Valiant (33 page)

“What’s this?” he asked.

“We wish to see the captives. Iden will take us to the castle afterward.”

“Iden, miss?”

I gestured toward the giant. “Iden.”

Iden nodded gravely.

The guard shifted his weight. “And you are?”

Lord Cinnan, who had been listening, joined us. “She is the tailor. The champion.”

The soldier saluted, but I looked down, uncomfortable with the title.

“I must go now, Saville. Come as soon as you can,” Lord Cinnan said. He looked up at Iden. “Do you mind waiting? I can order my men to escort them to the castle.”

Iden shook his head. “Volar said to take them. I will.”

Lord Cinnan raised his eyebrows. “Very well, then.”

Will struggled to his feet as soon as Lord Cinnan turned away.

I grabbed at him. “Sit down, Will!”

“They’re coming! How will he see me if I’m sitting?”

I thought of how I’d looked for Mama after she died; I’d turn a corner and expect her to be there waiting.

I braced myself against one of the fountain’s statues. “Lean against me, then. Don’t put any weight on your foot.”

Will nodded, his face pale and intent as if the force of his hope could bring his father to him. He nestled into my side, his wiry arm wrapped around my waist, a handful of my skirt gripped in his fist.

Let his father be here. Please, let his father be here
. The captives began to straggle through the gates, casting fearful glances at Iden. Guards, instructed by Lord Cinnan, shepherded them toward wagons waiting to take them to the castle.

They were filthy and unwashed, faces burnt from exposure to the summer sun. They smelled like animals, like cattle. Bile burned the back of my throat. They’d been nothing more than cattle to the duke and his Deathless. If Volar had not slept outside their pens these last few nights, there would have been even fewer survivors. But how many had been lost before he stood guard? I pulled Will closer to me.

Most of the captives wandered through the gate with empty stares as if they couldn’t yet believe they’d been released. None looked toward the fountain.

Except for one man. He stopped, jostling the others around him to get a closer look. When he saw Will, he elbowed his way toward us.

I felt Will suck in a breath, his entire body rigid. “Papa?”

The man was in front of us now, his face so dirty I wondered how Will knew him. He looked up at Will with eyes that crinkled around the edges. Concerned eyes.

“Will?” he asked.

Will shook his head. “You’re not Papa.”

The man’s hands hung limp at his side. “No, I’m not. But he told me about you. He wanted me to find you.”

I wrapped my arm around Will’s shoulders. I wanted to cover his ears and drag him up to the castle, away from this man with the wild hair and kind eyes.

“Where is he?” asked Will.

The man just shook his head.

Will’s legs buckled. I clutched at him to keep him from falling. He curled around himself, head between his knees, just as he had been that day in the street. I pulled him against me. He didn’t notice at first, his sharp, barking sobs driving his shoulders against my ribs.

Then his arms went around me and I pressed his face into the hollow of my shoulder, whispering into his hair that I was sorry, so very sorry.

“
H
illock?”

I looked up, glad for the breeze that cooled my wet cheeks. “Yes, Iden?”

“The others have already returned from the castle. I must go soon.”

“You can take us now.”

The man sent by Will’s father had left earlier, whispering his name to me so that I could find him later at the castle. Somehow, Iden managed to pick Will and me up at the same time. We rode to the castle cradled in the crook of his arm.

He did not try to pass under the castle’s gate. Instead, he reached over the castle wall, and set us down in the courtyard. Castle guard surrounded us in a moment, escorting us to Will’s old room. Will had stopped crying, but stared blankly ahead.

His dirty face was tear streaked. The bandage around his foot had grown damp and lost its stiffness. Worst of all, his entire front was smeared with blood from my skirt.

I knelt in front of him. “The doctor needs to look at your foot. And you need to change into clean clothes. I have to do the same. But I’ll be back, do you hear me?”

He nodded. I tugged him to me one more time, pressing a kiss against his dirty forehead.

I closed his door behind me and leaned back against the wall, grateful for the support. Covering my face with my hands, I tried to tell myself it would be better soon.

The left side of my face throbbed. I looked down at my bloody hands and the great red stains on my skirts and felt the dampness on my shoulder where Will had wept until he had no more tears.

How was I going to walk down the hall? I could barely stand.

“Miss Gramton?”

A nurse stood before me. “Come with me, dear.”

She put an arm around my shoulder and led me to a new room, where she helped me undress and bathed me like a child. When she’d finished fastening my soft, loose gown, she called for the doctor. Once he was sure my jaw hadn’t been broken by the duke’s fist, he gave me a draught for the pain. As he turned to leave, I put a hand on his arm.

“Please,” I said. “How is Lord Verras?”

“He’s sleeping.”

That wasn’t enough. “I saw the cut. I didn’t think it was deep, but now I’m not sure—”

“It wasn’t deep, though it did cut into muscle. The only concern now is infection.” The doctor smiled. “You did a fine job, stopping the blood. I’m not worried for him.” He gestured toward the bed. “You should sleep as well.”

“I have to see Will.”

“I’ll walk you there.” He held out his arm as if I were a fine lady. By the time we reached Will’s room, I could barely stand.

Will lay huddled on his bed, clean, with new bandages on his foot. His cheeks were wet.

I sat beside him and he curled into me, his head on my belly. I swept his hair back from his forehead, the way his mother had, until he fell asleep.

The last thing I remembered was a nurse tucking a pillow behind me and covering me with a blanket.

“King Eldin wishes to see you if you’re able, Miss Gramton.”

The nurse helped me slip from beneath Will, who stirred but settled back into sleep.

As soon as we were in the corridor, I asked, “What time is it?”

