The Scrivener's Tale #1

TWENTY-NINE

Cassien had ridden hard for as long as he could keep pushing the horses. He’d deliberately drifted east and brought them into the town of Micklesham, northeast of Farnswyth, whose three roads all led up the winding gradient to a small convent built at the hill’s summit. On the way they threaded through streets with tall houses leaning precariously inward, and yet it seemed a light-filled town.
‘I’ve not heard of this place,’ he admitted, choosing not to address Florentyna by her new nickname, but knowing he could not even think to utter her title.
‘Really. Where have you been living, Cassien?’ she replied. ‘My father was always very proud of Micklesham.’
‘Is that so? What’s it famed for?’
She smiled wearily. ‘For being planned. He designed it.’ She shrugged. ‘Oh, he had lots of help, of course, but he wanted to leave behind a plan for future towns in Morgravia. It’s his legacy.’
‘I appreciate the broad lanes.’
She nodded. ‘He wanted carts, wagons, animals and people to be able to share the streets of towns without clogging them. He wanted lots of light and he hated to chop down trees.’ She gave a sad twist of her mouth. ‘It’s why you’ll see they’ve left these grand plane trees intact,’ she said, pointing to the side of the street. ‘Father said that in his dreams he could hear the trees screaming their protest over the centuries as forest gave way to towns.’
Cassien smiled. ‘I wish I had met the king.’
‘You and he would have got along famously, I suspect.’
‘I’m glad you think that.’
‘Why is that important?’
‘Because I know how much your father meant to you.’
She eyed him, controlling her horse expertly with a light touch on the reins. ‘You mean because he would like you, that means I like you?’
Cassien blinked. ‘That wasn’t really what I was getting at, but it sounds reassuring.’
Florentyna grinned. ‘You’re a strange one, Cassien.’ She looked around. ‘It is a quiet town,’ she said, easily returning to their previous conversation. ‘It’s probably most famous for its kite festival.’
‘Kites. As in things that fly?’
She giggled deliciously. He’d never heard her laugh like that before. ‘Yes, I do. Truly, where have you been living? Or, let me guess. You’re going to say the forest, aren’t you?’
He gave her an intense glance. ‘Yes. It’s been my home for a while now.’
‘And you came out of the Great Forest for me?’
‘I came out because Fynch urged me to protect you with my life.’
‘Fynch,’ she pondered. ‘I wish I’d listened to him.’
‘Fortunately for us, I did,’ he replied. As he watched the queen frown and the next obvious question forming, he continued. ‘Don’t ask me how he knows what he knows. I know so little about him other than that he is deeply committed to the realms that you now preside over.’
He could see the queen bite back the question that he’d neatly dodged. ‘So we’re going to just live out in the forest?’ she said brightly, but he could hear the dry note of bemusement. ‘I’ll rule from a secret camp somewhere perhaps?’
He couldn’t help the look of scorn that he knew was ghosting into his expression. ‘That isn’t my plan, no. The forest is safe and we shall go there as a precaution and to give us time to organise our thoughts, plan what is the next best step. Your sister has become a demon — we must never lose sight of the ever-present danger to you.’
‘No, forgive me, Cassien, if I sound in any way ungrateful.’ He shrugged. ‘Everything has been happening so fast, I have scarcely drawn breath. In fact, I can barely think, almost trying not to … it’s so painful when I consider what has been lost this day.’
He nodded understanding.
‘And King Tamas. What if he has succumbed too?’
‘I will be warned,’ he said, thinking of his wolf, of Fynch … of Ham. Be safe, Hamelyn, he cast into the void.
‘By whom?’ she asked and he wished he hadn’t sounded so mysterious.
‘By my instinct,’ he replied, a tad too fast to be convincing he thought. He relaxed his expression. ‘We’ll both know, your majesty, I’m sure of it.’
She straightened in the saddle, a mood of resignation showing in the thinning of her lips. ‘It won’t come to that. Tamas was fully warned. I know he would be very careful in that thing’s presence.’ She frowned and then sounded beaten. ‘Cassien, how are we ever going to beat the demon?’
‘That’s why I need the forest … it helps me to think.’
‘All right,’ she said. ‘If giving you a clear mind means I sleep on the forest floor tonight, lead the way.’
Cassien smiled dryly. ‘Not tonight, your majesty,’ he said, glancing up at the sun that was lowering itself behind one of the tall houses.
‘Don’t hesitate on my account,’ she warned.
