He rounded a corner and nearly plowed into a man who was waiting for him with outstretched hands. The man stumbled back but regained his balance as he cried, “Champion Havtru, a word! Please!”
Havtru paused. The man looked familiar... “Have we met?”
“Unlikely. I’m only a woodsman. Renet’s my name. But... you know my wife. Former wife. Future wife again, I hope, if she’ll have me. But even if she won’t... She’s the mother of my children. Please, Champion Havtru, I know you came from the Council of Champions. Has there been any word from Queen Naelin? Are my children... That is, I’ve heard rumors...”
I do know him. Or who he is. Poor man.He thought of Queen Naelin’s plan to save the people of Semo and Aratay.How do I tell him his former wife is about to risk her life?
“You have! Is she...” Renet’s voice cracked. He ran his fingers through his hair. He looked, Havtru thought, as if he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“I’m about to leave for Semo,” Havtru said. “If you’d like me to deliver a message to her, I can do that for you.”
It was the least he could do.
He thought of his own wife. What he wouldn’t give to send one last message to her!
“Take me with you!” Renet cried.
Havtru drew back. He couldn’t do that. He had specific orders, and they didn’t involve transporting civilians across the border. “I’m sorry, but—”
“The rumors say my children are there, and she’s gone to save them,” Renet blurted out. “But she’s not going to come back. I know it. I know her. She thinks this is her final act, saving our children, and I can’t... I can’t lose her. My children can’t lose her.”
Havtru hadn’t had children. He and his wife had talked about having them, but the time was never right. Wait a while longer, she’d say. After the next harvest, he’d say. Next season, she’d promise. One more year, he’d say. And then there was no more time. She was gone, taken from him in an instant by spirits who should never have attacked his village. He’d survived only because Champion Ven had arrived, and he’d survived after that only because Ven had given him a new purpose in life.
But he’d never forgotten his old life.
It occurred to him that regardless of the truth of any rumors, if he brought Renet, it would be a perfect excuse for his trip north. Queen Daleina didn’t want it known that she didn’t trust Queen Merecot, but if he was there escorting the queen’s husband to see his wife... “All right. You can come. But we leave tonight.”
Renet blubbered his thanks.
Havtru hoped he didn’t regret this.
Chapter21
Ven didnotlike this plan.
He strapped his armor into position, tightening it too far and then loosening it. Glaring at himself in the mirror, he thought,I won’t be able to protect her.No matter how many weapons he brought with him, how many blades he slid into his boots, how many bows he put in his quiver. He wasn’t to be allowed into the grove.
“You’re angry,” Naelin said behind him.
She was already dressed: a simple white gown and the crown of Aratay on her head. A servant had braided her hair into some complex knots that made Ven wonder how many blades he could hide within it. Sure, she had her power to protect her, but Merecot was powerful too. And in the moment when Naelin abdicated her hold on the spirits of Aratay, she would be at her most vulnerable. Merecot would have full control of all the spirits of Semo, and the two women would be alone in the grove, without him.
I hate this.
“I’m not angry at you,” he told her. “I’m angry at the spirit-damned tradition that keeps me from going in with you. You’d think in unusual circumstances tradition could be bent.” If the champions had accompanied the heirs on the day Daleina had been crowned...
“Merecot has Erian and Llor, so she makes the rules. But in this case, it’s not just her rule. It’s the spirits—they view the grove as sacred. Only the queen and her heir may enter.” She held up a hand, stopping him before he could object. “I know you went with me to the Aratayian grove, but this is Semo. Different grove, different spirits. Besides, I think it’s best not to agitate the spirits before I do this, don’t you? They’re already agitated enough.” She was speaking evenly and brightly, as if he were a child about to pitch a fit.
“Stop that,” he told her.
She furrowed her brow. “Stop what?” A hint of the anxiousness she had to be feeling crept into her voice.Good, he thought.She shouldn’t be calm about this.Alert and afraid was the best way to be. The best way to not die.
“You can say what you want to me,” Ven said. “You don’t need to protect me by pretending to be all right.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I love that about you.” She flopped into a nearby chair, another carved stone monstrosity smothered in pillows.
She loves me, he thought. This was the second time she’d said the word “love.” He realized he was grinning foolishly and tried to hide his smile within his beard. She’d said the words so casually, as if it were a matter of course, which made it feel even more true.
“You can still back out of this. We can find another way. Rescue Erian and Llor, and flee.”
