I jumped down from the wall, and Finnrey followed.“I suppose I should go home and get ready as well,” she said.
“The banquet isn’t for hours,” I complained.
“It will give me something to do rather than fret about tonight.Mayhap I can convince Riah to allow me to borrow her cosmetics.”
“She’ll be too busy painting her own face,” I said.
She smiled and nodded.“I’ll see you at the banquet.Let’s make sure to sit together.”
“We always do.”Since we were usually seated by age, Finnrey and I were lucky enough to almost always be next to each other.Unfortunately, Riah was usually on her other side, and she was always confused, so Finnrey had to spend a great deal of any ceremonial event explaining things to Riah since Broga just told her she was a dusthead.
As I neared home, I spotted Theud in the doorway.He was not often awake this early, but I supposed everyone in Highcastle was awake this morning.“Where is your mother?”he asked.
“I saw her at the castle just now,” I said.
“Did she find a way to save you yet?”he asked.
I scowled.“I don’t need saving.I won’t be chosen, and even if I am, I can take that puny Zulenii.”
Theud crossed his arms over his wide chest.“He didn’t look so puny to me.”
Theud had a point there.The prince was tall and well-built.If he could fight—and from what I now knew of Zulen, this was a bigif—he might be a formidable opponent.
“Tell your mother I am opening the Queen’s Arms.”
“This early?”
“Everyone will want to talk about the foreigners,” he said.“They might as well do it over a cup of ale.”
I nodded.Theud was a clever man and a good businessman.It was a shame my father would not give permission for my mother to remarry.But then he rarely gave permission for second marriages if the former spouse was still alive.He, of course, was the exception.
“I’ll tell her,” I told Theud.“She’s sending Mikta over.”
He grunted.“Even Mikta can’t fix that bruise on your jaw.”
I would have said something unkind, but he chuckled and walked away before I had the chance.Instead, I went inside and looked about the kitchen for something to eat.I ate half of a stale roll before someone tapped on the outer door.Mikta already?I heaved a sigh, stomped to the door, and flung it open.
Gaz stood in the doorway.
I squeezed the remainder of the roll in my hand until it was mushy.
“Good morning, Lady Mara,” he said.“May I come in?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Polite as always.”Gaz shouldered past me, and I peered out to see if Nize was with him.Gaz and Nize were almost always together.But Gaz had come alone.I turned and leaned against the closed door.Gaz stood in the common area with his arms crossed and his legs braced wide.His hair was a little longer than the short crop he usually wore and slightly damp.His pure dark eyes met mine.“Morll brought the patrol in early this morning.Our tour was almost over, so it’s a reprieve of only a few days.He’s leaving with a full company first thing tomorrow morning.”
I hadn’t forgotten what my mother had said in the meeting the other night about Gaz protecting me.“You have some gall coming here,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and mirroring him.
Gaz’s brows rose in surprise.
“I know you lied about protecting me.My mother let it slip and the king confirmed it.”
Gaz sighed and ran a hand over his neatly trimmed beard.He must have bathed and shaved before he came to see me.“I didn’t lie,” Gaz said.“You wanted to know if the king asked me to protect you.I said,the king never said a word to me about you.That’s true.The king never asked me directly.Morll passed on the order.I assumed it came from the king but never asked.”
Wasn’t a lie by omission still a lie or was I being illogical again?
“Did Morll tell you why I was to receive additional protection?”