‘I’m not,’ he said. ‘We’ll overnight here on account of the horses. They need rest and watering as well as feeding.’
‘Get new ones. We have no reason to … Oh!’ she said, sounding understandably surprised when Cassien suddenly leapt off his horse.
‘Don’t move!’
‘What?’
‘Stay with the horses. Tie them up to that post and stand between them. Keep your head low.’
‘Cassien …’
But Cassien was already moving. He knew he shouldn’t leave the queen alone, but he was sure he’d just spotted someone in the street ahead who might help them. He broke into a run.
Florentyna eased out of her saddle, made very aware of the many hours spent on it when her back protested with a twinge of pain. It wasn’t wise to stand between the horses — they could cause her injury if they were spooked by someone or something and crushed her between them. Even so, she didn’t want to defy Cassien, who expected her to obey him without question; he was all that stood between her and a demon, so she told herself to behave graciously and do as he said. It was unnerving watching him run away as he had — after what or whom?
People passed her by and barely gave her a second glance. This felt strange. She was used to gazes being riveted on her, not just because she was a queen, but because she was the queen that everyone was very curious about. It was her fault. She was far too remote. She’d let Darcelle usurp her in public show, and she could hardly blame her sister for such …
‘Oh, Darcelle,’ she muttered, faltering. She hadn’t lied to Cassien; until they’d stopped their mad dash away from Stoneheart her mind had been empty of everything except alarm.
Gabe’s emergence; the guards in the cathedral; the blood she’d noticed on Cassien’s shirt; and then the way they’d had to thread a path to a local stable, where he’d insisted she hide beneath the hood of her cloak while he bought the horses. She’d moved through that time in a stupor of fear … no, not fear … it was shock. Everything from the moment she’d woken had been a shock. All those people dead in the palace. Why?
Burrage! Florentyna gasped, covering her mouth for fear of crying out and drawing notice to herself. The horses shifted at the low sound, but mercifully didn’t move toward each other and threaten to crush her. Burrage was dead. And now Darcelle. Florentyna swallowed. It was her fault. Her instincts had told her to listen to Fynch, but she’d been persuaded to ignore him — persuaded by two who were now dead and needn’t be. Even Saria was dead, along with two other brave, loyal men.
Reynard had tried to counsel her otherwise in his gentle way, and her belief that Master Fynch’s warnings were not a genuine threat had forced him to take matters into his own hands.
Too many deaths. She had no one to turn to.
Florentyna’s breath turned ragged. Her cheeks were wet with tears and she felt herself crumbling under the burden of knowing all this loss and destruction rested on her shoulders and her poor judgement. She began to struggle to breathe and her vision was turning misty. Strong arms were suddenly beneath hers and she was aware of being lifted as she rallied, became more aware of her surrounds again. She looked up and could see Cassien’s worried face. He was carrying her and with such ease.
He looked down and gave her a crooked grin. ‘Forgive me, I was gone just a few moments,’ he said.
‘You swooned, nothing serious,’ another voice said.
Florentyna turned as Cassien released her to stand unaided.
‘You remember Tilda?’ he said.
Florentyna frowned and then opened her mouth in surprise. ‘My infusions woman?’ Tilda laughed and the sound was warm and earthy, like a full barn in leaf-fall. ‘Tilda, of course!’ she said, trying not to sound weak or teary. She gathered herself swiftly. ‘I’m pleased to see a familiar face. How do you two know each other?’
‘Come, I shall explain more but first I think you need some food, some rest. Here, Tilda,’ he said, pushing coin into the woman’s hand, ‘could you get some rooms in that guest house you mentioned? I’ll see to the horses.’
‘No, wait,’ Florentyna said. ‘The forest is where we need to be, isn’t it?’ Cassien gave a slight nod that was almost a shrug. ‘Can we make it by nightfall?’
‘We can make it there during the night,’ he confirmed. ‘Three hours.’
‘Then I’d rather keep moving. I agree, a rest and something to eat would be helpful, but we are not to stop pushing onward on my account. Stable ours and buy new horses if you must.’
Cassien stepped closer. ‘Florentyna, this is all on your account. There is no point if you are not safe.’
She smiled sadly. ‘I know. All the more reason for me to make this easier for you. You can offer better protection in the forest, you said.’
‘I can.’
‘Then let’s eat and move on.’
He studied her for a moment longer before he nodded at Tilda. ‘Where do you know that’s quiet for food?’
