“I-” I stopped. “I don’t want you to be tired.”
“And I don’t want you to be scared,” he said. “Nightmare or not, it feels real when it’s happening. Fear lingers.”
“We’re in a palace full of guards and people, cousin. A hundred other dwellers. It’s downright absurd to be forced to sit out here for hours over a feeling.”
“I’m certain I’m alright,” he said.
“And I am certain that I am fine without a sentry.”
“As am I,” he said. “I’d never bet against you.”
“Great. Then you’re dismissed,” I said.
“If it’s the same, I’ll stay.”
“I-”
“If only in consideration of the Lord Commander’s concern, should I abandon you like this, and for my own rest. He would not approve of such negligence.”
“Negligence. You’re so loyal to his approval that you would defyme?”I asked.
“It’s not defiance, Your Highness. It’s just my nature. Besides, respectfully, if you fall back asleep and are loud enough to wake any one of the other hundred dwellers with the content of your cries—no offense—it’s better I’m here to distract them from it or challenge their accusations.”
A chill ran up my spine. “I must ask, and youmustanswer as youareunder oath to my serviceandmy blood and kin.Whatdid I say, Ser Willoughby?”
He met my stare. “As I said before, you called for Ser Elías.”
“Willoughby!”
He hummed, pressing the back of his head into the stone with a wiry grin. “Svana, dear, sweet cousin, you said a lot of words I know the meaning of apart from each other. I’m sure I’m far too disinterested to string them together coherently.”
“And if you did?” I asked.
“Are you concerned I'll decipher a special meaning to your words?”
“Yes. Please.”
“Then I’ll say, I have been in your service a year now, not just tonight. Take solace in the knowledge that even if I had my suspicions, even if said suspicions were reasonably true and even likely, I’d never reveal them, even under pain of death.”
“...You wouldn’t?” I asked.
“Never.”
“Why not?”
“I respect him too much,” he breathed. “He’s like a father to me.”
I cocked my head. “Elías?”
“Had you spent time with the Viscount, you’d understand.”
I watched him a second longer. “No, I do understand. In fact, I…I know the feeling well. Very well. But?—”
“The Lord Commander is a good man,” Willoughby said. “Most days I pray to be so noble. I pray for his patience and his goodness. If he did something to someone, they deserved it.”
“Elías did nothing,” I hurried.
Willoughby glanced and asked, “Hellveig did, though, didn’t she?”
