Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAY
“It was a fallacy that Wolfswail was invulnerable. It had not been overrun in many generations, but Southerners have less lore than us, so they still whispered about the death of a mythical magic-wielder. The General, in his wisdom, heard these whispers, and used them.” ~ The Fall of Wolfswail
T he unfamiliar man stripped off his black tabard, laying it crisply across a bunk in preparation for our return, and stared at me as if I were shit on his shoe. As first meetings with mentors went, I’d probably had worse.
I set my teeth and followed.
Thomas watched us go, his face impassive. I heard him drop the bar over the door behind us.
“When the Duke leaves, it’ll be the three of us,” the man told me, leading me into the belly of the keep without hesitation.
The long look he shot me made me wonder if I was about to be ambushed. I resisted the urge to loosen my sword in its scabbard, mostly because the quarters were too tight for it.
“Eat during your breaks. If you’re on overnight.” He shot me another of those veiled looks, and I knew damned well I was going to be drawing the worst shifts for some time. “Well, make sure you’re prepared to be awake.”
That didn’t make sense to me. I could nap in the side rooms that winged out from that entry chamber, and no one need know. There was a giant bar on the giant door.
He hadn’t told me why he was my mentor, or how long he’d be here for. I didn’t even know his name. There was nothing unique about him. He had the same short hair, clean jaw, and shiny boots as the rest of them.
I guess that was the world I lived in now.
“Shame you didn’t get to compete in the melee,” he said, turning down a wider, busier corridor, then grabbing my arm and yanking me to the side before a delicately built woman fell before me.
We both bowed as she swept by, lost in her conversation and not even realizing the close call.
The other guard sneered at me. “You need a lot of training, Horse Fucker.”
I remembered Audrey’s ribbon around my arm, biting into the fabric and reminding me to tighten my shield up, and my stomach writhed.
“We could’ve started yesterday,” he said threateningly.
I resisted the urge to respond to the guard’s transparent attempts to draw me in. I knew something had happened in the melee. I’d heard the whispers cut off when I came near and saw the looks I was thrown. No one spoke to me about it, though. Clearly, this lump knew what had happened, and he was keen to use it as a weapon.
If Kadan was dead, I’d’ve heard. There would’ve been fighting in the corridors. And lots of other people would probably do that for Luca, too.
Did I want to know what had happened? Yes.
Was I giving this lout confirmation of the chink in my armor? No.
“It’ll be the last time the Horse Fucker heir ever rides here,” he said smugly, and shot me an expectant look as he shoved his way into the mess hall.
My heart ached. Kadan . I didn’t respond.
“But you’ll see that tonight,” he went on, without needing my invitation. “You’ll have to stand behind the lady and maintain the perimeter. If you see the Raa’shi heir, you’re to hold him.”
Unease crept up my spine. Had the Wuurgard survivor talked? Kadan and I wouldn’t be implicated, as the deal with the South had been driven entirely by Luca. What other reason could the Duke possibly have to hold him?
“You’re a cold bastard, aren’t you?”
I scratched my jaw. Thomas had told me I had to shave and cut my hair, but damned if I knew when I was supposed to have done that or how it would matter. Anyway, Audrey hadn’t seemed to care, and she held my reins until I figured out how to get the bit between my teeth.
“You obviously want to tell me something,” I said, aiming for indifference and hitting it neatly as we wandered in. “I don’t feel like dancing, so if you want to use your words, you go ahead. Otherwise.” I glanced around and identified where the line for food began. “I hear I eat while I can.” And mayhap I’d carry something back for Thomas. If I was going to be stuck with him for the rest of our lives, I may as well get on with the relic.
My temporary mentor stood beside me in the line, and I realized his face was flushed with temper. Mayhap he’d had a hard-on for Mikus.
But I hadn’t killed him. I would’ve. But I hadn’t.
Be okay, Kadan.
Around me, uniformed servants and off-duty guards looked back with varying levels of subtlety and hostility. Irritation prickled between my shoulder blades, but I resisted the urge to resettle my shirt.
“Your kind aren’t welcome here,” he whispered.
I was a lot more capable of looking after myself now than the last time that’d been true. It didn’t matter if I had no skirts to shelter behind. I had friends, and I had myself. Kadan will be fine. I’d’ve heard if he wasn’t.
I sent the guard an unimpressed look. “Obviously,” I drawled. “Since I’m bloodsworn to defend the Duke’s most precious possession.”
He didn’t like that truth any more than I did. I moved forward in the line, ignoring the looks we were getting.
“You were a bannerman for the Horse Fuckers.”
Was I the horse fucker, or Kadan? All of us? Consistency was too much to ask for. I’d need to check on Bliksem. They could say what they wanted to me, but I’d be damned if they’d hurt my old friend. For now, I let my gaze drift over the heads of the people in front of us and ignored the looks directed my way.
This was the rest of my life. When the line moved forward, I could barely lift my feet, they had become so heavy.
“Shame you weren’t there,” he said again. “Hey, Barth, how’s the stew?”
The young man nearby grinned up from his bowl, and I didn’t miss the cruelty in his look. “Fanciest horse I’ve eaten. Tastes like all the others.”
Bullshit. I moved along with the line, ignoring the cawing laughter.
“Who knows, mayhap if you’d been there to kiss that fancy pony better, it wouldn’t be dead,” my mentor said with a grin.
“I hear my kisses are pretty amazing,” I agreed blandly. “Don’t know anyone’s said I could raise the dead, but sure.” I’d been tormented by people who knew every flaw in my armor. This guy was a fly buzzing around shit. We shuffled up so we were next in line, and I took a plate for me and one for Thomas. He, at least, hadn’t come for me.
“He’ll never walk again,” my mentor breathed in my ear. “They’re going to take his legs.”
The blood roared in my ears, and I fought not to react as it came my turn to step in front of the cook. “Extra stew for me,” my mentor said with a nod. “I hear it’s something special tonight.”
The cook gave him a beady eye, then turned his suspicion on me.
Kadan.
I couldn’t hear the words from the cook’s mouth, but I knew what I was being asked. “The same,” I said, and knew I’d have to eat it.
There was no way they’d had time to butcher Bravura, much less cook that tough bastard down into anything resembling food.
But there was a way that Kadan could’ve been sorely injured without it inciting rioting in the streets.
I didn’t bother to sit. Anywhere I chose, my mentor wouldn’t approve. Instead, I just took a spoon and started eating as I waited. It’d been a long day, and it didn’t matter that I was sick to my stomach. I needed the food.
I wondered if the blood would boil in my veins if I neglected to look after myself and became a liability that way.
My mentor’s amusement had drained somewhat. “You’ll learn,” he said. And I was pretty sure he was right about that.