‘Mistress Falc offers soup and bread for a few coppers at her dinch-house. There’s nothing elegant about it, I’m not sure we could take her maj—’ she looked at Florentyna and corrected herself ‘— take our guest. Well, it’s not what you’d be used to,’ she said, looking uncomfortable.
‘Tilda, this is going to be a struggle, I know. Why don’t you call me Florrie, as my father did? You too, Cassien,’ she said, ‘or neither of you will ever finish a sentence.’
The both smiled back at her awkwardly.
‘It’s fine, really … I insist. And I always rather liked it,’ Florentyna said, as though bringing them both into her secret. ‘Now, a bowl of soup sounds good, Tilda. Then you can both tell me more about how you know each other.’
Tilda glanced at Cassien. ‘Ask anyone the way to the stable and back to Mistress Falc’s. They will know it. I’ll take … Florrie,’ she said, looking at Florentyna with an enquiry of permission in her expression to which the queen smiled. ‘And I’ll order the food.’
Cassien glanced at the queen and nodded encouragement. He left her with Tilda, leading the horses away.
Florentyna could hear the dinchers’ conversations well before they’d reached the dinch-house itself. It was as simple a dwelling as Florentyna had ever stepped into. Yet the atmosphere was warm and cheery. Mistress Falc had whitewashed the timbers and, as evening was drawing in, her girls began to light the lamps hanging from the house’s eaves and from the tall spokes driven into the earth to form a bright pathway. The dinch-house was at the end of a lane and while it had no formal gardens, the land around it had been left to grow wild. Sprawling cleaver plants, which appeared to glow as darkness fell, created pretty, luminous drifts of flowers that trailed away from Mistress Falc’s into the meadows beyond.
‘I’ve never understood cleaver flowers and their glowing petals,’ Florentyna remarked as they waited for the girls to clear one of the small outside tables for them. ‘But they’re very beautiful. My father used to say it was the magic of the moon that lit their internal lights.’
Tilda seated herself, giving a soft groan. ‘I must stop doing that. Makes me feel older than I am,’ she said with a grin. ‘It’s not the flowers that glow. I like your father’s notion though. It’s romantic.’
Florentyna fiddled with the largest drip of beeswax oozing from a small channel at the lip of the fat candle in front of her. She snapped it off, feeling the stinging but not unpleasant burn of the clump of hot wax, still molten in the middle. She thought of her father and how, if he could see her, he would be frightened on her behalf, yet he would expect her to set aside her fears to be decisive and courageous, come what may. ‘So what makes them glow?’ she asked, massaging the wax like putty until it hardened. She wanted to talk about anything else but demons, death, destruction.
‘There’s a worm inside each flower.’
‘A worm?’ she repeated, astonished. ‘You jest.’
Tilda grinned. ‘My old pappy used to say we learn something new each day. The worms are female; they use their glow to attract their mates and they use the flowers as warm, safe cups in which to lay their eggs.’
‘Do the eggs glow as well?’ Florentyna asked, pushing the solid ball of wax back into the heat of the candle near the wick.
‘No, only adult females and only at mating time.’ She grinned. ‘Just like us, really,’ she said in a wry tone. Florentyna smiled shyly. ‘I use the eggs for my potions.’
‘Really?’
‘I only take one or two from each flower. As you can see, there are thousands in each drift.’
‘Plenty to go around,’ Florentyna smiled, as one of the serving girls arrived. ‘Anyway, Til—’
‘Soup for three,’ Tilda said, cutting across the queen’s words. ‘What is it for tonight?’
‘Mistress Falc is doing a sweet farl and creamed chivarac this evening. It’s delicious.’
Tilda nodded her approval. ‘And some of her sunflower bread?’
‘I shall organise that for you. Dinch for you both … and your other guest?’
Florentyna nodded, feeling a thrill of excitement — despite the danger — to be doing something so common and so very normal as being out at nightfall in a dinch-house. Even better, she was doing it without a host of guards and the usual pomp and ceremony. Darcelle would turn in her grave — if her body hadn’t been stolen by a demon, Florentyna thought bitterly. She abruptly pushed Cyricus away from her thoughts, determined to appear composed and strong, as her father had always counselled her so that everyone around him — or her — would have a model to follow.
‘The best thing,’ Florentyna said, taking Tilda into her confidence, ‘is that this is so very normal for everyone. Look around. People are chatting, having a good time, solving the problems of the land over a hot cup of dinch.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t get to do anything remotely like this. Whatever I do, I have people minding my every move.’ She looked out across the tables of dinchers. ‘I envy you.’
