We play in silence again, round after round after round, until servants bring a pot of tea and a carafe of wine, along with small plattersof biscuits, sliced cheese, honey, and spiced nuts. The room has grown warm as the sun changed angles, and Rhen’s jacket now hangs over the back of his chair. My own sleeves are pushed back. Only Alek is still as buttoned up as he was when we entered this room. We’ve all gathered a small pile of coppers and silver.
The game and the quiet have given me time to think, and most of my indignant fury has bled away, leaving me with nothing but questions. After a while, I can no longer take Rhen’s silence.
I look at Alek. “You followed me when I left the Crystal City.”
“I did.” He doesn’t look away from his cards, and after a moment of deliberation, he puts a copper on the table.
“It’s the only way you could have gotten here as quickly,” I say.
“I didn’t deny it.”
Rhen says nothing. He tosses a coin on the table and deals more cards.
I don’t even look at them. “Why?”
“Because the day I hired that greedy blacksmith, he demanded twice as much silver as was offered. Again and again. And then I found him whispering with the King’s Courier, after I and others had paid for his confidence.” His gaze flicks up from his cards. “You remember, I’m sure. You set me on fire, then went crying back to the king aboutmytransgressions.”
“That’s not what happened.”
He raises his eyebrows. “It’s your bet.”
I make an aggravated sound, then glance at my cards. I have three queens in my hand, and there’s a three on the board already. I toss a silver onto the table.
In that short span of time, his words rattle around in my thoughts.You set me on fire, then went crying back to the king.
For the first time, I wonder if that’s what he believes. ThatIattacked him, when he was the one pinning me to a work table.
It makes me think of Callyn flinching away from me after she learned I had magic.
For one tiny fraction of a second, it rattles my foundation. But I know what he did. I remember how he acted.
“Why do you need to pay for hisconfidenceif you’re not doing anything wrong?” I demand. “There are courier channels all over both countries.”
He surveys his cards, then lazily tosses his own silver onto the table. “If they’re so secure, why do you have a job at all?”
I inhale sharply, but Rhen says, “I believe we can all agree that there are some messages that should not be delivered with the same degree of urgency and surety as a plowman reporting how much he needs a second set of oxen.”
I clamp my mouth shut.
“So you believe Tycho may not be trustworthy?” Rhen says.
“I think it is a telling measure of judgment and character that a high-ranking nobleman would be dallying with a poor laborer who’s shown a willingness to …” His eyes flash with rancor. “Shall we say … to do just aboutanythingfor a few extra pieces of silver?”
I nearly come out of my chair.
“Tycho,” says Rhen, and his voice is quiet. Not a rebuke or an order.
I stay in my seat, but I’m gripping my cards so hard that they’re beginning to fold.
Alek hasn’t moved. Rhen hasn’t moved. I feel hot and cold all over, like I can’t say or do the right thing. My cheeks are surely burning.
I hate this. I hate him.
“I’m not the only onedallyingwith a laborer,” I snap.
“You’re the only one casting a shadow on the integrity of the entire royal family.”
“Only because of your lies.”
