“Where’s Pen?”
“I sent him off to ride the perimeter, Lady,” Elston replied. “There’s no danger out here; we’re on the plain, and any threat can be seen from miles away. But he was driving us all mad, poor lovesick—”
“Remember yourself!” Mace barked, and Kelsea felt a blush color her cheeks.
“Sorry, Lady,” Elston murmured, but his eyes glinted with such good humor that Kelsea shook her head and swatted him on the shoulder.
“Who else is here?” she asked.
“Hall and his people are downstairs. Levieux, too, and he has requested a word with you when you have a moment.”
“Levieux?’
“He was useful, Lady, helping us break into the Palais,” Mace replied quickly, tipping her a look that said they would talk about it later. Kelsea nodded, but when she thought of the Fetch, she could not picture the man, only the boy, Gavin. What did that mean? She looked past Elston and jumped; for a moment she was sure that someone was standing down at the end of the corridor, watching her. But when she blinked, the figure was gone.
“Lady?”
She turned to Mace. “I thought I saw someone, down there at the bend.”
“You’re still not well, Lady.”
Kelsea nodded, but the more she thought about it, the more she was certain that the figure had been there: a woman, in a long black dress and dark veil.
Mentally unstable, she thought, and a thread of unease wormed its way inside her.
“We’ll leave in the morning,” she told them.
“Lady?”
“You said that the Keep was under siege, Lazarus. We can’t simply stay here, hiding, while the kingdom burns. What sort of queen would I be?”
“Ha!” Dyer turned to Coryn. “That’s ten pounds!”
Mace shook his head. “We knew you were going to say that, Lady. My only question was how long it would take to come out.”
“Well, it’s true.”
“You have no army, Lady. The Holy Father has an entire battalion of Mort mercenaries. The only thing you can accomplish by returning to New London is to get yourself killed.”
Kelsea nodded, trying to take this advice to heart, to be the smart queen that she should have become. But she couldn’t wait out here, in the middle of nowhere, away from everything. What could be fixed that way?
“Lady.”
She turned, and there was Pen, coming from the other end of the hallway.
“Pen!”
She began to run down the corridor, but Mace grabbed her wrist. “Hold, Lady.”
“What?”
“Things are no longer the same.” Mace turned to the rest of the Guard. “All of you, back to your posts! You will see the Queen at dinner!”
Her guards moved along, and Kelsea couldn’t help noticing that they seemed suddenly anxious to be away. Within a few seconds, they had all disappeared around various corners.
“Lady.” Pen reached them, bowed. “It’s a pleasure to see you well.”
She stared at him, confused. This cold man was not the Pen she knew. Then she remembered the scene on the bridge, and understood. Pen was angry with her, of course he was, just like Mace. She had fled from all of them, from her Guard, straight into the arms of the enemy. She had tried not to think of Pen while she was in prison, but of course he had still been here, stewing in that betrayal. Well, she would make it up to him. She would—
“Pen will no longer be your close guard, Lady,” Mace said flatly.
“What?”
“Starting tonight, Elston will take over Pen’s duties.”
Kelsea turned to stare at Pen, who in turn stared at the floor.
“What’s happened?” she demanded.
“I will give you two a few minutes, but only a few,” Mace replied, speaking to Pen. “After that, you will not be alone together again.”
Pen nodded, but Kelsea turned on Mace. “You don’t make changes to my Guard behind my back, Lazarus! I didn’t ask for a new close guard. This isn’t your decision.”
“No, Lady,” Pen said. “It’s mine.”
She turned back to him, her mouth falling open. They had been sleeping together, yes, but they could end that! It was no reason to change the Guard.
“Pen? What is this?”
“A few minutes,” Mace repeated. Then he retreated down the hall toward Kelsea’s room. Pen waited until Mace disappeared inside before raising his eyes to Kelsea, and she almost flinched at what she saw there: utter professionalism, nothing more.
“You don’t want me anymore, Pen?”
“I am a guard, Lady. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be, ever since the Captain found me.” He shrugged, smiling, and for a moment the ice broke and he was the old Pen, the Pen she knew. “I love you, Lady. I think I’ve loved you ever since you asked if you could help put up that damned tent. But while you were gone, I discovered that I cannot love you and be a Queen’s Guard, all at once.”