‘Don’t. Most of them here would pull out their own teeth with pliers to have your life, your lands, your money, your power.’
Florentyna frowned. Tilda spoke evenly, but there was an edge to her words. They sounded like wise counsel but there was also an underlying note of scorn. She tried a different tack. ‘That’s how it is, isn’t it? We always want what the other person has,’ Florentyna admitted with a sigh. They both looked out across the fields. ‘So is this a regular watering hole for you, Tilda?’
‘Yes. I always take a bowl of dinch and soup here when I leave Pearlis. It’s my routine to head north after seeing everyone in the city.’
‘How do you come to know Cassien?’ Florentyna asked, determined to be direct.
Tilda hesitated and the queen noticed. ‘Is it a secret?’
‘No, although it is a sensitive topic.’
‘I see,’ Florentyna said, but she didn’t.
Their bowls of soup arrived then, the steam rising enticingly enough to make the queen’s belly grind with anticipation.
Cassien chose this moment to enter the garden. He threaded his way to their small table and she was amazed that no-one felt threatened by the weapons she knew he wore, but then as she watched him approach, she was aware there was no giveaway clank of metal; in fact he never ‘clanked’ like other men who carried weapons. Cassien seemed to move in silence and yet she knew he wore a fine sword, carried blades. ‘Something smells good,’ he admitted.
‘I’ll bring the dinch out shortly,’ said the serving girl, staring at him. ‘I’ll be back in a moment with the bread,’ she said to Tilda, stealing another glance at Cassien, in which Florentyna saw only invitation.
The queen joined Tilda in a shared dry look that they then directed his way.
‘What? Did I miss something?’ he said, his eyes darting between them, his brow creased in enquiry.
‘You’re not even aware of it, are you?’ Florentyna said with a grin.
‘It?’
Tilda laughed aloud. ‘That’s what makes him bearable.’
He frowned deeper, but they shook their heads. Florentyna was hit suddenly by a novel notion … why wasn’t she as heartstruck as the serving girl? Or the palace servants, for that matter, whom she had overheard talking about Cassien? He really was extremely easy on the eye, and his strapping frame meant he would have won attention even without his handsome features. She blinked as he seemed to note her attention and then looked away. It was obvious, even to her slightly detached approach to the world around her, that Cassien liked her. And he was clearly fighting liking her in a way he was undoubtedly not permitted to by the Brotherhood. She too had restrictions on her friendships, but even so … why didn’t she respond?
‘Shall we?’ Cassien said, breaking into her thoughts.
She smiled and began to eat. Florentyna noticed she was the only person in sight who was tipping their bowl away to scoop up the soup. Some patrons, she observed, dispensed with the spoon altogether and picked up the bowl to tip the contents directly into their mouths. She could imagine what Burrage might have to say about that. Might have said, she corrected, feeling a fresh wave of sorrow wash over her.
‘Feeling better?’ Cassien enquired.
‘I felt overcome with grief and became dizzy. My sister, Burrage, the deaths at the monastery, the deaths within the palace,’ she murmured, becoming quieter with each word.
‘Perfectly understandable. Eating will make you feel stronger — capable of facing anything.’
She gave him a wan smile. ‘Food does not solve a single problem,’ she counselled more dryly than she’d meant to sound.
‘It would if you’d ever had to spend a day hungry … or a day and night. Or a few,’ he countered and then looked away, appearing self-conscious. ‘Forgive me …’
‘No, you’re right, of course. I haven’t got a clue really about everyday life and yet I yearn for it,’ she whispered, her apology written in her expression. ‘I have no idea about how to live through hardship,’ she added, ‘other than the emotional kind.’
The bread arrived and it was warm, oozing with chunks of golden butter.
‘Don’t let your soup go cold,’ the girl said and was quickly gone, but not before casting Cassien another silent invitation.
This time the two women sighed.
‘I didn’t say a word,’ he muttered, biting off a chunk of his bread.
‘You don’t have to,’ Tilda said. ‘That pretty young thing has already said yes to your question.’
‘Be assured I’m not asking,’ he replied.
Florentyna stifled a grin. She picked up her wooden spoon again and began ladling the broth into her mouth without observing the courtly customs she’d been raised in. It felt wicked to do so, but Burrage — if he were watching — would forgive her, she was sure.
‘So, Tilda, you obviously know about the problems in the palace with the deaths …?’ She took her cue from Cassien as he was clearly at ease with the herbwoman.
