Page 121 of The Boy Bride

The other thing that acrobat had told him was, “You should really smile, especially when they applaud.” He’d never even tried to follow that advice; what did he have to smile about? But now, with Vanu and his daughters watching, he understood why you might feel like smiling. Vanu whistled. Mikhi whooped. Atari and Susami both gave audible gasps.

Lill jogged down the archery range to retrieve his knives and drop them back into the holster. He ran halfway back and did the trick where he backed up a little further for each successive blade, throwing with alternate hands and increasing amounts of spin. He did a couple of others, ones that the Akramarran crowds used to appreciate. When he finished, stopping only because the sun had sunk below the mountain and the whole range was now draped in shadow, Mikhi and Atari were beside themselves, and even Susami looked seriously impressed.

Vanu put his arms around Lill from behind, pulling Lill back against his chest and kissing Lill’s hair, which was unbraided now and rather tumbled from all the running and spinning of his performance. After a moment’s surprise, Lill leaned back into the embrace, some tension that he hadn’t been aware of relaxing out of him.

“All right?” Vanu whispered, head bent to rest his cheek on the top of Lill’s head.

“Of course. Yes.”

“Thanks for showing us that.”

“That was amazing!” said Atari.

“Incredible!” said Mikhi out loud.

“I used to get my living doing that,” Lill signed. “In Torakand.”

“You mean as a travelling performer?” Atari was delighted. “Like Shanza Firehand?”

Shanza Firehand was a character in The Legend of Prince Batan, a cunning juggler who went on a mission for the prince and received a magical horse as a reward.

Lill grinned and nodded. “Like Shanza.”

“I thought you lived with Lord Davanu in Torakand,” said Mikhi, frowning.

“This was before that,” Vanu signed.

It was what Lill would have said, but to have Vanu say it instead meant one less lie he had to tell. He felt like he was about to cry again. Vanu tucked his arms back around Lill, a comforting weight across his shoulders and chest. For a moment Lill let his eyes fall shut. He felt Vanu laugh gently at something one of the girls had said. Then his eyes popped open as he heard a noise.

“Is that someone knocking on the door?” he asked, turning to look up at Vanu.

“Sounds like.” Vanu frowned.

It sounded like someone pounding frantically on the door. Vanu signed an explanation to the girls and strode back toward the house. Lill ran after him. He caught up inside the house and was beside Vanu when he opened the door to find Gurti and Tirtu outside.

Tirtu was the one who had been pounding on the door. “My lord, there’s trouble,” he said breathlessly. “Serious trouble.”

“There’s been a raid on Sakka,” said Gurti. “Faru is wounded, and Khatu has been captured. Barda came back with the news—he was hurt too. Padunu is tending to him up at the house.”

“What were they all doing in Sakka?” Vanu signed.

Gurti twisted her hands together. “Faru had gone down to see Ganda Dugundu about the raid that they intended to make on Dukka. Khatu had gone down to see the woman who is carrying his child—or so he told me, and I believed him, but seemingly he followed his father into the village to Ganda’s house instead. Barda … told me that he was going to gather mushrooms. Even I did not believe that.”

She drew a shaky breath, obviously holding back tears. Tirtu put an arm awkwardly around her shoulders.

“My lord,” Gurti began, “I know I have no right to ask⁠—”

“You have every right,” Vanu signed. “Your people are my people. Their troubles are mine.”

Gurti’s face crumpled, and she began to cry. She shook off Tirtu’s arm, and he stood there stupidly. Lill, moved by an impulse he didn’t quite understand, stepped out of the doorway and grasped Gurti’s hands in both of his. She squeezed his hands and gave him a tearful smile, which shocked him—as if she was thanking him for doing that small, strange thing that he didn’t even know why he’d done.

Vanu stepped outside too and drew them both into an easy embrace. He patted Gurti on the back and rested his hand on Lill’s shoulder.

“We’ll get Khatu back,” he said. “Where’s Faru?”

Gurti sniffed and let go of one of Lill’s hands so she could wipe her face. “In Sakka. I don’t know how badly he was hurt. Barda couldn’t find that out.”

“I hear you say they were going to raid Dukka?”