: Chapter 63

It’s been two days, and Prince Rhen and his forces have yet to arrive.

By now, there’s little left of the battle in the woods. To avoid suspicion, we’ve begun allowing people down the lane for business at the bakery or the forge. Callyn warns the queen that she’s had much business from nobles due to Lord Alek, so Lia Mara stays out of sight, listening to what’s said. I sit sentry during the day, waiting in the woods, walking a perimeter with Mercy as I watch to see who comes and goes. Grey relieves me at night.

This battle might be over, but there’s a tense aura of a bigger one coming, and all of us feel it. When I change shifts with Grey and walk down to the bakery for dinner, even little Sinna asks me when the war will begin.

The second night, Grey doesn’t appear until midnight. Once he takes watch, I return to the forge, where I learn from Jax that once the sun went down, the king sat in the workshop for hours, asking questions.

“Interrogating you?” I ask.

“At first,” he says, “I was worried that’s what it was. He’s very forthright.”

I laugh without any humor.

Jax hesitates, and his tone turns slow, thoughtful. “He was just … asking. Asking about the people we see, the rumors we hear. He had many questions about Lord Alek and his notes. About Lady Karyl and her guards.”

“Hmm.” I still can’t make all those puzzle pieces fit together. If Lord Alek left a message about an attack on Grey, it never came to pass.

And we haven’t seen Lady Karyl. She wasn’t among the dead.

Besides which, no message has ever mentioned an assault on the queen.

I’m too tired to figure this out tonight. I run a hand through my hair, then rub at my eyes.

“You need to sleep,” says Jax. “Have you eaten? I saved you some boiled eggs. And there’s bread from this morning. Go disarm. I’ll bring you some.”

I’m struck by the calmness in his tone, as if this tiny house is a brief respite from all the tension that swirls in the lane.

Or maybe it’s just a respite from the tension between me and Grey.

But no, it’s not just that. It’s a quiet stillness I usually find when I seek out the infirmary with Noah.

Minutes later, I’ve removed my boots and armor and washed my face. Jax appears in the doorway, a crutch under one arm, and a plate in his opposite hand. He sets the plate on the table by the bed and shifts to leave.

“Where are you going?” I say in surprise.

He gives me a rueful look. “Da’s room. The king was very clear that he expects you on duty at sunrise.”

I’m sure he was. I give Jax a sidelong glance. “We’re a long way from sunrise.”

He laughs under his breath. “You are a scoundrel.” But he doesn’t come closer, and I know he’s worried about whatever Grey said.

I sit on the edge of the bed and draw my legs up to sit cross-legged. “At least keep me company while I eat. I’ve had no one but Mercy all day.”

He considers for a moment, but the king must not have been too scary, because Jax eventually acquiesces, dropping his crutch to the floor to sit cross-legged beside me. It puts our shoulders close, our knees brushing. Despite my reason for asking him to stay, I say nothing, so Jax is quiet, too, and I relax into the silence.

Eventually, the food is gone and the lantern has gone a bit dim, but neither of us moves. His hand is resting on his thigh, and I reach out to thread my fingers through his, slowly, gently, until our palms are almost pressed together, and the warmth of his touch seems to wash over me.

“Prince Rhen should arrive tomorrow,” I say quietly.

He nods drowsily. “The king said the same.”

“I do not know what action they will take.” I hesitate. “It’s likely I will be given new orders.”

Jax snaps his head up to look at me.

“My position at court was precarious,” I say. “It still might be. And if there’s insurrection in the Queen’s Army, Grey may want me to return to the ranks as a soldier.”

I hate the way the idea of new orders fills me with dread. It’s clearly doing the same to Jax.

I should be eager. There once was a time when I would have been.

But I’m not. I squeeze his hand. “It won’t be weeks or months or never, Jax. I promise you.”

Once again, we are back where we started.

I expect him to protest, but he draws a long sigh. “I know who you are, my lord.”

I frown, but he shifts closer, then rests his head on my shoulder. It’s the most endearing thing anyone has ever done, and for a moment, I’m not sure how to react.

Then he lifts our joined hands to press a kiss to my knuckles. “You’re right,” he finally says.

“I’m right?”

He turns his head to brush his lips against my neck. Then his teeth find the skin just below my ear, and I gasp. “You’re right,” he says again. “We are a long way from sunrise.”

I grin. “Now who’s the scoundrel—”

But his hand lands on my thigh, and I discover there are better things to do than talk.

I sleep fitfully and wake early. Duty and obligation have been drilled into me for too long to be cavalier about an order from the king. My goal is to dress in silence, but Jax’s eyes blink open before I’ve even slipped out of bed.

“Sleep,” I say to him. “I’ll be quick.”

He shakes his head and rubs at his eyes. “I’ll make tea.”

But then we hear voices outside, speaking low. The clear sounds of horses.

Jax’s eyes snap to mine.

I reach for my breastplate with renewed speed. “Rhen’s soldiers must be here.”

He watches me work the buckles. There’s a bleak look in his eyes that mirrors the moment I told him I’d be given new orders. “Should I wait inside?” he says. “Or should I join you?”

My fingers go still. Then I smile and reach for the armor he wore on the day he helped us search the bodies. I toss it onto the bed beside him. “Join me, Jax.”

Prince Rhen brought hundreds of soldiers, dressed and ready for battle, with claims that a full regiment stands ready just over the border in Emberfall.

He also brings news that Lord Alek is being held under heavy guard, awaiting the king and queen’s interrogation.

I wish he were being held in the dungeon, but I keep those thoughts to myself and revel in the imagining of it.

After two days of quietly standing guard over the lane, my hours are suddenly full of obligation. I’m sent with Lord Jacob to find the magistrate, who has no knowledge of what transpired with the queen. Later, we’re sent back to the Crystal Palace with a handful of guards, to assess whether the capital city has been taken.

Once there, we discover that there’s little panic. Jake and I seek out Nolla Verin, the queen’s sister.

She’s surprised to see us. “I sent word to Emberfall days ago,” she says. “Lia Mara was to be visiting her Royal Houses with Sinna, but she should have returned before now. I have been quietly making inquiries—”

“She’s in Briarlock,” I tell her. “Near the border. She said that if you were alive and unharmed, you should return with us.”

Her eyes flare at the words alive and unharmed. “I will assemble a team of guards at once.”

I shake my head, thinking of Ander and all the others who betrayed their queen. “You should come alone, and quietly.”

We make it back to Briarlock by early evening, where I find that the king has put Jax to work. The blacksmith has sweat threaded through his hair and soot on his fingers, and he barely glances up from the horse he’s shoeing when I arrive.

“Well met,” he says, and there’s more than a little sarcasm in his tone.

It makes me smile. “I see you’ve been busy, too?”

“Apparently when an army assembles hastily, there’s little attention given to the hooves of its horses.” His hands are full of tools and glowing iron, so he blows a lock of hair out of his eyes.

I reach out and tuck it behind his ear, and that earns me a grateful smile.

“Tycho.” The king’s voice speaks from behind me, and I turn to find him standing with Queen Lia Mara, Prince Rhen, and a half dozen advisers.

I don’t know how I know that orders are coming, but I do.

There are so many things going on that are more important than me, but I can’t stop the clenching tightness in my chest. I think of the moment I punched him in the woods, declaring so vehemently that I wasn’t a child.

As before, if I mean it, I have to prove it.

I stand at attention. “Yes, Your Majesty. How may I serve?”