‘I do. It’s good to see you have an appetite,’ Tilda said, not giving a specific response to the queen’s query. ‘People think you’ve been looking very thin and frail.’
The queen didn’t like being sidetracked but went along with it for now. ‘Poppycock,’ Florentyna admonished. ‘I’ve always been this size. It’s just recently I’ve had to wear gowns that annoyingly accentuate waists and busts and those bits usually covered by my everyday clothes. Now, Cassien,’ she said. ‘Tilda preferred you to tell me how you two know one another.’
Cassien stopped eating and put his spoon down. Florentyna sensed his discomfort.
‘I see,’ she said. ‘So there is a secret?’
He shook his head. ‘No, more to the point a difficult epiphany, that’s all.’
‘An epiphany, I recall from my long and intense education, suggests something divine, certainly something supernatural, which has come to you from the outside and opened your mind to encompass a far bigger comprehension of your world,’ Florentyna said, matter of factly, chewing on a thick slice of the bread.
‘Then I chose the right word. It was exactly that,’ he said.
She looked between her companions. ‘And still you don’t explain anything to me. You both look tense. Scared even.’
‘That’s because it is unnerving,’ Tilda admitted.
‘Try me,’ Florentyna urged.
Cassien glanced at Tilda and nodded to indicate he would tackle this. ‘Your majesty,’ he whispered, only for her hearing, ‘the reason I have been sent to protect you is, I believe, not just because of my skills with weapons.’
Florentyna stopped chewing. She watched him intently, waiting. ‘Go on.’
He took a breath and placed his spoon down. She noticed his soup was finished; not a drop wasted. ‘Fynch sent me to you because of my ability to roam.’
‘Roam? You mean cover great distances?’
He shrugged. ‘You could say it like that but the meaning is, perhaps, shrouded.’
‘Why don’t you explain? Say it simply to me. Why do I get the feeling this is a struggle for you?’
‘Because it is painful,’ he said. ‘My roaming is not of the earth.’
She blinked. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘You’re not meant to,’ Tilda chimed in.
‘I roam on an ethereal plane,’ Cassien continued. Florentyna knew she was looking at him as though he was speaking gibberish while he tried to enlighten her. ‘It’s a skill like wielding a sword, or running faster than others.’
‘A magical skill,’ Tilda qualified. At Cassien’s glare, she returned it with one of supplication. ‘Say it how it is, Cassien.’
‘Yes, why don’t you?’ Florentyna added.
He did. His roaming episode at the palace was explained baldly and clearly. She stared at him in shocked silence before she licked her lips, buying another few heartbeats to gather her thoughts.
‘So if I understand you right, you killed Burrage?’
‘Not directly or intentionally, but yes I did. And I have not yet come to terms with the deaths I caused, including his. I had no idea of the effect of my roaming. All I had in my mind was protecting you.’
She shook her head in silent despair. ‘But surely you’ve roamed previously?’
He nodded. ‘In the forest.’
‘And?’
She noted he struggled with how to phrase his reply. ‘Well … the first time animals died. After that, I went to a place where animals were … um, where they were scarce and I could roam without hurting any.’ He was speaking carefully, seemingly choosing his words as though couching the truth neatly behind them.
‘So you knew if you roamed at the palace it could cause death?’
‘I thought only that it might kill a few dogs, cats, rats.’ He shrugged. ‘I am honest with you when I say I had not even the slightest idea that it could hurt a person.’
‘How does it choose?’ she said, aware vaguely of Tilda’s awkward silence but too determined to understand Cassien’s magic to worry about their companion.
‘I don’t know,’ he said, running a hand over his face. ‘I wish I did. It’s one of the reasons I had to get you away from Stoneheart,’ he murmured. ‘In the forest I can protect you properly with my skills. I have worked out, however, that it only killed anyone who was outside of Stoneheart’s palace walls. Everyone within the palace was kept safe.’
She frowned. ‘Burrage was —’
‘On his balcony,’ Cassien interrupted softly.
Florentyna blinked in consternation; Cassien was right. The animals, the people who’d died had all for some reason been moving or sleeping outside of the palace proper.
‘This is clearly a heavy burden for Cassien,’ Tilda finally said, eyeing him. Florentyna wondered what her intense look meant. Cassien hadn’t noticed and the queen couldn’t read the nuances dancing around her. ‘He has been charged to hold your life as the most precious in the realm … and at the expense of others. He should not be blamed.’
‘So any of us could have died?’ Florentyna pressed.
They nodded together.
‘How did you think your roaming might protect me?’ she demanded. ‘I mean, explain to me how the risk of killing was worth it.’
