I’m so surprised that they’re here. The last time I saw Lord Tycho, his blood was spilling into the dirt and I was worried he wouldn’t make it home. Now he’s here, and he’s well, and I almost can’t stop staring at him to reassure myself that this moment is real. I’m not quite sure what to say, but I have to saysomething. “What can I offer?”
Lord Jacob turns to look at his companion, and his smile broadens. “Yes, Lord Tycho,” he says. “What can he offer?”
Tycho gives him a shove. “We’re on our way back to the Crystal City. We were going to stop at Callyn’s bakery first,” he says to me, “but she has a line out the door, so we decided to come here.”
They’re friends. Or … something close. A militaristic camaraderie that reminds me of that moment when Tycho hit me in the arm with the arrow. I’m off balance, uncertain how to respond. “Do you need something from the forge?” I glance at Lord Jacob again. “My lords?”
Tycho loses the smile. “Oh. No.” He hesitates, and his eyes flick past me to the glowing forge. “Forgive me. I should have realized we would be interrupting your work—”
“No!” I say. “It’s not an interruption.”
But then I’m not sure what else to say. Maybe he’s not either, because he stands there until an awkward silence builds between us.
“Silver hell,” Lord Jacob mutters. “Tycho mentioned that the last time he was here ended in bloodshed, so he wanted to make sure that Alek hadn’t caused any further … issues.”
“No.” I was more worried about Tycho, but I’m unsure how to voice that. “I haven’t seen Lord Alek since that day. He may have business in town,” I offer, “but I rarely have cause to leave the forge.”
Lord Jacob nods. “That’s what Tycho said, too.” He pauses. “Do you know what his messages might have contained?”
I shake my head quickly. “They were sealed.” I hesitate and try not to squirm under his scrutinizing gaze. There’s a part of me that wishes Ihadbroken the seal, just so I’d have something to offer now. But of course that’s ridiculous, because if I read treasonous messages and passed them on, I’d be headed for the gallows myself. “I never read them,” I say hollowly.
Tycho says something to him in Emberish, his voice low. I don’t catch the words, but the tone sounds a lot likeI told you so.
Lord Jacob nods. “The merchants in town might know something,” he says in Syssalah. He gives me a nod and turns back for his horse.
They’re leaving. I swallow. This … this can’t be it.
But of course it is. I’m not sure what I was expecting.
“Find me later, T,” Lord Jacob says as he swings aboard the gelding. “I’m going to seek out some food and talk to the shopkeepers.”
Tycho hesitates. “You don’t need me to come with you?”
“Nah. We’ve been setting a hard pace. I could use a break. I’ll go lose a few coins at the dice tables, too.” He grins. “Stay here for a while.Get some sweetcakes if the line dies down.” He gives me a nod. “It was nice to meet you, Jax.”
He clucks to his horse, the gelding whirls, and he’s gone.
A cool breeze swirls through the courtyard, pulling smoke from the forge and scattering a few dried leaves along the turf. Tycho stands beside his horse. All the quiet openness from our last meeting is long gone, much like the radiant smile from when he arrived and leaped off his mare.
I don’t understand how I can fearlessly demand coins from a cruel man like Lord Alek, but when Tycho is in front of me, I can barely get it together to say my own name.
“I truly did not mean to be an interruption,” he finally says.
“You’re truly not.”
He smiles, and something about it is a bit bashful. “Want to shoot arrows again?”
His voice is lightly teasing, and I think he really is joking, but now it’s my turn to smile. “I’ll get my bow.”
I enjoy Tycho’s surprise at my bow and my bracer, but that’s nothing compared to when we get into the woods and he sees my targets.
“Whoa,” he breathes. “You’ve been busy.”
“It’s not much,” I say, but I’m pleased. “Just what I can carry.” I have a dozen steel rings suspended from tree branches, set at various locations and distances, as well as scraps of leather that I’ve nailed to numerous tree trunks.
He turns in a circle to see them all. “This is great.” His eyebrows go up when he sees some of the far targets. “That’s quite a distance.”
“I haven’t been able to hit themallyet.”
