Page 117 of Ruthless, But for Her

“He’s dead.”

“I know.”

Ashton tightened his fingers around hers.

Together, they followed.

CHAPTER 61

Cassia

She'd been dreading this day.

They all had, but perhaps no one more than Ryker.

Since Leif's death, he had not smiled or jested even once. It was as if he'd lost a part of himself on that narrow stretch of land they had thus far been able to hold.

De Grey would be back.

That was not only Ashton's opinion, but the others' as well. How he would come to torment them remained unknown. By implicating Cassia in some way? By making another play for the Reach. Or perhaps the most sinister plot of all... removing McGarron from power.

When word had reached them that the older man had fallen ill, just the morning after the Battle for the Reach, that had been Ryker's bitter assessment.

“De Grey was somehow involved.”

No one else seemed to agree. But the arrangement protecting Mere’s End had been made with McGarron alone. His successor could end it with a word and give de Grey the permission he had been denied.

But today was for Leif.

“I've heard they send it along aflame?” Cassia whispered to Ashton as Ryker and Sorren lowered Leif into the small boat.

With The Einar standing proud above them, Leif's crew all standing watch, the captain's cloak was pulled above his shoulders.

Sword by his side, he looked regal, as the former jarl deserved. Dressed in his finest wool and linen, courtesy of Ryker who had allowed no one to aid him, Leif appeared still but otherwise no less fearsome than when he had been alive.

“Nay.”

Cassia looked toward Ashton.

She had read of such things in books. Tales of men sent to the next world upon burning ships, flames reaching toward the sky as if the gods themselves had called them home.

“They say many things about the men of the north, but they are not always true.”

His voice was quiet, respectful.

“Leif was not a man of stories. He was a man of the sea.”

Cassia looked back toward the water.

The Einar rested behind them, its black sail lowered. Every man aboard had gathered in silence. Even the docks of Mere's End seemed quieter than usual, as if the town itself understood the loss.

“There are still those who follow the old ways,” Ashton continued. “But Leif was many things. A jarl. A captain. A father to men who had none. He was also a man who lived in this world, not the one before it.”

Ryker and Sorren stepped back from the small boat.

For a moment, neither moved.

It was Sorren who finally placed a hand against the side and pushed.