He nodded, understanding entirely her sense of despair. ‘In that magical plane, I would have seen the one who hunts you.’
Tilda sat back and stared at Cassien in wonder. Florentyna privately wondered at so much being revealed in front of a stranger. It was obvious Tilda knew about Cassien’s skill before Florentyna was told, but even so, surely Cyricus and his threat were to be kept secret.
Cassien shook his head, easily reading her thoughts. ‘Tilda knows that we are moving you away from the palace and that there is someone who wishes death to the royals.’ There was a hidden message in his words. So, he hadn’t told Tilda about the demon, but was letting the herbwoman think the threat was a person.
Florentyna glanced at Tilda and could see her eyes narrowing as she considered Cassien. ‘I didn’t know you could use your roaming magic to find this killer. If you know who it is, why do you need an ethereal plane to see him?’
Florentyna didn’t know why her instincts were screaming at her to assist Cassien in keeping their real purpose secret, but she interjected to help obscure and distract. ‘Shar, but this is beyond my ability to reason. My sister always said magic was dangerous.’
‘And she’s right,’ Tilda said. Again Florentyna saw her regard Cassien speculatively.
He looked up. ‘Are you coming with us, Tilda?’
The older woman shook her head. ‘You can move quicker and with less notice as a couple. I must go now. Please,’ she said, standing and holding a hand up, ‘don’t disturb yourselves. I promise our paths will cross again. You trust me, don’t you, Cassien?’
He looked surprised to be asked. ‘I’ll look for you.’
She nodded, turned to Florentyna. ‘I’d like to kiss your hand, but dare not. Be safe.’
‘How can I be otherwise with Cassien at my side,’ she replied, and threw him an affectionate glance.
Tilda left and the dinch was served. Florentyna suggested they drink the spare cup that Tilda would not be taking. She was surprised the woman hadn’t at least remained for that. She noticed Cassien didn’t meet the serving girl’s gaze on this occasion.
‘Odd,’ she remarked to herself, then looked up brightly at her companion. ‘Do you know, I’ve never had dinch before,’ she admitted, giving a satisfied sigh. ‘It’s wonderful.’
He smiled. ‘I have tasted it only rarely.’
‘You are a strange one, Cassien.’
‘I’m sure of it. Forgive me.’
‘Don’t be silly.’ She reached to touch his hand and he moved it as if scalded. Florentyna frowned. ‘I meant that you engage my curiosity because you have led such a different life to mine and to everyone I know.’
He looked away, back to the path that their companion had recently left by. ‘What did you mean about Tilda?’
She blinked. ‘Tilda. What did I say?’
‘That it was strange.’
‘Ah, no, I didn’t say strange, I said “odd”. I simply meant it was curious that she seemed so friendly — and informed. She joined us for soup and dinch, then disappeared suddenly before the dinch was served.’ She shrugged. ‘Odd.’
‘You know her better than I.’
‘No, not really. I’ve met her on two occasions. I have always liked her brews but I don’t know anything much about her.’
‘I see. I was under the impression that you and she were friendly.’
Florentyna shrugged. ‘I take her infusions and that’s it. I pay a premium and she makes up one especially to my taste. She seems to know when my supplies are low and delivers my leaves to the kitchens. Burrage’s orders.’ Florentyna frowned. ‘You knew she would be here?’
He shook his head. ‘At the palace she mentioned that she would take a direct route north. She made me press her for the information but I did feel she wanted me to ask and then her reply felt like an invitation, but nothing so clearly stated.’
‘Do you doubt her?’
She watched Cassien thinking deeply. She allowed the silence between them to lengthen as his eyebrows knitted in thought. ‘Not until you just asked me.’
Florentyna leaned forward. ‘What does that mean?’
His gaze snapped up to meet hers. ‘Until moments ago I would have considered Tilda an ally.’
‘And now?’
He shrugged. ‘I also think it odd that she left so abruptly.’
‘Cassien, speak plainly. My impression is that we’re running for our lives, so it’s best we are clear with each other.’
He shook his head. ‘I have nothing to say about her. She knows nothing, only that we are running for your life.’
She finished her dinch and wanted to drink Tilda’s, but decided that might be greedy. She gestured at it to Cassien. He shook his head.
‘You’re so restrained, Cassien,’ she said, referring to everything about him.
But he believed she meant his appetite. ‘The forest taught me to eat and drink only what my body needed. It’s habit now,’ he said softly.
