‘Careful, Commander.’
‘What would you have me do to the young defender who’s excelled in his role from day one? Want me to cut off a few fingers? Lock him up? Make sure next time we face sea warriors together he doesn’t care if I live or die?’
‘You are commander of that borough. You will think of something. We are near the end. Do not lose faith in the plan now.’
‘I didn’t have faith in the plan to begin with.’
‘There is very little food left in the borough. Survival will beat secrecy. Someone knows who killed the king. And if that person has any decency, he will turn himself in before more people start to die. We are reaching the tipping point. That is why you must deal with Thornton.’
Harlan watched his father leave the mess hall before shoving his bowl away.
‘Everything all right?’ Astin asked, returning to the table.
Harlan rose and shook his head. ‘Nothing’s right in this fucking place.’ With that, he left the mess hall and went in search of Roul.
He found the defender on the port wall, looking out at the merchant borough. He stood to attention when Harlan approached.
‘At ease, defender.’ Harlan stopped in front of him, eyes going over the wall to where a man lay in the street. ‘Is he dead?’
Roul nodded. ‘They’ve been stepping around him all morning. Seems too soon for this kind of thing, doesn’t it? Easy to forget that they were already starving long before we closed the gates.’
Harlan blinked away the image of Blake lying in the street, her sisters too weak to move her. He had not thought about where they would put the dead—and there would be more. His eyes returned to Roul. ‘The warden tells me you’ve been giving mussels to merchant children.’
Nothing changed on Roul’s face. ‘Yes.’ There was no remorse in his voice.
‘I don’t want to stand here and tell you to stop, but you’re no good to anyone locked in the tower.’
Roul nodded and looked down at the corpse again. ‘I became a defender to protect the people in this kingdom, not contribute to their suffering. Now we have children caught up in games they don’t understand living with consequences they don’t deserve.’
Harlan ran a hand down his face and swallowed. ‘You’re a good man, but I need you to be discreet. If I don’t discipline you, then someone else will.’
Roul frowned. ‘This lockdown is a mistake. I think you know that. It’ll be one of those points in history we’ll look back on with shame.’
It was like having a mirror held up to him. Harlan had no choice but to look at himself. Not liking what he saw, he stepped back. ‘That’s all, defender. Back to work.’
Chapter 37
It was week four of lockdown when Blake saw Harlan again. He was watching her from atop the wall. She could not read his face from that distance, but she felt his mood. It was as dark as her own. She could tell he needed something from her, but by the time she wandered over, he was gone. The only evidence he had been there was a note sitting on the ground. She bent to pick it up, unable to wait until she got home to read it.
Come back when it’s dark. Signal with a whistle so you aren’t waiting around drawing attention.
Blake did not tell her family about the letter as she did not want to get their hopes up. After dinner, she told them she was going for a walk to get some air.
I’ll come with you, Eda signed.
Blake shook her head. ‘It’s too cold out. Stay here.’
She returned to the same spot she had found the note and whistled softly. A noise behind her made her turn, and for one naive moment, she thought Harlan had come in person.
But he was not there.
A white linen parcel tied with string landed in the mud a few feet away. She ran to it, grabbing it off the ground and tucking it inside her cloak. Only then did she lift her gaze, expecting to find the wall empty. But there was Harlan, leaning on the embrasure, looking straight at her. She took a few steps back from the wall so she could see him better. They could not speak or do anything that would draw attention to them. So they just… looked.
She wanted so badly to hear his voice, touch his stubbly face, to glimpse a rare smile.
When Harlan straightened, her chest pulled. She was not ready for him to leave. But he was not leaving, he was looking at something. He was looking behind her.
She turned and found three men around her age standing there.
