“You’re not making a fool of yourself. I rather liked it when you told Baron Vannerling to go stick his head in the watering trough if he needed to cool off.”
Lochlan smiles.
“And I could give you a job in the palace,” I add.
“Cleaning privies? No thank you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “The role of King’s Justice is open.”
He stares at me.
“Rather unexpectedly,” I add.
“Shut up, Cory.” He goes back to packing.
“I’m making a genuine offer, Lochlan. I’ve been receiving increasing pressure to name someone to the role, and I need someone I can trust, but who would be willing to stand firm when we differ on matters of importance. I had considered one of my brother’s guards, but I don’t know that they would contradict me when necessary.”
He says nothing to that.
“For example,” I continue, “I’m not sure I could find another person in the kingdom who would say, ‘Shut up, Cory,’ directly to my face.”
He grins. “I bet I could.”
“Exactlywhy you’re perfect for the role.”
He sobers. “I wouldn’t be like you.”
“I don’t want you to be like me. That’s why I’m asking you.”
“What’s the pay?”
I can tell that he’s teasing, but I tell him anyway. He blanches.
Sits down.
I smile and turn away from his door. “Get used to servants,” I call.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Tessa
Six months after we return from Ostriary, life in Kandala begins to go back to normal. Once each sector had a named consul and Corrick was residing in the palace, he had an official coronation, and people traveled from all over the sectors to watch him accept his crown. He turned twenty on the day before his coronation, and there’s a part of me that will always wonder if he deliberately waited, as if he didn’t want to be crowned king at nineteen the way his brother was forced to be.
Like Harristan, Corrick is always busy, always in demand, always talking to someone or reading something or sitting in a meeting. I still see his grief in private, though, and I remember my talks with Olive, the way my grief overhimwould sneak up and hit me when I least expected it. But he lost his brother and his best friend all at once, and I sometimes worry that he won’t recover.
Corrick was right about Erik Rocco, and the first time Olive leaves Kandala to return home, Erik is right by her side. I hug themboth so tightly before they go, and I tell him he’d better be on the ship when she comes back. They’ve been back and forth from Ostriary three times now, always bringing lumber in exchange for steel—since we no longer need Moonflower—and I know Corrick is happy to see that she’s kept Mouse among her crew, because the man refuses to call him anything but Captain Lark.
The last time Olive visited, however, I couldn’t help noticing that she couldn’t keep a single meal in her stomach.
“Olive!” I whisper at her when we’re alone, glancing at her stomach deliberately.
“Hush!” she says. “It’s early yet.” She pauses. “But Erik and Mouse might be making a few runs without me in the spring, if that’s all right. But I’ll be back for your wedding next summer.”
“Of course it’s all right!”
She bites at her lip. “Rian has asked if he might visit while I’m away.”
Well, that socks the joy right out of me. Rian has always looked after his people, so I know he’s been taking care of Ostriary, but the last time he came here, he caused nothing but trouble. “Why?”
