“Take care of yourself,” she said. “And come home soon.”
“You don’t think I should run as far as I can, as fast as I can?” I asked. “Maybe cross the sea? Or find a nice deep cave to hide in?”
She considered. “The kingdom of rabbits is surprisingly well protected. But you’d have to marry a rabbit.”
“I’ll take a pass on that one, then.”
“We’ll talk to the queen,” Liam said. “Maybe we can convince her to go easy on you.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t optimistic.
“I hope she kills you,” the mirror muttered from his belt. “If she doesn’t, I will. I’ll shatter on your floor and stab your toes with my shards. In death, I shall have my revenge.” Similar dire pronouncements had issued from it nonstop since the battle, so it had been generally agreed that the mirror should be taken to Skalla and added to my stepmother’s collection. I wished them joy of each other.
The dragon reared up, causing a minor panic on the castlewalls. “Time to go before they start pelting us with arrows again,” Jonquil said. “No one wants a restless fire-breather lingering about.”
“I could stay here,” Gnoflwhogir offered. “In case anyone else wishes to murder Melilot. I can murder them first.”
“I couldn’t possibly part you from Jonquil for so long,” I insisted hastily. Fortunately, she acquiesced without further comment, and soon they all departed on dragonback.
In the weeks that followed, when not preoccupied with medical care, I spent much of my time with Sam, who had made a full recovery. In fact, after enough time had passed that I judged my patients were all healing nicely and capable of surviving my absence, Sam and I sequestered ourselves in the first empty room we found. I was pleased to discover that after everything we’d been through, whatever reservations he’d held about sharing a bed before marriage were long gone.
We did not emerge for a day and a half. Except once.
“Where are you going?” Sam asked when I started putting my clotheson.
“I’m going to filch a better mattress from the women’s wing. We’re going to want to sleep sometime, and straw bedding won’t make that easy for me.”
“There’s been little enough sleeping so far.”
I smiled. “We can’t keep doing this forever.”
“Hm.” He brushed his lips across my neck, and I considered taking my clothes right back off again. “We’ll see.”
When we came up for air, I was prepared for disapproval from the Tailliziani—I had a response ready involving peculiar foreign customs—but to my surprise, there weren’t any comments. Well, none aside from Clem expressing surprise we hadn’t made ourselves too sore to walk. I wondered if the pair of us were so far outside the local expectations that we had become effectively invisible—if they did not know what to make of us, so they elected not to make anything of us at all.
Change came slowly to Tailliz as the weeks turned into months. The refugees began to decamp back to the village, one small boat at a time launched from the end of the broken bridge. Meanwhile, stonemasons, engineers, and architects had assembled to begin repairs. Preparations for the royal wedding were also underway, albeit with a different bride. The wedding date was delayed to allow a suitable period of mourning for Princess Angelique. Gervase donned black and spoke little of her. No one discussed the fact that his bride-to-be had slain his sister.
The reforms Gervase introduced to fulfill his promise to Jack caused upheavals in the court. But Jack had not been mistaken about the loyalties of the troops. They would hear no word against her or the other hunters, and the nobles found themselves compelled to support the continued leadership of General Jacqueline, along with the knighting of the rest. Thus Detachable Leg became Sir Harriet, The Nose Blower became Sir Katherine, Hat On Ear became Sir Maxine, and so on. Sam simply became Sir Sam, and Clem insisted on being Sir Clem and said she would put an arrow “richt in th’ lug” of anyone who called her Clementine.
I hoped it would not be long before any ill feelings about them were overcome by the obvious benefits they offered. Tailliziani shipping would surely profit from a knight who could generate wind at will, and the kingdom’s architecture was already demonstrating the advantages of somewhat larger windows. But prejudice is not subject to common sense, so I supposed only time would determine which of the two would win out. If I were a betting woman, though, I’d have wagered on the outcome that favored the hunters.
One holdout for the old ways of Tailliz was, unsurprisingly, the lion. His complaints were relentless, and he interrupted every council meeting to air them. Which meant the few I was invited to, as a sort of general consultant on magic, dragged onendlessly. At least I was permitted to attend. The ban on women in the Great Hall had been one of the first rules to be disposedof.
“Haven’t you read chapter fifty-seven?” he moaned for what must have been the twentieth time. “This proposal is directly contradicted by footnote seventeen!”
After several weeks of this, Gervase had reached the limit of his patience. “Then your book is in need of revision!” he snapped.
The lion tottered up to the throne, one of his forelegs still wrapped in a cast that smelled of piss and onions; he insisted on being treated by the chirurgeon. “In need of revision?” He peered at the king. His lost spectacles had not yet been replaced, so he thrust his muzzle close.
Gervase drew back from the lion’s breath as politely as possible. “If reality opposes your book, then clearly it is your book that—”
“Are you,” the lion rumbled, “commissioning a second edition?”
The king paused. “I…suppose?”
“Well, I don’t know if I really have the time.” The lion’s eyes were agleam with excitement. “That would require a great deal of work. But I have accumulated new material over the years, and I suppose theories must be reexamined now and again. Perhaps I was overhasty in declaring humans a species of spider. They may be somewhat closer to frogs….” With a three-leggedleap, he sprang past the astonished nobles, presumably to begin work immediately.
“Frogs,” I said. “Why? Because the humans who croak the loudest receive the greatest rewards?”
