Ch. 119: Outmaneuvered

Empress Katya Duvernay set down the papers she'd received from her spies without expression, causing her personal maid to wring her hands together with worry.

"The matter is done?" she half-asked, half-stated. The contents of the secret correspondence had been very clear.

Linette's head bobbed up and down so vigorously her snow-colored cap nearly tumbled off.

"Yes. The village was burnt to the ground. The Duvernay secret soldiers made sure to take care of any survivors as well."

For Katya, burning down the village too small to even bear a name in the D'Anjou Mountains was a small victory that would pay larger dividends in the future. If one wished to uproot a tree, Katya understood that rather than hacking at the trunk it was better to gnaw at the roots. A thin smile finally took hold of her face, for the empress knew well that her husband's bastard daughter could not even be compared to a tree yet.