Page 56 of Arise the Queen
“Thatiswho we are speaking of, isn’t it?”
It galled Gwendolyn so much that the very day Esme had bargained with Gwendolyn to go with her and leave Málik and Bryn, she’d left Gwendolyn’s bower to go straight to Bryn’s.
“Nay, I did not.”
“But, of course, you know she did not, nor do I now believe she ever intended to. She is a liar?—”
“Gwendolyn…”
“Will you defend her?”
Vexed, Gwendolyn waved him away, not wishing to hear him do so, and unable to speak again for the knot obstructing her throat. However, Bryn shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, his expression a mixture of regret and frustration, and Gwendolyn took pity on him.
“I… am… sorry,” he said, and, of course, what more should he say? Although he was not, in truth, to blame for Esme’s lies.
Gwendolyn sighed. “I do not know how any Fae can ever claim not to lie. She and Málik are spectacular liars!”
The anger in her tone was unmistakable, and though Bryn opened his mouth to defend them, he closed it again—good thing.
“I’ve told you, as I’ve told Málik. A lie of omission is still a lie—it is a bold-faced lie!”
Sensing her fury, Bryn sidled closer, then reached out to place a hand upon her forearm, a gesture that bespoke volumes, his familiarity not entirely unwelcome. For a moment, Gwendolyn couldn’t speak for the knot in her throat. He said nothing, and he didn’t need to. She sensed his heart in his touch, and she drew in a breath, releasing it slowly. At long last, finding her voice, she spoke plainly, lest he forget she was no longer merely his friend. She was hisqueen, and that was not something either of them should endeavor to forget. “I’ll not tolerate deceit of any kind—not from you, nor from either of them,” she said.
“I would no?—”
“But you have,” Gwendolyn interjected, on some level realizing that she was taking out her frustrations on Bryn.
“I was trying to protect you,” he mumbled.
“Protect me?” she said. “How do you not see the irony in that? You were trying to protect me by deceiving me?”
She softened her voice. “Unintentionally though it may have been, you said you would not mislead me again after Porth Pool, and here we are again—not the least of which, you are cavorting with Esme in a manner to complicate everything. It is not only your life at stake, Bryn.” She looked away, staring out over the wooded land stretching endlessly before them.
“I understand,” he said earnestly.
“Do you?” she challenged, her gaze returning to his.
She sounded resentful, and perhaps jealous, she realized, and did not mean to, so she made clear her feelings. “Bryn… I wish you happiness. I do. If Esme is the one for you… you will have my blessing, but please… do not lie to me ever again. And please…”
What? Do not leave me?
The very thought of begging him was piteous, and Gwendolyn would never do so, nor did she wish to, no matter how lonely it might leave her in the end. “Please… do not be diverted until our campaign is done, and then you may do as you please.”
“Gwendolyn…”
She lifted a hand. “Stop,” she said, but this was not meant to castigate him for his feelings or for speaking with such familiarity when they had been this way their entire lives. Still, he must understand the weight of her position. Nor, in truth, did she wish to hear him confirm the worst of her fears.
His next words gave her a measure of reassurance. “I understand,” he said. “I am sworn to you, Gwendolyn—I amyour Shadow. Everything I have done, I do for you… everything, including…” His voice darkened, and Gwendolyn knew he was thinking about his father—and, in truth, he would have slain Talwyn for her sake, but she had known that, and that was why she’d stepped in to claim him for herself. She would prefer he blamed her—if he were so inclined—than to blame himself.
“I know,” said Gwendolyn. “I know.”
Hardly in the mood to lose Bryn as well, she was not above bribery. “At any rate,” she said. “Effective immediately, you are no longer my Shadow.”
“Gwendolyn!”
She cracked the tiniest hint of a smile. “It is not as though you have been doing your job… so long at Málik’s side, but don’t you worry, it is not what you fear.” She softened her voice entirely. “Indeed, I have been meaning to elevate you as mester at arms. This is the position you deserve—more than your father ever did.”
“Gwendolyn—”
