Good, I think, as I shiver in the chill. Tessa was smart. This is already risky enough. My heart settles a bit.
A second later, the door bounces open behind me, and a cloak is thrown over my shoulders. “Honestly. If you’re not careful, you’ll catch your death of cold and you’ll miss your chance at seeing him.”
I’m anxious now, so my answer is just as peevish. “I don’t see how that’s possible with you constantly throwing clothes and blankets on me.”
Quint’s eyes flash my way with feigned annoyance. I reach up to brush snowflakes out of his red hair, and the annoyance is replaced with a smile.
Miller, I think.Not Quint.
But I can’t get used to it. Even after six months, I don’t want to call him by any other name. I might be accustomed to Sullivan myself, but Quint . . . ?will always be Quint.
“We must be formal,” I warn. “We do not know who might be in attendance, and we cannot risk giving ourselves away.”
“You’re cautioning me?” The annoyance is back. “I am not the one who chose to send a letter directly to thepalace.”
“It’s not as if I signed it,” I snap. “No one is watching for letters from a long dead king.”
We’ve been arguing about this for a week.
But then the carriage is drawing to a stop, the horses throwing up slush, and to my absolute amazement, the two palace guards who’ve driven the carriage are Thorin and Saeth.
As soon as they see us, they do a double take. Then Saeth grabs Thorin’s arm. His eyes are wide.
“You’re a ghost,” he whispers.
“No,” I say. “Just lucky.”
They move to climb down from the front of the carriage, likely to do their duty and open the door, but I don’t have the mettle to wait any longer. I stride right up and open it myself.
Then I find myself facing my brother, the king.
The shock in his face is so pure. The wonder. The relief. He’s frozen in place as if he’s afraid to move, as if he’s afraid toblink, his hands braced on either side of the doorway. I’m frozen as well, because I haven’t seen him since the moment he got on that ship toOstriary. He’s so familiar and so different all at once, and I can’t stop staring at him. Our breath fogs in the air between us.
Then I reach out to rough up his hair the way I did when he was a boy. “It’s all right, Cory.”
He practically falls out of the carriage to give me a hug. His arms are so tight against my back that I can feel his heartbeat. His breath shakes, just a little, but so does mine.
I grip him back just as tightly. “I missed you, too,” I say. “It’s been so hard to stay away. Quint—ah,Miller—has been after me for sending the letter in the first place. But I had to tell you.”
He draws back to look at me. He says absolutely nothing, but then he hugs me again.
I hug him just as tightly. “Wecango inside,” I say. “If it pleases you, Your Majesty.”
I’m partially teasing, partially not, and he pulls back again. He’s holding me at arm’s length, his eyes searching my face as if he still can’t believe it. “There’s a part of me that wants to punch you, you know.”
“I do know,” I say. “And I’m sorry.”
Tessa moves close, and she sets a hand on his arm. “And there’s a part ofhimthat deserves it.”
That seems to strike Corrick like an arrow, because he frowns and pulls back farther. “I do.” But then he grabs Quint in a hug as well, but only for a moment. He draws back and gives him a look. “When I told you to take care of my brother, I’ll have you know that this isn’t quite what I had in mind.”
Quint smiles, looking a bit too pleased with himself. “We were sharing a house together. I simply couldn’t help it.”
Corrick smiles in return, but I don’t. I made mention of Quintin my letter to my brother, of course, but this is one thing that I’ve wondered about for the better part of a year.
“There were so many things I never discussed with you,” I say to him. “Were you very surprised?”
“Surprised?” He takes a step back, regarding me. “Of course not. Quint could charm a brick wall into lively conversation.”
