Chapter 38 #2
For the first time since seeing her, Kyor’s smile fades, and it’s not hard to work out why. Even though I’m not involved in the conversation, I feel the weight in my chest. So that explains his closeness with Ryne then. They are bonded by a love for Zelle.
‘Arle? Here?’ Kyor says with a frown. ‘Are you sure?’
‘If the rumours are to be believed. I mean, how many big guys with one eyebrow and a star-shaped scar on the cheek do you get? Some say he’s here to meet the money. Could be just what we need to blow the whole thing to kingdom come.’
The knots in my stomach reach a new level of tension, and Kyor lets out a low whistle. ‘If he’s here … if I get my hands on the bastard …’ His hands flex and he doesn’t need to finish the sentence for me to hear the threat at the end of it.
‘Sorry, who’s Arle?’ I ask. Even though I already know the answer, Kyor doesn’t know I know.
Keeping everyone’s secrets is hard work.
Kyor jerks suddenly, as if surprised to find me there, but his expression is nothing close to Ryne’s, whose eyes almost bug out of her head.
‘Lady Rose Kultavaris,’ she says, her voice a hushed whisper. She bows to me. ‘The gifted. It’s an absolute honour to meet you.’
My cheeks warm, and I wonder if there will be a time when it doesn’t feel uncomfortable to hear my name said in that way.
She looks at me with such awe. As a knight, she probably knew people like Grenda, who entered the Retterheld and didn’t make it out alive.
She surely knows how fierce the other knights were, and knowing that I won over them appears to have given me Gods-like status in her eyes.
Which is crazy because I’m anything but.
‘Hi,’ I say, lifting my hand in an awkward wave.
‘I thought you had returned to court,’ she says. ‘Rumour has it that you’ve moved back into your family’s home.’
‘My sister is there now,’ I say, wishing I had just kept quiet and not drawn attention to myself, but it’s too late for that. ‘With her new husband,’ I say. ‘I’m visiting different cities. To go to their temples and give thanks to Etta.’
‘How very pious of you,’ she says, her eyes whirling towards Kyor. ‘And you are with her as … a guard?’ She lifts one eyebrow.
‘No,’ he grunts. ‘If there is one thing Lady Rose does not need, it’s a guard. She can take care of herself.’
His unabashed praise warms me, and I hate that.
Kyor continues, ‘I’m on my way to the Hirathean Pass to take command, but en route I am making my atonement to Etta for playing fast and loose with the laws of the Retterheld. Travelling with Rose is merely … expedient.’
‘Of course.’ Her lips twist. ‘I can’t say I was surprised to hear about that. Never been one to play by the rules, have you, Commander?’ Her voice is warm, affectionate. ‘It’s always been about the endgame with you. The result is what counts, no matter the means.’
There’s a slight colour to his cheeks and an ease about him I haven’t seen around anyone since Zelle. It makes my heart hurt.
‘If you’ve been out of touch,’ Ryne murmured to Kyor, eyes going wide in realisation, ‘you won’t have heard the good news!’
‘Which is?’ he asks, his eyebrow quirking.
‘Just a few days ago, apparently, we found it! In the Eastern Isles, just like we thought!’
She beams at him, and he lets out a relieved laugh and picks her up and swings her around. ‘Thank the Gods!’
He winces as he sets her down back on her feet, but despite his pain, both of them are grinning, and I don’t like being ignorant of something that has clearly brought so much joy and relief.
‘What did you find?’ I ask.
Ryne shifts uncomfortably and it’s Kyor who answers. ‘Nothing to worry over, just something my father has been looking for.’
‘He doesn’t like losing his things,’ Ryne jokes, making the king sound like a tantrumming toddler.
They’re clearly not going to tell me, so I let it go. ‘You were saying something about someone in Galreck?’ I prompt instead.
Ryne’s easy smile drops as she glances at me.
‘Yes. He’s been a huge name in the rebellion for years now. Too smart to be among those puppets who attacked at the ball, but rumour has it he fled here all the same. And if we get him—’
‘We have a chance to find whoever’s funding them,’ Kyor finishes for her.
My gut twists with unease.
I know who’s funding them, and I’m seven types of conflicted over it.
I want to warn Benny, but there’s nothing I can do now – apart from maybe keeping Kyor distracted long enough to hope that this Arle slips from his mind.
A flash of pain wipes across his face.
‘Are you hurt, Commander?’
He meets her eye. ‘I had an encounter with a dark one.’ He keeps his voice low. ‘It didn’t end well for me,’ he admits.
He’s avoiding using the term Myrkr in the busy inn, I realise. And she … she understands instantly what Kyor means.
‘Did his blade—?’ she begins, panic in her gaze.
‘No,’ he interrupts. ‘No, not his. It’s a long story. Luckily, the injury was clear of the rot.’
‘Thank the Gods. Do you need a healer? I can arrange to get one we trust here within a week.’
He grimaces. ‘Thank you, but I don’t have time to wait. I had a healer’s attention already; I just need some rest.’
‘Yes,’ Ryne snorts, ‘because you’re so good at that.’
He grins suddenly. ‘Right.’ The smile promptly fades, and Ryne is quick to continue the conversation.
‘I heard rumours that Fen went north to lay himself to rest,’ she says. ‘Back to Zelle’s hometown of Rowell.’ The name is clearly added for my benefit.
‘Zelle was from Rowell?’ I can’t help but express my shock. ‘But … he was so nice!’
Kyor laughs aloud. ‘Not everyone from Rowell is like Zara Duarte.’
A likely story.
We still haven’t decided what route we’re taking north from here, but the thought of heading to Rowell, where there’s even the slightest possibility of bumping into one of Zara’s family members, isn’t something I want to do.
‘Thank the Gods,’ Ryne mutters.