“What are you doing,Sean?”
“Just thinking,” Seanreplied.
“You look like you are doing some heavy thinking,” Ethansaid.
“What happens when the Queen selects a new man?” Seanasked.
“We welcome him. We accept him. We take care of himtoo.”
“But, does she replace one of us?” Seanasked.
“No. She did not replace anyone with you,” Ethanexplained.
“Okay, good. I have nowhere to go if she were to replace me. I thought that if she did replace me that I could ask Sir Klyn if I could stay and just tend to the stable and carriages. I could even sleep theretoo.”
“Sean, you are not sleeping in the stable. You have a place with us. You are one ofus.”
Ethan pulled Sean off the ground, and they headed to the stable. I purposely did not say anything to Klyn, but I knew what wascoming.
“As you were saying, my Queen,” Klynprodded.
“Shut it. I will remind the gentlemen tonight that they have nothing to fear,” Ipromised.
“And?” hepried.
“And you were right,” Isighed.
Klyn said no more on the matter, but a proud smile was draped across his face. Our walk continued, and he brought up thepageant.
“We have looked into all of the young men that have signed up to enter the pageant so far,” Klynoffered.
“Very well. Anything that I should be concerned about or know?” Iinquired.
“Thankfully, the ten places filled quickly, and we had enough time to look into the gentlemen. Of the ten who have entered, nine of them check out with one wild card. They are all healthy. There is a blend of economic and social statuses among theentrants—”
I interrupted Klyn, suddenly concerned about whatever he meant by a wildcard.
“What is a wild card? What do you mean by that?” I askedhim.
“It means he is somewhat of an unknown. We have tried looking into him and his background, but it has been somewhatdifficult.”
“Why?”
“He seems to have no footprint. He istransient—”
“Klyn, Sean was transient too. But you were able to look into him,” I remindedhim.
“It was a bit easier with Sean. He was a very young man. He traveled to Drishane with his father. I spoke with his father before his passing. I will admit that while we could not locate much on Sean’s prior time in Stonebridge, I always had a good feeling abouthim.”
“Do you have a good feeling about this year’s entrants?” Iasked.
“All but the one, as I mentioned. It is not that I feel something is wrong with him, I simply do not have enough information onhim.”
“If you have no solid evidence that can point to a reason for concern, then you should not rule him out,Klyn.”
“Octavia,” Klyn stopped walking and took hold of my forearm. “Your safety is my number one concern and priority. It has been that way for over two hundred years,” he said and smiled. “If I do not feel completely at ease with an entrant, regardless if I have anything on him, then that concerns me. I simply cannot get a read onhim.”
I found this a little peculiar because Klyn has always been a very good judge of people. But I will admit that I found it odd that he could not say anything good, nor bad, about an entrant. I was pretty sure I knew which entrant he was talking about, but I had to besure.