“Past dark,” she said. “You slept most of the day.”

“And the king? How is he?”

“I’ve never seen anything like his hands. The doctors were able to set the right one, but I don’t know about the left.”

She led me to the king’s private chambers. King Eldin lay in bed, resting against a bank of pillows. His bandaged hands lay on top of the blankets, and blood stained the bandage on his left hand. Lord Cinnan stood beside the bed, while a doctor and a nurse sat in the corner.

I curtsied. “Your Majesty.”

The king looked chagrined, then tilted his head toward Lord Cinnan, who drew a chair beside the bed for me. “I’m afraid I am much too small for my title.”

King Eldin looked very different from the first time I had seen him. There were deep circles under his eyes and he seemed a little feverish. Yet there was a steadiness to his gaze that I hadn’t seen before.

“I think,
Your Majesty
, that your title fits you better than it ever did.”

“Don’t flatter me!” There was a touch of the old petulance in his voice, and I sat straighter in my seat. “I don’t know what to do with myself, you see.” He leaned forward. “What if I ruin things all over again?”

“I saw you stand strong before the duke, Your Majesty. I saw you refuse to give in. You acted like a true king. You can do it again and again and again.”

He smiled, just a little.

Lord Cinnan drew near. “King Eldin wished to know how we should reward the champion of Reggen.”

I sighed. “I feel I am much too small for that title.”

The king laughed.

“As champion,” said Lord Cinnan, “you were promised the princess’s hand in marriage.”

“If I had a younger brother—” began the king.

“Perhaps you would like to be appointed the royal tailor?” suggested Lord Cinnan.

“I’ve been told that such an arrangement was indelicate.”

King Eldin shrugged. “I have seen my person, Miss Gramton.” He studied his hands for a moment, his face sober. “I do not believe I would be a source of temptation.”

In a heartbeat, I remembered Galen, and the flash of humor in his eyes when he told me not to discuss whether I’d ever been tempted.

Lord Cinnan’s voice pulled me back to the present. “Lord Verras told us that you are—without family. The champion of Reggen should not be left destitute.”

“Your Majesty, I hate sewing.”

King Eldin was surprised. “But you have such talent.”

“My father loved sewing more than anything in the world. He loved
his
sewing, more than anything in the world. Why would I love my competition?”

“Ah,” said King Eldin, and I saw that he understood. I wondered what sort of man his brother had been. “We shall see you married, then, to a nobleman worthy of your courage. If Galen were not already betrothed, I would have you marry him.”

I nearly cried.

“If it is mine to ask, Your Majesty, I would like to have a place in the castle, and to come and go as I please. I should like to be given to
myself
, and not handed off to some nobleman.”

King Eldin’s eyes grew wide.

“For at least a year, couldn’t I have a little corner somewhere? I might become so cheerful that I don’t mind picking up a needle and thread again.”

Lord Cinnan stood. “Thank you, Miss Gramton. The king will reward you soon. Now you should rest.”

He walked me to the door.

I had to ask. “How is Lord Verras? The last time I saw him—”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Lord Cinnan motioned to a guard. “Take the champion to Lord Verras’s room. If he is awake, she may see him.”

I followed, almost dizzy with the worry and hope of seeing Galen again. The guard knocked quietly, then leaned in to speak to someone inside. He held the door open.

Galen was propped up in his bed, his head resting back against the wall. He smiled and I released the breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding.

“Saville.” His voice was strong and steady. “Come, sit.”

His shirt was open at the throat and I could see the bandages across his chest and shoulder underneath. They were mostly white, but I thought I saw spots of red bleeding through.

“Even you would have approved of the doctor’s work. He put in a row of even stitches.” He pulled back the left side of his shirt, revealing the bandages underneath.

I was right: there was blood.

“Saville.”

He’d bled all over my gown and I’d hardly blinked, but somehow seeing the blood on those bandages—

“Saville!”

I finally met his gaze.

“You’ve gone pale.”

I wanted to rest my head on his uninjured shoulder and feel his arm steal around me. If I couldn’t do that, I wanted to act as though I didn’t mind that his falcon bride would come soon.

I could do neither.

I thought of how I must look to him: a girl with hair that barely reached her shoulders, eyes red from crying, face swollen and bruised. A girl who blushed and grew pale and blushed again.

“Saville?”

And then I was talking, just to say anything. “Will’s father is dead. I waited with Will at the fountain as the captives came into the city.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

I shook my head. “A man came to us.… Will’s father sent him.”

Galen closed his eyes. “How is he?”

“He’s asleep. I stayed with him.”

“You need to rest, too.”

“You can’t tell me what to do anymore!” It sounded defiant, but how it hurt to say. I didn’t mind Galen telling me what to do. At least, I didn’t mind fighting about it. And I knew I was being unreasonable and childish.

Galen held my gaze, even though he was confused and weary and more than a little angry. Finally, he said, “I never could tell you what to do. Why would I start now?”

For one moment, I understood why the duke had hidden his heart.

I looked down at Galen, saw the curve of his neck disappearing into the bandages, noticed how still he lay. I’d seen illness press the Tailor into bed the same way.

It gave me just enough safety to risk everything. Because, once you do it, you can keep doing it again and again and again.

“I love that you let me ask questions, but still tell me to be quiet when you’re thinking.”

The sudden change startled him, but I saw something spring to life behind his eyes. I leaned forward and gestured toward the bedside table, already messy. “I love that you don’t care whether your desk is covered with papers or books. I love that you were the only person brave enough to carry Will inside the gates, and that you stood between us and the crowd. I love that you would still swim in the Kriva. I love that you didn’t know what to do when I thanked you that first day in your rooms.”