CHAPTER 34
It was a sight to see, and it never ceased to inspire and sober Tyghan.
He stilled, like a stalled wind changing course, taking in the rolling terrain of Badbe Garrison and the thousands of knights moving in unison.
The low, haunting bellow of the carnyx carried for miles, vibrating through flesh and bone.
The rumble of the six-foot trumpets sounded like the warning of a fearsome beast approaching.
The beast that was the Danu army. The faster notes were just as mysterious and menacing, messages that couldn’t be deciphered by the enemy but guided the troops.
Tyghan watched Quin and other officers on the rise just below him stop at the sounds that could hollow out a heart.
The regiments moved in mesmerizing precision, their steps like an ancient dance, no matter the weapons or magics they bore.
Shields interlocked in unison, spears lifted, swords poised, and arrows nocked on bowstrings.
Mounted lancers, swordsmen, and archers streamed into the air above them like hawks set on prey.
Summoners poised to call on their kinships with fire, water, and wind.
There were no wasted moves, and heeding the trumpets’ call, they pivoted in perfected harmony.
North. South. East. West. The synchronized heft of their movement thumped in the air like a hand on a drum.
It made Tyghan’s chest ache in a way it never had before. No matter how perfect and prepared they were, some would still die.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Kasta said, coming to stand beside him. “It’s a sight I’ll never tire of.” She drew in a deep, satisfied breath. “I knew from the first time I saw these maneuvers, I was meant to be a knight.” She nudged Tyghan’s shoulder with her own. “You too, right?”
Tyghan nodded, but his attention had returned to Bristol, wondering what she thought.
She’d been hard to read ever since they got back to her room last night.
Or maybe her manner just surprised him. She seemed calm.
Too calm. The first thing she had done was sit down and write a letter to her sisters.
Her expression changed as she wrote it, her lips pursing in concentration, her brows rising as she reread it, crossing something out and adding something else, then a crease between her brows before she called for a servant to deliver it to Eris in the middle of the night.
Urgent? he had asked. No, just an update, she answered.
After they went to bed to get a few precious hours of sleep, she curled into his arms. Do you want to talk?
he had whispered. She only said, I’m all right. Let’s sleep.
He thought maybe she just needed time to absorb what she saw, but in the morning, as they dressed, she still didn’t speak about it, like she had completely accepted the idea—or was completely avoiding it.
Should he have told her sooner? Or had he made a mistake by telling her at all?
Are you all right? he asked, too many times, until she finally forbid him from asking again.
And then she produced another letter she had written during the night and gave it to the hob who delivered their breakfast trays.
It was a message for the Lumessa. The scales hadn’t deterred her: She still wanted the tick removed as soon as possible.
That morning, when he stepped forward to address the waiting troops, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the crest with him.
With only two weeks until the ceremony, he wanted to be sure everyone saw her at his side.
When he proclaimed the strength of the Danu army, he lifted Bristol’s hand with his, holding it aloft, shouting the accolades of the gods.
With the delivery of Glennis’s head on the palace steps, Bristol’s parentage was now a matter of record, and he wanted to present a unified and powerful image to the troops to dispel any lingering doubts about her loyalties—especially after Cully’s remarks the night before.
There was no room for doubt. She was not Maire or Kierus.
The troops had responded with thunderous cheers.
Bristol now stood on the rise just below him, along with her squad, being instructed on the complexities of the horns’ messages.
While technically they wouldn’t be part of the regiments, they still had to know who was where and who was approaching, so they could respond accordingly.
Assuming all this came down to the worst-case scenario of a battle, instead of the best-case scenario—with the Abyss permanently closed and Kormick forfeiting his claim.
That was probably as likely as Tyghan sprouting a tail.
Kasta’s next words sent his thoughts barreling in a different direction. “I saw Melizan and Cosette this morning before maneuvers, whispering plans. What’s the rush with this wedding, now of all times? I’m surprised you agreed to it.”
He wiped a line of sweat from his hairline, not wanting to get into it with Kasta.
