“Interesting,” Jareth said. “There are plenty of prestigious houses who have sons that do not warrant admission to Kenilworth. If your father is merely a knight, you have to earn an appointment like that.”
“I was a legacy.”
Jareth knew what that meant. “I see,” he said. “Then your father trained at Kenilworth.”
Orion stopped poking at the wound and looked him in the eye. “Since you are the only one of the Guard of Six who has ever bothered to ask me about myself, I will tell you,” he said. “I know that the lot of you think I’m aggravating. I know you think I’m an arrogant dolt who only thinks of himself, who annoys you to the point of tears. Did you ever stop to wonder why, Jareth? Because Henry has acquired me and has decided I need to fit into his Guard of Six, only the six of you are so tight, like brothers, that there isn’t room for anyone else. So—I become annoying because it is the only way anyone pays any attention to me.”
Jareth could hear the disappointment in the man’s voice. Truthfully, he was coming to feel like a cad. This was the most conversation he’d ever had with Orion, here in a critical moment, and it had taken an unexpected turn.
“I am sorry about that,” he said. “It is true that we are all very close. We are called the Guard of Six, not the Guard of Seven or Eight. We have been a unit for a very long time. We are likebrothers. But nothing lasts forever. Torran and Kent have moved to other stages of their life. The truth is that the Six has fractured somewhat. We must be more mindful of men like you who have been assigned to our group. I am sorry we have not been more welcoming.”
Orion shrugged. “But you have been to Stefan,” he said, looking at the big knight a few feet away. “I know why. He’s a de Lohr and there is no finer family in England. You accept him because of his father and grandfather and great-grandfather. He is a legacy knight. But me… I come from the small house of Payton-Forrester. My background is not so prestigious, or so you think.”
“We accept Stefan because we have fought with him and his family before,” Jareth said. “I am willing to apologize for our failings, but not all of our actions are failures. Stefan was already part of us when he officially became part of the Six. But you…”
“You had not fought with me before.”
“Nay, we had not.”
Before Jareth could reply, Dirk and Britt came back into the chamber with servants behind them. Two of the servants were lugging big iron pots of steaming water while three others had neatly rolled rags. Boiled rags. Given that this was an outpost, someone knew something about the value of boiled rags when tending wounds, so there was a supply.
Orion had everything set upon a table next to where Jareth was sitting.
“Excellent,” he said. “I also need wine. Lots of it.”
One of the servants went running. Orion fingered the rags and tested the temperature of the water when Aidric suddenly appeared.
“I’m told the closest physic is in Bristol,” he told Orion. “I’ll send one of the men back to town for him.”
But Orion shook his head. “Do not trouble yourself,” he said. “I have what I need to remove the arrow, and then we’ll simply send Jareth back to Aphrodite’s Feast to recuperate. You can send for the physic from there.”
He was the man with the plan. That normally annoying, always-egotistical knight was taking control of the situation and men were listening. It was a surprising natural air of command that they hadn’t seen from him before. It was a side he’d never shown. When the servant brought back two big earthenware bottles of wine, Orion got down to work.
“My lady,” he said to Desdra, “please leave the chamber. You will not want to see this.”
Desdra, who had been sitting next to Jareth the entire time, even through his conversation with Orion, appeared surprised by the request, but she didn’t argue. She’d never been around a wounded man in her life, so she didn’t know what mystical, terrible things were going to happen to heal Jareth from the arrow jutting out of his shoulder. She didn’t feel qualified to stay.
“As you wish,” she said. “I… I will be just on the other side of the door if you need anything. Anything at all.”
Jareth watched her go, warmth in his eyes. “It will take a moment,” he said. “I am sorry to have spoiled your morning.”
She smiled weakly as she reached the door. “And I am sorry your ride led to a near-death experience,” she said. “I will wait until you are ready.”
He lifted his right hand and waved at her. She waved back. The door closed and every man in the room looked at Jareth with a grin.
“God’s Bones, Jareth,” Aidric said. “Orion was right. Kiss that woman already. Marry her already. What are you waiting for?”
Jareth scowled. “If you do not shut your lips, I am going to get out of this chair and throttle you,” he said. “All of you. A woman is a delicate creature, and if your foolishness scares heraway, I will hunt each and every one of you down and make you pay in the most painful way possible.”
Britt started laughing, but Dirk had to tell Stefan what Jareth had just said, shouting it so loudly that Desdra undoubtedly heard it on the other side of the door. When Jareth realized that, he closed his eyes and hung his head as his friends had a good time at his expense.
“Please,” he muttered to Orion. “Just leave the arrow there. Let it kill me, for surely, it would end my humiliation.”
Orion was grinning. “It would take too long,” he said, but quickly sobered up. “Stefan, get in behind him and hold him. Do not let him move. Aidric, grab the shaft. I must go to his back and remove the head. Everyone else, hold him down. He cannot move.”
While everyone took position, Jareth tried not to tense up, knowing what was coming. But knowing Desdra was on the opposite side of the door would keep him quiet. He wouldn’t want her to hear his pain and become frightened. Or, worse still, think he was weak.
“You know it was only by a sheer miracle that this arrow did not strike Desdra,” he said as Aidric took hold of the shaft. “Did you kill those who did this?”
