A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 57: The Usual Suspects

We rode parallel to the stream in hopes of masking our trail. By mid-afternoon we finally felt safe enough to take a quick break to stretch our legs and fill our bellies. If the Commander was just finding out now that Diana was missing, it would be another while before his search party even made it back to the bridge, let alone fan out in any direction that deviates from the main road that they travelled along.

The others were celebrating as they ate their fruits and bread. Diana was glued to Rowan's side chattering non-stop about her life and asking questions about his.

Marcus was tied to a rock at a safe distance. Theo watched over him with a careful eye upon my instruction. His gag was removed to allow for eating, but it would be immediately retied the moment he said something distasteful. It wasn't lost on me that his gaze still remained fixed on the girl.

Everyone seemed content with leaving me alone for the time being. As long as I was in their eye line, I was allowed to wander a little further downstream to have a moment to myself.

Of course, I wasn't really alone.

"Thanks for the sweet dream..." I mutter to my father. "I suppose that was your first gift?"

He smiles as he walks alongside me. "You've had enough nightmares to last a lifetime. I figured I owed you this much. But remember... it was just a dream. Don't get carried away."

"I know that it was an impossible scene. A great number of the people involved are either dead, on their way to being dead, or wouldn't have even existed in my life if things worked out differently when Marcus and I were born. I may be insane, but I'm not stupid."

He actually laughs out loud at my statement. "No one would ever think you to be unintelligent."

"But they wouldn't bat an eye if they heard that I was insane." I provide sadly.

He doesn't miss a beat. "I thought I was doing a good thing leaving you alone for the entirety of your name day."

"You led me to believe that I was cured, and then it all came tumbling back down on me at the stroke of midnight; the moment you reappeared."

"I'm sorry, love."

"Mark my words. I'll get rid of you one way or another!" I respond threateningly.

"You still think that the only way to get rid of me is to fulfill the nightmare?"

"It's all I've got to go on."

Despite the implication, he still finds himself excited to assist. "Great! So who are the suspects? Let's lay it all out!"

He was offering because he knew that deep down I still needed someone to help me focus on this.

"At first we suspected Maximus, right? But we've been slowly ruling him out because the developments suggest that the faceless man is someone you trusted."

I nod. "I thought it might be Rowan. The nightmare changed after meeting him, almost like I was trying to warn myself not to trust him."

"So why do you trust him now?"

"I never said I did-"

"You don't have to." He taps my forehead tauntingly with a smile. He was rooting around in there, so there was no use in denying my feelings.

"I've grown to trust him." I admit bitterly. "He hasn't given me a reason not to."

"Maybe not before, but now...?"

He was right. Ever since he admitted his doubts about my plan to put someone else on the throne aside from me, I've been a little bit worried. I was right to believe that he would help me save Diana, and I'm pretty sure that he'll do all he can to put the girl forward as the Empress. But I had a feeling that the moment the people chose to reject Diana as he has predicted, Rowan would be the first person to start chanting my name as the replacement. No matter how I looked at it, he was just humouring me.