They’d been more at odds these past few weeks than they had ever been before.
It was the tension, he told himself. Everyone had been pushed too hard for too long.
“It’s only a fifteen-minute ceremony,” he answered, “and it will make my sister happy.”
She snorted. “Fifteen minutes.” A long pause followed, her mouth twisting like she was trying to swallow rotten meat. “Okay. Good enough.”
The dripping disapproval in those few words snapped something in him.
He shook his head, fighting with his thoughts, but they spilled out anyway.
“We’re ready, Kasta. We’ve been training nonstop for months.
We’re as ready as we will ever be. We can’t just prepare to fight.
Sometimes we have to prepare to live too.
We have to remember what we’re fighting and living for. ”
Her gaze darted sideways at him, like it had been a personal admonishment. “Just so you know, I still have dreams, Tygh,” she finally said. “I’ve just learned to put them on hold. Priorities, remember?” She set off down the hill to the officers gathered below, his reply abandoned on his tongue.
Maybe you shouldn’t put them on hold.
Maneuvers ended at noon. Bristol’s squad gathered their gear, including their new swords, all of them walking just a little bit taller as they headed for the garrison pavilion to eat before returning for afternoon assignments. When they noticed Hollis lagging behind, talking with Quin, they slowed.
“Should we wait for her?” Rose asked.
Avery set her gear down, the alert crown of leaves and twigs on her head settling in for rest too. “Wars are won on full stomachs, or something like that. We should wait.”
“Agree,” Julia said. “And Hollis has more the appetite of a lion than a mouse. She’ll be along soon, I’m sure.”
Bristol set her gear down too. “But she also has an appetite for Quin. I think he wins over her stomach.”
“She spent last night in his room,” Rose whispered, like it was a big secret.
“Where have you been?” Sashka hooted. “She’s spent the last three nights with him!”
Rose laughed. “I know! I wasn’t sure if anyone else did! I guess they’re officially an item now.”
Julia chuckled. “I think they’ve been an item since Quin snatched her from the jaws of a snapping hound and put her in his pocket for safekeeping.”
They all turned and watched the partially camouflaged couple in the shade of a tree. Quin held Hollis’s hand to his lips.
“Aren’t they cute?” Avery swooned. “Wynn and I were never that cute together. He didn’t believe in PDA.”
“Shit,” Sashka said. “PDA is what I live for. To be publicly adored!”
Avery gave Sashka a playful elbow in the ribs. “Says the person who told the king to get a room when he kissed Bristol.”
“That was more than PDA. Did you see his hands? I thought he was about to—”
“Okay,” Bristol said. “Point made.”
They all laughed, but Rose reached out and touched Bristol’s arm. “I’m so glad you and the king reconciled and are together again—after that whole mess with your father. I was so worried.”
Avery nodded. “I think we all were. Even Olivia and Esmee said they were worried.”
Bristol was confused. “Worried about what?”
“That it was over and so was the plan,” Rose said.
Julia spoke up to clarify. “The Knight Commander is the only one capable of leading the Danu army and uniting the kingdoms against Kormick, and you’re the only one who can stop your mother. For a time, the future was shaky.”
“With you two at war, the other war looked grimmer,” Avery added.
“You heard the troops this morning,” Rose said. “The cheers and excitement. Seeing the king lift your hand in his made all the difference. They feel powerful again. A little confidence goes a long way.”
Bristol knew what Rose really meant. Trust. A little trust goes a long way.
She remembered when Tyghan was afraid to trust her, afraid to dance with her, afraid to love her, but then he took a chance, and in front of the glaring lords and ladies, and the powerful council members eyeing her at Sun Court, he made a grand gesture—he asked her to dance in front of them all.
He showed them that he trusted her. Things changed after that.
The whispers and sideways glances mostly stopped.
He believed in her, and so they did too.
She never considered the risk he took. How they might not just reject her but him too, a new king just beginning to garner trust and power.
