Valiant (19 page)

“What’s happening here?” Lord Verras stood in the doorway, coatless, his sleeves still rolled up. He was furious, but he held the anger outside him, as if it was a wildcat on a leash.

I stood straighter just to see him.

“I was explaining to Miss Gramton what the king requires of her.”

“I asked the king,” said Lord Verras.

Leymonn’s face turned red. “You serve
me
, the advisor to the king!”

“I serve the
king
.” Lord Verras stepped into the room. “What is this, cousin?”

King Eldin flushed. “Who are you to ask what I am doing, Galen Verras? You remain in the castle only because someone must give Leymonn the information he needs.”

Leymonn chuckled. “And yet I couldn’t find you when I wanted to ask about this duke. I shouldn’t have to send Pergam to fetch you.”

Lord Verras’s eyes flitted from the king to Leymonn, then to Will and me. He tilted his head. “I apologize. When I heard the boy cry out, I was alarmed. But, of course, you wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Never,” said Leymonn. “Miss Gramton is already looking out for him. In fact, she was just leaving on an errand.”

“I’ll go out on the balcony again.” I hoped Lord Verras understood every word I wasn’t saying. “I wonder, though, if Will would be more comfortable if he was set down. The guard isn’t gentle.”

“I’ll take him,” said Lord Verras.

“No,” Leymonn moved to block him. “You
won’t
.”

I folded my arms.

Leymonn understood my message. “Perhaps … you can escort the guard as he carries the boy to his new room, one closer to His Majesty’s. King Eldin enjoyed this visit and would like to see him again, I’m sure.”

Lord Verras looked at the king, who nodded. I wanted to wrench Will out of the guard’s arms and hide him far away from giants and the castle politics that used him like a plaything. But I stood there, silent and limp as the knight doll that lay on the floor.

“I’m scared,” whispered Will. Not once, in all the time I’d known him, had I ever heard him speak those words. He shot a look at Leymonn and added, “Of the giants.”

King Eldin had been fiddling with his cuffs, but he sat straighter at the boy’s comment. Lord Verras cupped Will’s face in that way that men have, his palm close to Will’s ear, his fingers curled behind the boy’s neck. I wished I’d thought to hold Will so. I’d been so afraid to touch him, afraid it might betray my secret.

“There isn’t a person here who isn’t scared. It shows you have sense, that you can see what’s coming. But if your heart is as strong as I think it is, you’ll remember those who care about you. And you won’t let the fear run you.” For a moment, Lord Verras looked at his cousin, but the king would not meet his eye. Lord Verras sighed and looked back to Will. “Fear will try to chase you down—like hounds after their prey—until you
are too tired to run anymore. You can’t let that happen. When the time comes, you’ll have strength to do what you must.”

Will stared at Lord Verras, his brow pinched. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’ll know.”

Will’s shoulders relaxed. He gave the tiniest of nods.

Leymonn picked up the knight doll, and tossed it in the air. “You should go now before the boy gets tired.”

“His name is Will,” I snapped.

“Before
Will
gets tired. And you should do what the king asked of you, Miss Gramton.” He smiled. “You should do it now.”

I turned to leave, but looked at Will one last time. I was afraid to touch him, afraid to let Leymonn see how much I loved the boy. “You rest, do you hear me?”

He nodded.

I reached into my apron pocket and gave Lord Verras Will’s tunic. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He nodded, almost imperceptibly. “Of course.”

As I left, I heard Will. “Thank you, Sir.” My heart lurched to hear Will’s name for me, and I blinked the haze from my eyes. “I had a good time here with you and the king and the knight you gave me.”

H
alf an hour
later, I was dressed in the clothes I’d never wanted to wear again. I tugged at my cravat and paced the room outside the balcony, rehearsing the lines Leymonn had given me. I ached to tell the people the truth:
There is no champion, there is no plan. The king is weak, and Leymonn? He will do nothing to save you
.

I stopped and looked around. The room was filled with Leymonn’s cronies. They weren’t the men who had guarded the king when I’d first visited the court, the quiet men who watched his every move. These new guards milled about, muttering among themselves.

And then Leymonn entered and the castle guard watched
him
. He approached the king and bowed.

“It’s time,” said Leymonn.

King Eldin walked out onto the balcony.

“People of Reggen!” Immediately the clamor in the courtyard quieted to an uneasy murmur. “An enemy … a great enemy has threatened our city. You have seen his riders. You have seen him.”

I stood behind the king, hands clenched. His voice was so small. Reggen deserved better.

King Eldin straightened, like a puppet whose string had been yanked. “But you have also seen what one of your own can do against his giants! I give you …” Thunderous shouts and applause. King Eldin swept an arm toward me, finally finding his voice. “… our champion, the tailor of Reggen!”

I’d been given my father’s name: Tailor. My stomach turned just to hear it.

In a heartbeat, Leymonn was at my side and mouthed one word:
Will
.

I walked out onto the balcony.

The crowd went silent. Every face was turned toward me. Then I imagined giants as tall as the city walls, moving through the crowd, great boots stomping these people. They shouldn’t die just because the duke wanted the city and the king didn’t know how to defend it.

The people wanted comfort. I closed my eyes and remembered what Lord Verras had just told Will.

“I know you are scared.” I didn’t shout. I didn’t need to. My voice carried across the courtyard.

Leymonn coughed behind me. This wasn’t what he’d given me to say. I didn’t care. The people needed to hear it.

“I know you fear for your homes, your families, and your lives. Only a fool would say there’s nothing to fear. But I ask you not to panic, for the duke will do everything he can to frighten you. Do not let your fear give him this city. Stand strong these next few days. I will do everything I can to help Reggen. The duke and his giants do not know what awaits them.”

