Valiant (36 page)

We stood there, Galen and I, only a few feet from each other. I forced myself to look at him. He seemed miserable. And I could barely hold all the pieces of me together. Was this how the king had felt with his broken hands? That any touch, no matter how light, would undo him?

Galen straightened his shoulders. “Saville, I’m sor—”

“Don’t apologize to me, Galen Verras! Don’t you dare.”

He shook his head. “Let me—”

“And I don’t want you to explain. You don’t have to. I already know he’s a genius at bungling wedding announcements. Please.” I stepped away, backing toward the trees. “Have Hylag take you back and tell the king—”

“You want me to tell Eldin
no
?”

I shook my head. “I want you to fix this!”

Galen closed the distance between us before I could finish. He took me by the shoulders. “Saville, I
told
Eldin to—”

“You told him?” I asked.

He nodded.

I jerked away and slapped him. Slapped him so hard my fingers tingled. “I told you I loved you weeks ago! I cried—
cried
—every night. Do you know what it’s been like to walk through the castle with a hurt I can’t hide? To know that people
are talking about me? Everyone talking except the one person I wanted to speak to most of all? For weeks! And then you
finally
decide to do something about it? In front of everyone?”

He just stood there while I shouted at him, my tears making my voice crack. He was angry: mouth thin, eyes hard.

“Twenty days.”

I wiped at my wet cheek with the back of my hand. “What?”

“Twenty days. You told me you loved me twenty days ago, and twenty days ago, I asked the king to release me from my betrothal. Eldin wrote Lord Farriday the next morning.”

I pointed, like an idiot, toward the distant crowd, toward the princess who had looked at me so strangely. “But Lissa said—”

“She was right. Lord Farriday replied by his fastest messenger. And refused. He made clear that the other noble families were committed to enforcing the betrothal by force, if necessary.”

My heart dropped. “Then why did the king … Why did you—?”

“It was Lissa. She replied on Eldin’s behalf, when he was so sick. Not even Lord Cinnan knew. She wrote that since an army of giants considered me an ally, it would be unwise for Lord Farriday to attack. And she suggested an exchange.”

I stared at Galen, too bewildered to speak.

“The princess of Reggen instead of a third son. To any young noble they chose.”

They never ask me.…

I tasted salt on my lips, but I didn’t bother to wipe my eyes.

“She told Eldin and me this morning, when the messengers arrived with Farriday’s consent. She said it was her choice. That her mother would have been pleased with the match. And that yours would have been, too. I thought—
hoped
 …”

His voice trailed off and he grimaced, so embarrassed that I almost smiled.

He blew out a breath and pushed on. “I told Eldin not to say a word, that I’d hardly talked to you these last weeks. He was supposed to let me tell you. Ask you, I mean.” He waved a hand toward the crowd, still not daring to meet my eyes. “But he didn’t, of course! I could strangle him! I don’t care if he’s been ill. It would make it that … much … easier …”

He shook his head and looked down. “I didn’t plan for it to be this way.”

I put my hand gently to Galen’s face, wincing to see how it fit over the red mark I’d left there. He finally met my eyes, wary at first, as if I’d order him away. But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

Galen held my gaze one moment … and another. Then he smiled at me, the way he’d smiled on the ramparts, the way he’d smiled in the caves. He turned his head, just a little, and kissed my palm.

“Will you have me?” he whispered.

I had imagined Galen asking me so many times. But I’d never expected it. Not once. And certainly not
here
, in the real
world, in the sunlight, with Hylag standing behind us, and Galen looking like home and laughter and—

“I love you,” he said. “Please, say you’ll have me.”

I swallowed. “But you told the king to stop. You—”

He laughed and slipped an arm around me, pulling me close.

He laughed and slipped an arm around me, pulling me close. When I looked up at him, he dropped a kiss on my nose.

“You silly”—he kissed the corner of my eye, right where I had kissed him—
he did remember
—“silly”—on my cheek, right by my ear—“girl.”

He leaned back to see me, as if he couldn’t look enough. “I wanted to ask you first, not ambush you in front of everyone.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Ye—” He kissed me before I could finish the word. Kissed me as if he’d been waiting as long as I had, maybe longer. He was as insistent as the wind on the castle walls, as fierce as the melody of a giant’s song. He kissed me until the ground danced beneath my feet and I stumbled. Galen just pulled me closer and murmured, “Hylag!”

I looked up. Hylag continued to stomp, beating the ground a few more times. Galen shook his head. Then a small earthquake reached us.

Hylag looked at us over his shoulder. “Volar is happy.”

