Angel's POV
The rest of the journey was, mercifully, uneventful.
No arrows from trees. No ambushes from the riverside. No crawling snakes.
The road smoothed out as we moved further into Merrick's territory, the landscape shifting gradually - the dense forest thinning to rolling land, villages appearing at intervals along the road. People glanced up as we passed and recognized Merrick with the easy familiarity of subjects who weren't afraid of their lord, which I found myself noticing.
By the time the castle came into view I had stopped scanning the treeline.
Mostly.
Merrick's castle looked exactly as I remembered it. Stone and height and the kind of beauty that announced itself without apology.
The gates opened before we reached them.
Word travelled fast here, apparently.
