Saints.
She tried again to go to the village square to watch the stage being built, but the guards once more stopped her, not even letting her cross the moat bridge. So, she watched from the bridge as children carried buckets full of freshly picked maiden roses and wound them into bouquets with ribbon. They waved at her excitedly, beaming to think they were helping prepare for aroyal wedding. Despite her sorrow, she forced a smile and waved back.
The children don’t know any better. They think this is a happy occasion.
“Lady Bryn.” A deep voice from behind her made her jump.
She turned to find Alain, one of the Mir refugees, standing on the other side of the bridge.
Instantly, alarm bells went off in her head, and she glanced around to make sure the soldiers were close by. She’d never had any specific reason to be wary of Alain, but Valenden had warned her that Captain Carr’s spies had infiltrated the refugee group. Any of them could be a traitor.
“Alain, hello to you,” she said, forcing a smile while keeping her distance.
He wore a troubled look. Bryn hadn’t known Alain well when she’d lived in the Mirien. Mam Delice had told her that he was a farrier who helped organize the uprising against her family. So, he was primed to dislike her. Since he’d arrived in the Baersladen, he had only ever treated her with suspicion.
He motioned to the decorations going up in the village square and said gruffly, “I heard there’s to be a wedding between you and Prince Trei. Is it true?”
Still wary, Bryn nodded. In a voice she hoped sounded confident, she said, “Yes, it’s true. Tomorrow evening.”
Alain seemed to consider this information for some time, and then, to Bryn’s surprise, he removed his cap. It was a gesture of respect he’d never given her before. She stared at him in shock.
“When I heard whisperings of the wedding,” he said, “I didn’t believe them. If you’ll excuse me for being so bold, we all know about the nights you spent with Prince Rangar. They say by marrying Trei instead, you’ll consolidate the two kingdoms and bring new leadership to the Mirien; that Prince Trei will rule more fairly, as they do here.” He paused. “I never thought I’d seethe day when a member of the Lindane family made a sacrifice for the good of the Mir people.”
Bryn blinked, not sure what to make of Alain’s words. He was boldly insulting her family’s legacy, yet with good reason. Her parents and Marshaddone terrible things to the Mir common folk. With Trei on the throne, life would vastly improve for her people.
“It’s my duty,” she said, keeping her head high.
Duty over love…
Alain still stared at her like he couldn’t quite believe she would do such a thing.
She sighed. “I know my parents’ rule was tyrannical. At least, I know thatnow. I didn’t at the time, and that was my failing. I was young, but not so young that I shouldn’t have seen the suffering beyond the walls of Castle Mir. I hope you believe me when I say that coming here has changed my idea of what leadership means and that I fully intend to be a superior ruler to the Mir people than my parents ever were. That is why I’m marrying Trei, to make that a reality. Or at least to attempt to do so.”
Alain still appeared a touch suspicious, but he replaced his cap and gave her a more appraising look that, for the first time, bordered on respectful. “If that is truly the case, Lady Bryn, I would be pleased to see you and Prince Trei on the Mir thrones.”
It wasn’t exactly a resounding endorsement, but it was leaps and bounds above how she’d previously been treated by her people. In fact, just a few months ago, Alain might have strung her up in the gallows with the rest of her family.
“I will do right by my people,” she assured him in a confident voice that surprised even herself.
“Aye, I just think you might.” He gave her one more look and once he turned and left, she let out a tight breath. A strange feeling swelled in her chest that she recognized as pride. Afterbeing lumped in with her despotic parents for so long, her people were finally willing to give her a chance. That was all she could ask of them—a chance. She’d have to prove herself to earn their full devotion.
I can’t disappoint them now.
She returned to watching the wedding decorations going up with a mix of emotions, though her mind continued to sweep back to Rangar. He was stationed at the border, probably sleeping in the open woods, eating gruel, fully believing that soon he’d return to Barendur Hold and they’d be married and finally share a wedding bed . . .
She pressed a hand to an ache in her rib cage. It crushed her to think of the lie she was living.
Rubbing the ache in her side, she was about to return to her room in the mage chambers when she spotted Valenden on the far side of the village square. He was near the docks, speaking to a messenger on horseback.
A messenger?she thought with a twinge of suspicion.Who would he be sending a message to?
Valenden handed the woman a letter and after a short exchange, the woman spurred her horse into a gallop, kicking up dust that made the villagers in the square cover their mouths and cough.
Valenden glanced from side to side furtively. Bryn frowned.
He’s up to no good.
His gaze suddenly snagged on Bryn’s. He went still, his face revealing nothing, and held her gaze for a long time before turning sharply and heading out toward the woods.
