Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Stefano had preferred Innisbar. While they were in the forest, he hadn’t been required to travel in the cage.
And when they stopped for a rest or for the night, he’d always found creeks or small ponds to explore and plenty to eat.
But poor Henry had to walk, and he’d had little food, plus he’d tossed and turned with nothing but the earth for a bed.
So Stefano was happy for Henry’s sake that they were once again in a city.
Not that Stefano had the chance to see much of this city.
Henry had kept him in the covered cage until they were inside a room at an inn, and there Stefano had only one small window.
He was glad, though, to see Henry sprawled on a real bed, freshly bathed and shaved, and with a set of clean clothing waiting for him.
He’d also apparently eaten well. He’d brought Stefano some bits of raw meat that weren’t really necessary, but Stefano ate them to be polite.
He wished he had a better way to express gratitude for all that Henry continued to do for him.
But twisting his mouth to form words took a great deal of effort, and since he was also embarrassed by how awful he sounded, he remained silent.
And by the gods, he wished he had a human body so he could touch Henry again. Even a dream with both of them human would have sufficed, but for the past few nights dream-Stefano remained a frog, unable to find the water’s edge or Henry.
Even though Henry was right here and only a few feet away, Stefano feared that he’d lost him.
“I spoke with a few people in the common room.” Henry rolled onto his side to face the window where Stefano perched.
“I had to be careful what and how I asked. I didn’t want to raise suspicion.
But I was able to glean some information about the Fraysian royal family.
You likely knew it already, but I didn’t. ”
Stefano didn’t want to think about them—or about royal families in general, for that matter. But this was important, so he croaked softly to indicate he was paying attention.
Henry nodded as if he understood. “It’s just King Verzant and his daughter, Princess Dianora. The people here seem to like both of them very much. They say that they live very simply and rule fairly. They care about the welfare of their subjects. This sounds quite unlike… well, you know.”
Yes, Stefano did know what opinions Thanytsian citizens held about his family.
The nobility and the wealthy liked them well enough, he supposed, but only because King Cyrus’s actions tended to favor them.
Ordinary people, however, chafed at high taxes and resented the luxuries they were denied.
Cyrus was cruel, they said, and Philip was a fool.
Both of these were true. As far as he knew, they spoke very little of Louis, whose ways were mysterious and scary, and not at all of Stefano.
He’d always considered the latter a great blessing.
Henry had paused, perhaps to give Stefano time for these ruminations. Now he spoke again. “Do you know if it’s true, Stef? Does King Verzant live much like a common man?”
Perhaps. Certainly Cyrus had expounded at great length about how Verzant was a fool, a weakling, and too old to rule.
He’d made it sound as if overthrowing Verzant and taking over Fraysia was a wise and just thing to do.
As if he’d be rescuing Fraysians from their ruler’s ineptitude.
Stefano hadn’t believed those claims when he’d heard them.
He still didn’t. But he honestly knew almost nothing about the woman he was supposed to marry or about her kingdom.
After a few moments of silence, Henry sighed and rolled onto his back.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get you close to the princess, and I certainly don’t know how to persuade her to kiss you.
And then I don’t know what to do after that.
When I try to work it out, my head just spins.
” He flung an arm over his eyes. “You’re the clever one.
When you want to work out a problem, you sit quietly for ages, studying it.
You observe and take notes, and then you bury yourself in books to make sense of what you observed.
I know sometimes I’ve been impatient with you, urging you to move on and do something else.
I’m sorry. I should have appreciated your strengths more fully. ”
In Stefano’s opinion, Henry had nearly always been patient and had seen strengths in Stefano that nobody else did, not even Stefano himself.
And while Stefano might have been skilled at understanding nature, he hadn’t come up with any solutions for protecting Henry from his father or thwarting his father’s plans that Stefano marry Princess Dianora.
Stefano looked out the window again, but it had grown dark and there was little to see.
So he hopped onto the floor, up onto a small writing desk, and into a bowl that Henry had filled with water.
He closed his eyes and tried his best to live up to Henry’s expectations.
There had to be some way out of this mess.
* * *
The old couple had overestimated the time needed to get to the capital, probably because they didn’t walk very fast. In contrast, Henry almost trotted, causing Stefano’s cage to bounce against the top of his bag with every step.
They reached the capital the same day they left Lonica, but it was very late at night.
Poor Henry was exhausted, although he didn’t say so.
“Too late to find the princess,” he said with a sigh after they’d entered the city. “I don’t know where we’ll sleep tonight.”
Stefano wouldn’t have had any advice to share even if he could make his mouth cooperate. He felt Henry moving more slowly, his boots shuffling on cobblestones, breaking the night silence. Sometimes he paused for a moment as if trying to decide where to go, and then he’d sigh and move on.
“It’s not a very big city,” he observed after a time. “Everyone’s gone to sleep, I think. It all seems clean and orderly, though. I haven’t seen any rough neighborhoods or encountered foul smells. It might be a pleasant place to live.” He might have sounded a bit wistful, but it was hard to tell.
It probably would have been best to return to the fields outside the city and find a quiet spot to spend the night. But Henry stubbornly kept wandering around, his movements slower and slower, until Stefano expected him to collapse any moment. Croaking at him made no difference.
Just when Stefano was getting truly desperate, he heard an unfamiliar male voice. “Is something wrong, sir?” It carried a certain ring of authority that made Stefano sure the man was a guard or something similar. A night watchman, maybe.
Henry stopped walking. “I…. I’m sorry. I just arrived and it’s late and…. Is there somewhere I could find a room for the night? I have money.”
“Where are you from?” Now the voice was noticeably sharper. Most likely the man had noticed that Henry’s accent wasn’t Fraysian.
“Thanytsia, sir.”
“And what is your business here?”
Oh no. Fraysians held no love for Thanytsians—for good reason—and were likely to be suspicious of them. It was no secret that King Cyrus had set his sights on their throne.
To Stefano’s relief, Henry replied with a steady voice. The only emotion he displayed was weariness. “I’m looking for a new home. I don’t know if this city will fit, but I wanted to try. I won’t be a burden—as I said, I’ve a bit of money. And I’m willing and able to work hard.”
“Why did you leave? Are you a thief or an outlaw?”
“No, sir, I’m not. It’s only… Thanytsia held too many bad memories for me. I lost my lover. I want a fresh start away from that.”
That had a ring of truth to it, which the man must have sensed; he softened his tone. “You’re young. You’ll find another love.”
“Some of us are made for just one person. I’m grateful for the time I had.”
After a short silence, the man grunted. “Follow me.”