The woman he’s talking to has to be in her sixties, with grey hair and broad shoulders. I’m immediately reminded of another person of a similar age: Grenda, one of the most formidable Rettlings in the whole Retterheld. And she might have even won it, too, had Zara not ended her life the instant the Ofur – the final Retterheld trial – started.
‘What the fuck amIdoing here?’ Ryne replies. ‘What the fuck areyoudoing here?’
Kyor embraces the woman, pulling her fully into him as he slaps her on the back. When they break away, his smile is still in place despite his slight wince at his shoulder pain. ‘I thought Father assigned youup north?’
Her eyes dart around her. ‘Yes, well, I was posted at the Torailian border – fuckers trying to push into our land again – but I got some news that Arle might be in Galreck. And after Zelle, you know … I requested a transfer.’
Arle. Fuck. That makes me even more nervous than the thought of encroaching Torailians.
For the first time since seeing her, Kyor’s smile fades, and it’s not hard to work out why. Even though I’m not involved in the conversation, I feel the weight in my chest. So that explains his closeness with Ryne then. They are bonded by a love for Zelle.
‘Arle? Here?’ Kyor says with a frown. ‘Are you sure?’
‘If the rumours are to be believed. I mean, how many big guys with one eyebrow and a star-shaped scar on the cheek do you get? Some say he’s here to meet the money. Could be just what we need to blow the whole thing to kingdom come.’
The knots in my stomach reach a new level of tension, and Kyor lets out a low whistle. ‘If he’s here … if I get my hands on the bastard …’ His hands flex and he doesn’t need to finish the sentence for me to hear the threat at the end of it.
‘Sorry, who’s Arle?’ I ask. Even though I already know the answer, Kyor doesn’t know I know.
Keeping everyone’s secrets is hard work.
Kyor jerks suddenly, as if surprised to find me there, but his expression is nothing close to Ryne’s, whose eyes almost bug out of her head.
‘Lady Rose Kultavaris,’ she says, her voice a hushed whisper. She bows to me. ‘The gifted. It’s an absolute honour to meet you.’
My cheeks warm, and I wonder if there will be a time when it doesn’t feel uncomfortable to hear my name said in that way.
She looks at me with such awe. As a knight, she probably knew people like Grenda, who entered the Retterheld and didn’t make it out alive. She surely knows how fierce the other knights were, and knowing that I won over them appears to have given me Gods-like status in her eyes. Which is crazy because I’m anything but.
‘Hi,’ I say, lifting my hand in an awkward wave.
‘I thought you had returned to court,’ she says. ‘Rumour has it that you’ve moved back into your family’s home.’
‘My sister is there now,’ I say, wishing I had just kept quiet and not drawn attention to myself, but it’s too late for that. ‘With her new husband,’ I say. ‘I’m visiting different cities. To go to their temples and give thanks to Etta.’
‘How very pious of you,’ she says, her eyes whirling towards Kyor. ‘And you are with her as … a guard?’ She lifts one eyebrow.
‘No,’ he grunts. ‘If there is one thing Lady Rose does not need, it’s a guard. She can take care of herself.’
His unabashed praise warms me, and I hate that.
Kyor continues, ‘I’m on my way to the Hirathean Pass to take command, but en route I am making my atonement to Etta for playing fast and loose with the laws of the Retterheld. Travelling with Rose is merely … expedient.’
‘Of course.’ Her lips twist. ‘I can’t say I was surprised to hear about that. Never been one to play by the rules, have you, Commander?’ Her voice is warm, affectionate. ‘It’s always been about the endgame with you. The result is what counts, no matter the means.’
There’s a slight colour to his cheeks and an ease about him I haven’t seen around anyone since Zelle. It makes my heart hurt.
‘If you’ve been out of touch,’ Ryne murmured to Kyor, eyes going wide in realisation, ‘you won’t have heard the good news!’
‘Which is?’ he asks, his eyebrow quirking.
‘Just a few days ago, apparently, we found it! In the Eastern Isles, just like we thought!’
She beams at him, and he lets out a relieved laugh and picks her up and swings her around. ‘Thank the Gods!’
He winces as he sets her down back on her feet, but despite his pain, both of them are grinning, and I don’t like being ignorant of something that has clearly brought so much joy and relief.
‘What did you find?’ I ask.
