Page 10 of Ties of Dust

The princess and her bodyguard rejoined them, neither looking very happy.

“Then we’ll come to Carrack, too,” said Princess Miriam. “Or at least I will.”

“You certainly will not,” said Prince Theodore sharply. “Someone just tried to kill you, Miriam, and we still haveno idea why, or who was behind it. My first priority is to see you safely back to Sindon.”

“But—”

The princess’s protest was cut off by the bodyguard.

“It’s all right.” The quiet voice was hard to catch, even though the rain had slackened enough that it no longer filled Cassius’s ears. “I mean, it’s not all right, it’s a disaster, but I’ll manage.”

“No.” The princess looked close to tears, her reaction making little sense to Cassius. “I can’t allow this.” She turned to her brother. “Theo, fix it! You have to stop this somehow.”

Prince Theodore stepped to his sister’s side. “We will fix it,” he assured her quietly. “As soon as we possibly can. But in the meantime, Flor will be fine.” He looked at the bodyguard, his face showing more conflict than his calm words conveyed. “Won’t you?”

“Of course I will.”

The reply was staunch, but again something in the lean frame of the bodyguard made him seem very young indeed. Cassius could have groaned. This whole mess was a responsibility he didn’t want to be saddled with. If he had his way, Lord Armand would be thrown in the dungeons the moment they got home. It was infuriating to think the king would more likely accept the nobleman’s account rather than his own son’s, and applaud Lord Armand for being the only one willing to take initiative.

“I’m tough, Your Highness, I’ll be fine,” said the bodyguard. “I’ll be more than fine. I’ll make myself useful. If Siqual is determined to proceed with this alliance, I will do my utmost to keep your future husband safe as I’ve been requested to do.”

There was perhaps a slight edge to the way he saidrequested, but Cassius disregarded it. He was too busy feeling humiliated by the earnest promise of protection from this lean young man who was little older than a child.

No one was particularly pleased with the outcome, but once the decision had been made, they all hastened into motion. Cassius’s head guard naturally expressed confusion when the young bodyguard made to join their group. Cassius, his pride smarting from falling prey to Lord Armand’s heavy-handed ways, merely told him that the young man would accompany them for now to provide additional protection. Further explanations could wait until he’d figured out how to recount the incident without painting himself as an ineffective sap. The guard looked baffled—and perhaps a little offended—but he didn’t comment. He was no doubt eager to get his charge moving.

The leave-taking between the royals, while awkward, at least stopped short of open hostility. But when Cassius found himself back on the road, riding north in the center of a rotating ring of guards, the silent presence of the bodyguard riding behind him made him feel as though he’d stolen something from the Siqualian group.

The young man didn’t seem inclined to talk. He wasn’t brooding, and he showed no disrespect. In fact, any time he glanced back, Cassius saw him looking around with as much focus as the guards, as if in acceptance of his new role as Cassius’s bodyguard. But he avoided eye contact with Cassius, and responded without words as often as possible when addressed.

Lord Armand, still depleted from crafting the enchantment, had wanted to ride in the carriage, but Cassius had insisted that he travel on horseback. Let the fool suffer the physical effects of his officiousness.Cassius and the bodyguard would be suffering them through no fault of their own.

He took vicious satisfaction from watching the nobleman’s exhaustion as the head guard pushed their group hard until well after they’d crossed the border. When Cassius caught a discussion between the leader and his second-in-command about whether it was safe to sleep in Torrens, however, he decided it was time to relent.

“We are absolutely not riding through the night,” he said shortly. “It’s been a long and frankly disastrous day, and we’re all exhausted. I have no immediate fear for my safety. We should stop as soon as a suitable inn presents itself.”

“Very well, Your Highness.”

If the head guard disagreed, he didn’t say so. At least someone on the delegation respected Cassius’s authority, he thought, casting another angry look at Lord Armand.

The sun was dipping below the horizon by the time they finally stopped at an inn, and Cassius wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the nearest bed and sleep. But there was the small problem of his new tether. Still not eager to reveal his humiliating situation to all of his guards, Cassius sent Lord Armand to speak with the proprietor of the inn, telling the head guard merely that it had been decided that the bodyguard would accompany them all the way to Crandell, the Carrackian capital.

Soon enough, Lord Armand strode back, and Cassius stepped away from his guards to consult with the nobleman. Naturally, the bodyguard followed.

“I have secured three rooms,” Lord Armand informed him. “It’s all that they have available. One room will be for you, Your Highness, and one for myself. The third will be occupied by some of the guards, to serve as reinforcementson hand in case they’re needed. The rest of the guards will camp in the open, from which group pairs will enter the inn to maintain a rotating shift outside your door through the night.” He eyed the bodyguard, who was keeping his face lowered now they’d come to a stop. Perhaps it was part of his training, a sign of deference. “You will wish to guard the prince’s door throughout the night, I imagine, to ensure magical protection as well as the physical protection offered by the guards.”

The bodyguard cleared his throat. “Yes, My Lord.” The voice was wooden.

“Nonsense,” said Cassius impatiently. “He can’t stay awake all night. He has to be allowed to sleep.”

The nobleman shrugged. “If you’d prefer to have the boy sleeping on the floor of your room, I suppose that’s your affair, Your Highness. I wouldn’t wish it in your shoes, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there.”

“Oh, isn’t it?” There was acid in Cassius’s voice. “I thought you believed your opinion to be the universal decider of every matter, My Lord. I have a better solution. You can camp with the guards, and he can take your room.”

“Naturally, I would be glad to obey were it in my power to assist, Your Highness,” Lord Armand said unconvincingly. “But I’m afraid that solution is impossible. The inn has only three rooms, and none of them are next to one another. If he were to take my room, he would be outside the twenty-foot limit of the tether.”

“Curse your tether and your limits.” The words escaped Cassius before he could get his temper under control. He drew a deep breath, feeling enough sympathy for the unfortunate young bodyguard to curb his tongue. “Very well. He will share my room. I trust that my guards will protect me without his assistance from any threat thatarises in the night.” He glared at the nobleman. “As they were capable of doing all along.”

Lord Armand just bowed, apparently unchastened. Once he’d disappeared up the stairs of the inn, Cassius turned to his new companion. He couldn’t help noticing that the boy looked very pale. He even thought he caught a tremor in the bodyguard’s hands as he tucked them behind his back.

---