Page 75 of The Boy Bride

Barda looked him up and down in an extremely pointed way.

“Well, you can walk. He must be going easy on you.” He leered.

I said “No” once, and he’s barely touched me since. Impossible to imagine Barda believing that.

“We’re friends, you and I, right?” Barda went on.

Lill looked at him incredulously.

“Yeah, yeah—there was some awkwardness⁠—”

“You tied me up and hung me off a tree branch, threw me through a window—not that it was your idea to do that—you were going to follow your father’s orders and kill me.”

“I wasn’t!”

“Oh. Because we’re friends?”

“Exactly! You remember our first conversation?”

“I do. You jumped on me and pulled my hair.”

“You were sneaking around in the dark.”

“So were you.”

“See? Friends! We have so much in common.”

“We absolutely do not.”

“You’re friends with Khatu.”

“I have had conversations with Khatu that did not involve violence. I would not say we’re friends.”

“We’re having a conversation that doesn’t involve violence right now!” said Barda triumphantly. “And I won’t tell Khatu what you said about not being friends—it’d hurt his feelings. He’s got feelings, Khatu, more feelings than sense.”

“You were going to ask me a favour,” Lill prompted.

“Was I?”

“Yes, you said, ‘We’re friends, right?’ and you were going to follow that with, ‘So I can ask you … ’ whatever it was. Something to do with my husband’s private affairs, I assume. Or have you got a charm for magical fog that you want to teach me?”

Barda snickered in a highly self-satisfied way. “Halza told you about that, hey? I hope you didn’t disillusion him. Oh, you did. Well, that’s all right. It was fun while it lasted. Look, Lill. Is that your whole name, by the way? Is that short for something? Never mind. I know I tried to bully you when you first got here, but I’ve seen enough since then to know you’re not one to be bullied.”

“So you want to be friends instead.”

“I always wanted to be friends! Still wouldn’t mind being a bit more than friends, if you know what I mean—you do, yeah, and you’re not interested, I can see that. No hard feelings. I could tell at the wedding Lord V is the only man for you.”

That, Lill thought, was obviously bait, and he knew better than to take it. He said nothing.

“Yep,” Barda went on with a kind of smug wistfulness, “you’re a one-lion sort of boy, and you found your mate. I can always tell.”

At that, Lill could not stop himself giving Barda a scornful look. The fool just smirked back.

* * *

Once he had those knives, life in Torakand became easier for Lill. He made a target out of a cracked wooden tray that he found discarded behind a cook shop, which he would hang up in the square and throw the knives at. This had always been one of his better skills. People would gather to watch, and enough of them would toss him copper coins or buy him buns from the market vendors that he rarely had to resort to stealing anymore.

Sometimes he could join one of the travelling troupes for a day or two of performing in the squares, and that was even better. He was able to make himself a better target with some wood and paint that they let him use, and he bought himself a better coat. Still none of the troupes seemed inclined to take him on as a permanent member, and he didn’t press the issue.