Page 48

“Galien,” she began, when the steward stopped her.

“Is in the small hall, my lady.”

She appealed to Oriana, who immediately took charge. “We do not need to refresh ourselves. I will escort her there myself.”

“Galien said nothing of you, my lady,” the steward started, but Oriana cut him off.

“I care little of what my brother said, begging your pardon. Come with me,” she said to Reina. “We will discover the meaning of this.”

Without another word to the steward, Oriana marched through the hall, where servants were just beginning to bring trays of food to those inside. They paid Oriana no mind but did peer up curiously at Reina. She smiled, struggling to keep up with her companion. When they reached a corridor that led to two massive wooden doors, the entrance to what Reina assumed was the small hall, there were two men standing on each side.

“What in the name of St. Oda are you doing?” Oriana asked them.

Apparently it was not usual to find guards at the entrance of the small hall.

In response, one of the men pounded on the door twice with his fist.

“I have never, in all my life,” Oriana began, but then stopped when the door was opened from the inside.

Galien.

It felt as if days had gone by since she saw him last. But Reina had no time to reconcile her thoughts with the expression on his face. Something was, indeed, amiss. He glanced at his sister, then back to her.

“Go inside, if you’d like,” he said to Oriana. “But I would speak with you first, Reina, before you go in.”

“Galien,” a loud, deep voice called from inside the doors. “Bring her in.”

Reina’s heart leapt. What was the meaning of this?

“Galien?” she asked. “What is happening?”

She searched his face for clues. And though she’d spent much time with him of late, this was an expression she’d never seen on him before. What, precisely, was going on?

And then the door opened wider.

Nay, ’twas not possible. She stumbled backwards.

How could this be?

“Father?”

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She looked to him.

Galien wanted to comfort her. To embrace her. To hold her. Tell Reina all would be well. To scream what he’d learned that day from the castle walls. But too much was happening all at once. His own father called for them from inside the room. Reina’s father watched in horror as his daughter looked at him with shock and a measure of disgust.

Galien moved to her, to stand by her side. And whispered, “It is all well, Reina. Trust me.” And then called into the small hall, “We will be a moment.” To the guards he said, “We will guard the doors. I’ll call for you when needed.”

Without hesitation, both men scurried away, toward the hall. His sister, however, refused to move.

“Oriana—”

“I stay.” She moved to Reina’s other side while he closed the doors, leaving Reina’s father to begin his explanation. One Galien still could not quite comprehend.

He’d not recognized two of the men with Wallace, but thought nothing of it at first. They were hooded, but even so, he had not questioned them. If they were companions of William, then they were welcome here. It was only when Galien’s father escorted them all to the small hall—Wallace’s visit would not go unnoticed, but neither did they wish for his presence to be witnessed by everyone at Brockburg—and when the men finally took down their hoods that he became uneasy.

There was something familiar about him. Not nearly as tall as Wallace, though most men were not. Though similarly unmarked, he was of Galien’s own father’s age. His black and grey beard, neatly trimmed. Galien had felt an instant kinship with him for the scar that ran from his ear down to his cheek. More prominent than his own, but similar for its path.