Galen laughed, then sat down against a tree and tugged
me down to his side, wincing only a little. “Just in case there’s more stomping.”

I was tucked close to him, my head resting on his chest. “I could hardly see straight after the draught they’d given me. But the moment you closed the door, I got out of bed,” Galen said.

“I didn’t hear you.”

He grinned. “You were listening?”

I rolled my eyes. “It was an awful night when you didn’t come.”

“I went to Eldin. Stumbled in the door—the doctors were happy about that, of course. I told him that if he wanted me to stay in Reggen, he’d better act like a proper king and arrange things. It was horrible to just wait for news. I wanted to go to you a thousand times.”

“And then Lissa set everything right,” I whispered.

Galen pressed a kiss into my hair, and I rubbed my cheek against his coat. Velvet.

Please
, I thought,
let him be a good man, whoever they choose
.

“Eldin wants to make me ambassador,” Galen said.

“Really?” I craned my head to look at him. “To one of the other River Cities?”

He shook his head, a smile pulling the corners of his mouth. I kissed the corner nearest me, just because I could.

Galen’s smile widened, and he kissed me back, not on the corner of my mouth.

“I’m to be ambassador to the
uten
. We could go to Belmor in the spring. Would you like that?”

I thought of the halls under the mountains, the great ships that sailed the sea. “You
did
say that you see better with me.”

He chuckled. “It only makes sense that the champion of Reggen should be the first to visit the high king in his hall.”

“I’m not the champion.”

“The tailor, then?” I heard the smile in his voice.

“Just Saville,” I whispered.

My second day in the castle, Princess Lissa told the king she didn’t want to marry the duke. She said she didn’t want giants to dance at her wedding.

Neither of us could have known that they would dance at mine.

The day I married Galen, giants danced until the ground shook and the willows by the Kriva swayed. Only a dance that wild and strong could match our joy. In a week, they would take Galen and me back to Belmor. We would greet the high king, and he would call me Hillock the way he always had. We would walk the halls beneath the mountains, hear the truth in stone, and see stars over rough seas. Will, who walked with only a slight limp, would come with us.

Reggen still sings the songs about the champion, the brave tailor—though I can’t help laughing to hear such words describe me. I was not so brave, and there were other
champions that summer morning. Perhaps, time will wear away our names until we are as blurry as the Guardians and no one can remember where we came from. But for those who wish to know, this is everything that happened.

This is the story that is true.

Everyone in these pages deserves thank-you
books
, and all I have are sentences. But just because I can’t thank everyone properly doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. So, thank you to …

My rock-star agent, Tracey Adams. What a fierce advocate and comfort you’ve been!

All the wonderful people at Egmont Publishing, who made me and
Valiant
look better than I ever could have on my own.

My editor, Alison Weiss. Thank you for answering all my questions, and asking the perfect ones in return. Your insights and encouragement made
Valiant
the story I always hoped it would be.

My amazing Slushbuster critique group—Stephanie, Michelle, Joan, Alison, Lisa, and Bridget. You ladies raised me as a writer these past nine years. The Turbo Monkeys crit group—Amy, Kristen, Hazel, Julie, Marilyn, Ellen, and Craig. Your feedback and support meant so much. And where would I be without my LYLP ladies, who listened to my silliness and walked me through the long days of writing and selling a novel?

The 2010–11 Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program, run by Ellen Hopkins and Suzanne Williams and hosted by the wonderful Nevada writing community. Harold Underdown, who chose me as one of his mentees! I took everything I learned
about mushy middles and used it in
Valiant
. Thank you.

Patti Gauch, for teaching me how important it is to go far enough, and how I must always listen for my story’s heartbeat. The people at Highlights, whose support and scholarships made my Patti workshops possible.

Thank you to all the agents and editors and authors at all the writing conferences who spent time with the tall, horribly nervous attendee. Thank you, bloggers (I’m looking at you, Janet Reid!), who made the industry less intimidating.

The WAHS teachers and administrators, who have been so ridiculously encouraging. And my students! (
All
of you—even the ones who think I’m not talking about them.) You make me laugh and work and think like no other job would. I’m lucky to be your teacher.

My dear ones in Brezik, thank you for your hospitality and strong coffee and never minding how badly I spoke Bosnian! I missed those afternoons swimming in the Krivaja so much that I had to put a river in
Valiant
.

My family, blood and otherwise. My characters get their best qualities and their funniest moments from you. Thank you for letting me ramble about people who (technically) never existed, for proofreading my manuscripts, and for never once doubting I could do this. I love you.

And in all this, there is God, who has swept me up into an amazing love, a timeless story.