Had he really been so thorny in the past, that those two words surprised Herdan? The older knight was one of Corin’s friends. There was no telling what things his brother might have said tothe man. Niel’s stomach clenched unpleasantly, but he was too hungry, cold, and exhausted to be put off the meal.
Liron
If Corin returned before the army reached Liron, Niel didn’t know. He hadn’t seen any sign of his brother as the army dispersed. Some soldiers had gone to the barracks outside the city, which Niel did not remember seeing before. They must have been erected during the summer, with the beginning of the war. Others had gone to their family homes and villages to rest a few months until the northern passes began to thaw with spring.
It had been a long, brutal week, marching through snow in chains, bracing himself every time someone neared him, never getting a full night’s rest. The sight of Liron’s palace, sparkling in the morning sun, Queen’s banners streaming in the brisk wind, was a cold comfort.
The march was over. Now came the punishment.
He only remembered three visits to Liron. Once, as a squire, plagued by nightmares both sleeping and waking, dragged in his father’s tow to confront a Queen who did not care to listen. A second time, to receive his shield quest from the Queen; she’dchallenged him to find and destroy whatever monster had been preying on men in the villages east of the castle, where three men had been reported missing. He’d expected to find a murderer, but it had been a bahkauv that had come down the river from the mountains. The creature—four-legged, fanged, and serpent-tailed—had been an easy kill after all his father’s training.
And the third time in Liron, plotting for his father’s war, had been to feel out alliances and take the court’s measure at the princess’ tournament.
He’d never come before as a prisoner, in chains. He felt faces staring from alleys and windows as they led him through the city, but with soldiers to either side and the knights before him, Niel could see very little.
He was so exhausted that he felt barely conscious as he was led into the throne room and made to kneel in front of his aunt. Distantly, Niel felt he was in danger. He could see the look in her eyes, like a raging dragon-fire, that his father sometimes had; that even he sometimes had. The tile floor was cold and hard beneath his knees. But it was only one of a long list of complaints. His whole body ached from cold and from the multitude of small, clever bruises the soldiers had left him over the week’s course. He could barely feel his toes. The shackles had rubbed his skin raw even through the layers of clothing, and he had not lain down properly in over a week. His hair was unwashed and tangled, his jaw covered with thick new beard growth that itched constantly. And he was hungry. They’d fed him, but never as much as he wanted.
The Queen came down from the dais slowly, measuring each step dramatically. Apparently, she had wanted a public audience for this, though he knew she usually preferred private ones. His aunt wore a long sleeved red gown, her dark hair braided around the gold crown glittering on her head. Groups of courtiers Niel barely knew clustered in the room’s corners, watching himwith wide eyes and hushed whispers. His cousin Isabel, crown princess of Enar and only a year younger than Niel, remained on the lowest step of the dais, watching with a grimly tight mouth and wide eyes.
“Well, boy?” Queen Maribel asked.
He looked up at her, from where he rested on the floor. Niel could not think of a single thing to say.
“You have betrayed your country, your oaths, and your blood,” she said when he didn’t answer. “You have committed high treason. You besieged your uncle’s city, you stole another nobleman’s castle before killing him, and you declared war against the crown you swore to serve. What do you have to say for yourself?”
There was a long silence in the room. He felt her impatience looming like a long shadow. A small part of him wanted to admit it all, in front of the court. To tell them what Hannes had done, and that their Queen had chosen to ignore it.
But even beaten, exhausted, and hopeless, it was a shame he felt so keenly he could not bring himself to share it. If he could barely tell Ayla, he certainly couldn’t tell a room full of uncaring, spoiled courtiers.
“Well, I didn’t start it,” Niel said at last. “And youknowI didn’t start it. I am sorry about Ironcliff. That was purely for logistics. I’ve no quarrel with my mother’s side of the family. The rest is what it is.”
“Repent, you fool child.”
“I’m not going to beg,” Niel told her flatly. “And if I were, it wouldn’t be to you.”
Her lip curled down unpleasantly.
“Mercy could not save you from the headman's axe if you did. But I will have an apology from your lips if I have to draw it out with hot tongs myself.”
He understood a threat when he heard one, even in his present state, and he glared up at her in defiant silence.
“Your majesty,” Herdan said, with a deep bow. “I have a message from Sir Corin. Might I…?”
The Queen gestured to him. Herdan straightened, approached, and delivered the words quietly. Niel watched as the expression on his aunt’s face shifted from a furious tempest to pure irritation.
“Well, how much longer?” he heard her ask, her voice louder than Herdan’s. The knight responded, and Maribel pursed her lips.
“Your brother wishes to be there when you die,” the Queen said, her voice like ice. “I reward loyalty, Niel. That is a lesson you seem not to have learned.” She stepped back, and looked at the other men instead of at him. “Take him from my sight. To the dungeon. We will continue this later.”
Herdan and Melchior raised Niel back to his feet. His muscles protested, and he stumbled as he rose, the chains clanking. He was too tired to feel embarrassed.
“Come, lad,” Herdan mumbled, so soft Niel doubted the rest of the room could hear it. “Corin wanted time; he’s got it. Let’s see your new quarters. I doubt you’ll like them.” Niel shuffled out between the two of them like a pony on a lead-line.
“Did you tell her he’s at Ashbrin?” Niel asked as they led him down the empty hall towards the stair. His aunt knew why all of this had started. If Bradhan was right, and Corin had gone to Ashbrin, what would she make of it?
Would she still stay an execution until Corin’s return?
“Sorry, lad. My loyalty is with Corin and the crown,” Herdan said. “Perhaps… it’s best we don’t talk, outside necessities.”