‘Do you believe your life is not important?’
He straightened to dig in his pocket for some coins. ‘I believe it has a purpose, certainly. But no, it’s not important.’
She looked at him bemused, shook her head. ‘I’ve been raised in the opposite manner, to believe my life is of the highest importance.’
‘It is. But I’m glad it hasn’t made you indifferent to others.’
‘My father would not have permitted that.’
‘He did with Darcelle.’
She eyed him. ‘Darcelle is … was … indulged. We are all at fault there. However, for all her spoilt ways, she was an asset and no-one could question her loyalty to the Crown. Have you registered how everyone is suddenly eyeing you differently?’
He nodded. ‘Since they noticed my sword, you mean?’
‘So you do know.’
‘I take in everything about my surrounds.’
She smiled and frowned at the same time. ‘I’m not sure whether you’re immodest or honest.’
He looked wounded. ‘I state only what I know to be true.’
Florentyna put her hands up in mock defeat. ‘We should go. I think we’re making the other patrons feel uncomfortable.’
‘I am not the first swordsman who has sat down to a pot of dinch.’
‘The first perhaps who looks as you do.’ When he looked back at her in query, she shrugged. ‘You are intimidating, Cassien, on a number of levels.’
‘Good. If everyone keeps away from you, I am happy.’
She grinned. ‘That sounds very possessive.’ It was meant as a jest to lighten their conversation, give them the right moment to stand and glance over at the others with a smile before they left. Instead, his expression only deepened in its seriousness.
‘If you were the only person I could ever speak to, it would be enough,’ he said, his gaze grave and intense.
She held her breath, for as he’d spoken — his careful words making her feel suddenly awkward — she understood why she didn’t react to him as others seemed to. And the reason was so shocking, she’d caught that single breath and was now too fearful to let it go … and with it the acceptance of what she’d been hiding from.
‘Florentyna?’ he murmured, suddenly concerned by the way she fixated on the pot of dinch and was silent.
‘Forgive me,’ she said, gathering her scattered thoughts and trying to find a smile. ‘I …’
‘No, I’m sorry for speaking so plainly. I thought …’ he stammered, unsure for once. ‘I thought candour is what you demanded of me.’
‘Oh, Cassien, the fault is mine. It’s just … I’ve realised something and the honesty of it is painful.’
‘Can I help?’
She gave a small gasp of a laugh. ‘Shar, no!’
He guided her away from the dinch-house, toward where he’d tethered two new horses. ‘You spoke of honesty. Perhaps it is your turn?’
She cut him a look of reprimand but then realised he was right. This man was prepared to lay down his life for her, not even question why or when, simply that he would give it should that need arise. Florentyna swallowed. ‘It’s Tamas.’
‘The king will be careful. I’m sure —’ He stopped at her horse and looked at her with an unreadable expression. ‘Ah, you meant something else, didn’t you, your majesty?’
She nodded. ‘I thought I’d put it behind me.’
‘You have feelings for Tamas?’
‘They frighten me. I’ve had them under very strict control. I really didn’t think they’d burst through the defences,’ she said, with an embarrassed smile. ‘I’m sorry …’
‘Don’t be. He has no bride to consider anymore.’
‘That sounds so heartless.’ She looked away, hating herself.
‘It’s honest. I didn’t mean to make you feel in any way ill at ease. You should know that I could not and would not permit myself to let my feelings go any further. There is another woman.’ He shrugged. ‘I was simply stating the truth. If you were the only person left in the world, it would be enough to converse with you. You are wise, calm, amusing when you want to be and you are educated. Besides, any interest I showed in you, my queen, defies the law of the Brotherhood.’
She frowned. ‘Celibacy?’
Cassien found a smile. ‘No, thank Shar! No wives, no permanent relationships. No family. We are not permitted to have long-term distractions, and women and children are precisely that; they compromise our emotions and ability to act decisively, swiftly.’ He helped her up onto her horse and handed her the reins before climbing easily onto his mount. ‘You’re still happy to ride through the night?’
She nodded as he guided his horse to the path that would lead them out of the hamlet. Florentyna followed. ‘It looks daunting,’ she said, nodding toward the blackness stretching beyond the soft glow that the hilltop town threw on the path for a short way.
‘We will have to pick our way slowly,’ he said, looking up. ‘But with luck, the moon will come out from behind those clouds and smile her light our way. Then we can move faster.’
She moved her horse into step with his and they set off companionably, winding their way down the hill.