He risked throwing it all away. How fragile their efforts were on so many levels.
Today was another grand gesture, confirming to the throngs that he believed in her. If their Knight Commander could trust her, so could they. Otherwise, she was still only the monster’s daughter.
She surveyed her squad, her friends. They had believed in her from day one, before she had even earned their trust, looping her arms in theirs, cheering her on when she failed at every magic spell she attempted, before they even knew that their dreams depended on her.
And even when she and Tyghan had their terrible argument, her friends remained steady and true.
Especially Julia, not pushing Bristol to any one decision, but supporting, healing her, and leaving her to make her own choices.
“I’m sorry I worried you all,” she told them now.
“Hey, they fucked you over,” Sashka said, “but they came around. We all make mistakes, right?”
Bristol nodded. “And you can all rest assured that Tyghan and I are completely committed to each other. One argument can’t end us.”
Avery grinned. “Yeah, we kind of got that.”
Hollis rushed up to meet them. “Sorry to keep you all waiting. I just needed to talk to—”
“Ohhh, we don’t need to hear the details,” Sashka said, making kissing sounds.
“Speak for yourself. I want the details!” Avery snapped, and they all laughed.
Easy. Comfortable. It was the best feeling, Bristol thought, having these women as friends, sisters of another kind. When the time came, she would ask them to be there when the Lumessa removed the tick, to help her accept whatever she might become. And to comfort Tyghan too.
He had asked her so many times that morning if she was all right, it was clear he wasn’t all right.
She wasn’t happy about the scales, but it didn’t change anything.
Acquiring all of her power was a necessity, not an option.
That was all she concentrated on—what was necessary—like paying an electric bill.
She had to whittle it down to something small like that or she might implode. She smiled. Life lessons from Bowskeep.
They had only gone a few more steps when they were intercepted by a shout. “Hold up!” It was Tyghan, with Quin and Dalagorn on his heels.
“What now?” Julia whispered as they approached.
Hollis groaned and rubbed her stomach.
“We were about to go eat,” Julia called back.
Tyghan stopped in front of them. “I just wanted to remind you about dinner with Cael tonight in the Winterwood Palace. Formal attire.”
Some low-grade moans were swallowed. Knights, especially brand-spanking-new ones, weren’t supposed to complain.
“One other thing. I’ve spoken with my officers, and we’ve realized that in these past months, you’ve had very little free time.”
Hollis snorted. “As in none?”
“Zzzip,” Avery concurred.
Sashka formed her thumb and finger into a big zero and punched the air with it.
“Unless you count evening festivities,” Julia said, “which we were required to attend.”
Tyghan cleared his throat, eyeing Sashka’s big zero still hanging in the air. “Your point is made and so is mine. From now until the Choosing Ceremony, your afternoons will be free.”
Bristol let out a disbelieving laugh. “Who are you, and what have you done with the real Knight Commander?”
Tyghan’s eyes narrowed, but a grin lifted the corners of his mouth. “I promise you, morning drills will be twice as brutal to make up for it.”
“Whew, what a relief,” Bristol answered. “I’d really miss that full array of cuts and bruises.”
“Then you have nothing to be worried about.”
“And this starts today?” Julia asked.
“Right now,” Tyghan confirmed. “And another matter—”
“Oh, here it comes,” Bristol moaned. “The other shoe.”
“Being a full-fledged knight comes with a salary.” He nodded to Dalagorn, who pulled six small pouches from his vest, handing one to each of them.
“You’ll find gold and silver coins inside. Don’t spend them all in one place. It will be a month before you get another.”
They all quickly calculated the days until the Choosing Ceremony and made a unanimous decision. “We’ll spend it all today,” Julia said.
“Now, quick,” Bristol said, glancing over her shoulder, “let’s all get out of here before the real Knight Commander shows up. But you,” she said, grabbing Tyghan by his weapons belt and yanking him closer, “you I’d like to catch up with later.”
Tyghan leaned over and kissed her. “You can count on it, soldier.”