He hears the weight in my tone, and his eyes snap back to mine. “We’ll return to the palace. I’ll have the guards take your horses.” He glances at Malin. “Lieutenant, you will follow.”
Malin is on the ground in a heartbeat. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Grey glances at the sky again, but the magic in the air has fluttered away to nothing. He looks back at me. “Whatever you mean to tell me—should I dismiss these guards and soldiers, or should I be doubling the protection around the palace?”
He sounds a bit cynical, as if he might not be fully serious.
But I think of Nakiis’s warnings. “The latter.”
CHAPTER 22
TYCHO
In the early hours before dawn, the palace is always quiet. I expect to be brought to the royal suites, or maybe to one of the strategy rooms where the king and queen meet with advisers, but Grey leads me and Malin to the east side of the palace. This is generally where high-ranking guests reside, and nowhere near his quarters—or mine either. When we enter a set of rooms, they’re vaguely familiar. It takes me a moment to remember why.
These are the rooms where we stayed when we first came to Syhl Shallow, when Grey had not yet claimed his birthright. I remember the tapestries, most of which are the same, the velvet floor coverings, the heavy wooden furniture, the stone walls. I knelt on the floorjust thereand swore fealty to him, the first person to ever do so.
I cast another glance around. The rooms lookused, like someone has been staying here, but I don’t get the sense that anyone else is present.
I don’t know why Grey would bring us here.
After the way the guards flanked the king on the fields, I’m readyfor them to file into the room, too, but Grey orders them into the hallway. The door swings closed behind them, leaving us alone with the king.
At my side, Malin has been silent and stoic, the perfect soldier in the king’s presence. But I can feel his apprehension now—as clearly as I could feel it when Grey rode across that field. He might not know the stakes, but the tension between me and the king isn’t invisible. It radiates.
Grey gives me a sidelong glance. “You’re beginning to make a habit of riding up to the gates in the middle of the night and causing a panic.”
He’s referring to the time Lord Alek stabbed me, after I defended myself with magic. Mercy brought me back to the palace gates unconscious. A month ago, he would be teasing me with that kind of comment.
Just now, it feels like a rebuke.
“In my defense,” I say, “I did tell the guard captain who I was.”
“She said you threatened to fight your way through the gate.”
“I was running out of options.”
“You’re supposed to be in Emberfall. Until I laid eyes on you, I didn’t believe it myself.” Grey’s eyes skip down my form, taking in the uniform, the signs of battle on my armor. He wants to grill me about all of it, I can tell, and I brace myself.
But his eyes stop on Malin. The king’s expression changes, turning thoughtful. Some of the aggravation slips away. I know what he’s seeing: a young man who’s nearing his limits.
“At ease, Lieutenant.” Grey draws back one of the chairs at the table near the center of the room and drops into it, then gestures to the others. “Sit,” he says to us both.
Malin glances at me, and I think he might not dare to sit if I don’t do it first. If he weren’t here I might have collapsed into a chair before Grey did, so I have no hesitation.
A pitcher of water sits on the table, and the king pours a glass for us both. Malin looks stunned, but I’m not. Despite any friction between us, Grey has always been a good leader.He’s very aware of the people under his command.
It’s part of the reason our conflict stings so much. Either he doesn’t see me clearly at all anymore—or he does, and he doesn’t like what he sees.
I can’t decide which is worse.
“Drink,” he says to Malin. “It looks like you’ve had a hard ride.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Malin obeys like it’s an order, but he must have been thirsty, because after the first sip, he drains the whole glass. “Thank you.”
Grey refills it, then looks between the two of us. “Tycho never rides with a companion,” he says. “Why are you with him?”
I inhale to answer, but the king says, “I was asking the lieutenant.”
