“I told you to speak no more of that,” the king said. “Your test failed.”
“But—”
“Enough!”
Silence descended, although only over the small group near me. Farther off, I heard laughter and chat. One of the huntsmen grinned as he snatched Max’s hat off, making the temperature drop until Max managed to grab it back again.
We rode on, passing through a wide, stony glade dotted with wildflowers. Towers of worn rock poked out of the ground like stretching fingers. The morning sun had risen higher in the sky by now, although it did little to warm us. My breath frosted in the chilly air. The wind blew the grasses into undulating patterns that glittered in the light like ocean waves. Overhead, birdlike creatures wheeled through the sky on wings of feather or skin or chitin, shrieking and screaming.
“What is the princess like?” Gervase askedme.
“I—What?”
“The Skallan princess. You are her handmaiden, are you not?” He studied his horse’s ears. “All I know is her name. And that only because your queen mentioned it in her reply to my letter.”
I hadn’t expected the question. It had never occurred to me that Gervase would be just as curious about me as I was about him.
“You needn’t reply if your answer would do discredit to your loyalty,” Gervase said when I failed to respond.
He had taken my silence to mean Princess Melilot was so awful I didn’t want to speak of her aloud.
“Nothing like that!” I said. “I was merely…considering where I should start. She’s, she’s…”
What could I say? What did I know about myself?
“She’s the middle child of three,” I said at last. “And has always felt it. Neither one thing nor the other, not the eldest, not the youngest, just there. Awkward and out of place, like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit.”
After I said it, I wanted to bite my tongue. I wished it came more naturally to describe myself another way—as the most beautiful, the most powerful, the sweetest, or the cleverest.
The king had a thoughtful expression on his face. “I see. I was the youngest child myself. A late arrival. My brothers were too old to be jealous, so they fussed over me instead. And my sister grew used to me, in time.”
“You received all the available attention, then.”
“Oh, yes. So you’re familiar with the way of it. You have younger siblings yourself, I take it?”
“One. She was much indulged by the whole family.” No lonely towers or savage dismemberments for dear Calla.
“Much indulged is a good description of my own childhood as well. My whims and fancies were catered to. I was never expected to take the throne, which meant no one thought letting me do what I wanted would have any consequences.” He exchanged an unreadable look with the huntsman beside him. This time, Gervase was the one who broke it off, turning back to me. “Perhaps your mistress and I can learn to get along, then. I can indulge her where she has been ignored, and she can ignore me where I have been indulged.”
“I’ve heard of worse foundations for a marriage,” I said cautiously. I had also heard of significantly better ones, but I wasn’t sure how much contradiction the king would tolerate from a handmaiden.
He chuckled. “I spoke in jest. For the most part. We might do well by each other, if nothing else. She will receive therespect due to her as a queen. And I, as a king, am no longer able to evade my responsibilities.”
“Perhaps,” the lion grumbled, “you will even start taking your royal counselors seriously.”
Gervase inclined his head in the lion’s direction. “I take heed of your advice, Lion, as generations of kings have done before me.” He smiled thinly. “The court would have a collective fit if I did not.”
The lion sniffed. “As well they might. My wisdom, knowledge, and perception are of a superior nature, tempered by centuries of experience.”
The king’s final offhand remark to me was weighing on my mind. “Do you view your marriage to Princess Melilot as one of your responsibilities?” I asked.
He hesitated a long moment before replying. “My marriage to her was my father’s last wish. I could not, in good conscience, gainsay it.”
“He wanted you to have a magical protector,” I said. “A sorceress.”
He nodded. “The royal family of Skalla is known for its powerful magic.”
“You might have asked for help from elsewhere instead.” The huntsman, who had been silent for so long, had a bitter tone to his voice.