‘Cassien, if it’s any consolation, you make me feel safe … you give me confidence.’
He gave her a rueful smile. ‘That is a rich compliment to a member of the Brotherhood. And, strangely perhaps, it is enough for me to know I have achieved this. You and I, as long as I live, will always be friends, I hope.’
‘We shall. I give you my word.’
‘Then that will keep my heart full … and Tamas is a lucky man.’
She blushed in the dark furiously. ‘Tamas has no idea.’
‘How long have you known?’
‘Since I was a child of about eleven.’
He cut her a sharp look of surprise. ‘Truly?’
She nodded, glad he couldn’t see how hot her cheeks must look, for they felt like they were burning. ‘He didn’t come to Stoneheart. He wasn’t even meant to be visiting Morgravia, but his ship was in trouble and had to limp into the Grenadyn Islands. My father and I happened to be in Racklaryon at the time — that’s in the Razors. We got word that Ciprean royalty was on our doorstep unannounced. My father was a gracious man, Cassien, and often didn’t stand on ceremony. He stopped his meetings, cancelled his tour of the Razors and raced to the islands to see what help could be given to the stricken ship. Tamas barely noticed the shy daughter of the king who greeted him. But I noticed him; I even sat on his lap once,’ she confided with an embarrassed giggle. ‘And my candle has burned for him ever since, you could say,’ she finished, sighing. ‘We met once more, when I was about fourteen, but I was so cringingly shy of my feelings that I found it easier to ignore him. I couldn’t even look upon him for fear of disgracing myself. I’ve always felt sad about that, because Tamas has always been so kind to me. There, now we’ve each swapped our dark secrets!’
‘How did you face him on this trip?’
‘There’s something about becoming a ruler that instils confidence, or at least one learns very quickly how to school one’s features into obedience. He can’t guess because I’ve become adept at hiding and managed to adopt an easy, sisterly approach. Just standing next to him, though, makes me feel weak,’ she admitted. ‘Forgive me for burdening you but it does feel good to admit it to another.’
‘Nothing to forgive. I sensed there was something between you both but it is not my place to ponder it. But he doesn’t know? I mean, when Darcelle —’
‘No!’ She knew her expression was horrified. ‘Absolutely not. Darcelle never knew about my feelings and Tamas certainly has no idea.’
‘But when she told you … I mean surely you —’
‘No. I didn’t … couldn’t. She was in love with him. And he with her, by all accounts. Plus, it was a perfect union   for Morgravia.’
‘I don’t understand. Why didn’t you pursue him?’
‘I was fourteen summers, Cassien! And I was a shy child to boot. I became more introverted and Darcelle was so extroverted she seemed the perfect ambassador for the Crown. She begged me to let her go to Cipres and represent Morgravia one year. I wanted to go, desperately … I wanted him to see me as a woman rather than a stammering mooncalf. You have to understand that I had been promised to another and I was fond of him. I could never tell my father that I loved the Ciprean. Don’t ask why. It was all too complicated at the time. My feelings were torn but I had learned to control them entirely, to bury them.’
‘Darcelle never suspected?’
‘Darcelle,’ she gave a mirthless chuckle, ‘wanted to go more than I did on that occasion, or at least our stepmother wanted her to. Darcelle could be so persuasive and — oh, what does it matter?’
‘It matters that even in something as important as love you permitted Darcelle to usurp your heart’s desire. Imagine what could have been if you’d gone to Cipres instead of her.’
‘She didn’t do it deliberately. And she had no idea of my feelings. She met Tamas and they found enjoyment in each other. It seems both sisters were stricken with the pleasure of loving an older man.’ She smiled sadly in the dark, knowing he couldn’t see it.
‘There is nothing in your way now.’
‘Don’t, Cassien. Tamas does not think of me in this manner.’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure of that,’ Cassien advised.
‘I can’t think of it,’ she dismissed, eager to banish talk of her heart and its love for one man. ‘It’s too painful from every angle. My sister …’ She stopped. There was no point in traversing old ground. ‘All I care is that he remains safe and free from the demon’s touch. That we all do.’
They left Micklesham behind, soft candlelight from its dwellings feeling far more cheery than the landscape stretching out before them. As if it could hear their prayers, the moon chose that moment to emerge and instantly the way ahead was cast into a ghostly road.
‘The forest awaits; let’s ride, your majesty,’ Cassien urged.
He kicked his cantering horse into a gallop and Florentyna followed suit, a thought nagging on the rim of her mind. It felt as far from her grasp as the moon that lit their way.