no longer ragged. Though still blackened in some places, they had been finished, and the effect was bigger than he would have thought. It looked like a proper walled city again, though he knew that was a trick of distance as much as anything.
The way they had come did not allow him a chance to inspect the roads he’d commissioned, but he could do that another day. It was not urgent. So, as they walked back, everything was going about as they expected until they saw signs of mourning on the populace coming in and out of the gate.
A quick conversation with the gate guards cleared that up. The young Baron had sickened and died weeks before from a high fever. Simon had no love for the Raithewait bloodline, but he wasn’t so cruel as to feel anything but saddened by such a young child. Still, given who his father was, Simon didn’t feel guilty that he hadn’t been on hand to use magic to save the lad. He probably would have broken down and done just that, despite himself.
Now, there was no chance, though. There was just a grieving widow who looked at him with ice in her eyes and a fresh grave not so far from where he’d once buried Freya.
Adonnia didn’t seem like a bad person, beyond the identity of her deceased husband. She was a pretty, young, blond woman who had probably even been sweet before Varten had gotten his claws into her, not that it mattered to Simon. He was content to give her the run on the now largely empty Raithewait Manor at the center of Crowvar while he dealt with more important issues that had piled up since his departure.
As it turned out, though, the death of the Baron’s heir wasn’t even the most important thing that had happened in his absence. The Captain of the guard was the first to inform him that there had almost been a palace coup while Simon had been away.
“I thought for sure it was going to happen too,” the man said, giving Simon a list of names that showed who was on which side of the issue. “But when little Varten junior died, the plans collapsed.”
“Because there was no longer anyone to rally around?” Simon asked.