Neither do we
, I thought.

I leaned out over the balcony and said it one more time: “Stand strong.”

A roar rose up around me and the crowd began chanting,
“Stand strong! Stand strong!”

I bowed once, the way I had when I’d first stood before the city, and then stepped back into the shade of the castle. The people needed courage, but the words I’d spoken tasted bitter as bile.

We had no defense against the duke and his army.

I did not return to Princess Lissa’s suite until the next morning.

The moment she saw me, she dismissed Nespra and Kara. “Leave us. I wish to speak with Saville.”

The girls scurried away, and I braced myself for the princess’s displeasure.

“So you’ve decided to return,” she said.

Did she have no idea what was going on?
If I’d had a sword, I would have drawn it; I was that angry. Instead, I marched to her chair and … dropped into a curtsy. Perhaps she wouldn’t kill me if I observed that one nicety.

“You needed someone to read to you. Lord Verras—the only man who defended you against the duke’s claim—needed someone to help him attend to his dead rangers. He needed someone to help him wash their blood off his hands! Or would
you have been willing to do that yourself, my lady?”

I saw anger flash in her eyes, but she wouldn’t speak it, not even when we were alone. And then something else rushed over her face, taking the anger with it.

“They never ask me,” she murmured.

“What?”

She lifted her chin, a regal expression that tucked anger and wistfulness and fear far away. “My brothers never expected me to do anything more than stand beside the throne. They would never ask me to help Galen wash the blood from his hands. I supposed I stopped thinking I could.”

She looked down at her lap. “But it’s no surprise that Galen was alone. Ever since Lord Cinnan was sent away, it’s been unwise for other noblemen to associate with him. I think Galen’s grown used to it.”

It was the closest she would come to telling me she was glad I’d gone with him.

Princess Lissa shrugged. “After you helped Galen, what did my brother and Leymonn ask of you?”

All my earlier disgust at playing the tailor rolled over me. “They wanted the champion to speak to the people.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And what did the
champion
of Reggen say?”

“He lied. The people think he can save them.”

“He said that?”

I shook my head. “I let them believe that.”

Her faced softened just a little. “I was right. You
are
naïve.”
She leaned forward in her chair. “Do you know what my mother told me before she died, Saville?”

I held my breath, afraid that if I spoke too quickly, the moment might shatter. “No, my lady.”

“She told me to take care that I didn’t love my husband—it would give him too much power over me. She said I should be merely
fond
of him.”

She paused, and I wondered if she ever tried to remember her mother’s voice.

“You are more than fond of that little boy you saved, Saville. And for some strange reason, you are more than fond of this city. It gives people too much power over you.”

She was right. Sky above, she was right
.

“No one person can save a city,” pressed the princess. “You shouldn’t expect that of yourself. You shouldn’t even
hope
for it. It will break you.”

I sat down on a stool beside her chair and wrapped my arms around my knees. There was truth to what she’d said—and ugliness, too, though it took some time to see it.

“Hope …” I sighed. “My mother
hoped
the Tailor would be kind to her.”

“Was he?” asked the princess.

“No. Never.” I gathered up every memory I had of Mama, every scrap of every song she’d sung to me. “But she loved me—and she hoped good things for me. That’s why I couldn’t leave Will on the street. I had to want good things for him, too. I think it saved me.”

Princess Lissa shook her head. “Who saved you? Your mother or Will?”

“Both … I think it was both.” I looked down at my knees, then back to her. “I
do
want to save Reggen. You couldn’t cut that hope out of me. Your mother’s advice isn’t easy. I’m not even sure it’s wise.”

Lissa sat back in her chair and smiled bleakly. “It has been easier to remain indifferent than I thought. My brother gave me to a tailor who is not a man.” She looked out her window, the pale morning light washing over her face. “And if
that
scheme fails, I will be taken by a madman.”

“Not taken, my lady,” I said. “Don’t assume that.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t assume I would give myself so easily. But maybe
I
am too fond of Reggen. Perhaps I, too, would do something foolish to save it.”

Before I could answer, the wailing began. It came from a thousand throats and rolled up the streets until it lapped against the castle walls. The princess and I saw our own fear in each other’s faces. Slowly we stood and looked out her window, out across the city, across the Kriva, to the plain beyond.

It was covered with tents the size of houses.

“The giants have come at last,” whispered the princess.

W
e were still
looking out at the giant camp when Lord Verras entered the room.

Princess Lissa whirled away from the window. “Galen! Tell me everything.”

“They arrived overnight. That’s all we know. I’m going to see the camp for myself. There’s a mob at the gates already, so I’ll go to the wall on this side of the city and walk the ramparts. It will give me a chance to look from all directions.”

The princess nodded. “Did Leymonn send you?”

“Leymonn has been more preoccupied with finding a way out of Reggen than the army that surrounds it. I sent a servant to tell him I was going and would return with a report.”

“I wish he
would
leave,” said the princess. “The giants are welcome to him.”

Lord Verras glanced at me. “Will you come with me, Saville? Will it be difficult for you?”

I looked at the princess.
They never ask me.…

“No, I’m not afraid,” I said, and I wasn’t. “I’ll go.”

Lord Verras nodded. “Find a scarf to cover …” He put his hand to his neck.

To cover Fate’s Kiss.

“Here.” Princess Lissa flung open a wardrobe. She pulled out a scarf and handed it to me. “You’re fortunate, you know, to just walk out. I envy you.” She stepped back and smiled. “I envy you both. It isn’t easy to sit here and wait.”

“Lissa …,” began Lord Verras.