Page 74 of Unrivaled
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
CHAY
I was right to withdraw.No one’s seen Rubes since he walked in there.There’s something about the Academy.It’s like where hope goes to die.They’re up to something and I know you need to know what it is, but I’m not the man for it.Send me somewhere I won’t get myself killed?—S to Man in the Mountain
21stDay of Spring’s One Moon,
Age of the Locways, Year 272
La’Angi Keep
Head Steward Daniel was smaller than Kaelson.Not just physically, though that was true.He wasless.He stood in front of the duly elected Captain of the Guard as Kaelson dripped water from the spring downpour across the worn rug in the hall we’d emptied.
Last I’d seen him, he’d been assuring us everything would be fine.Then he’d taken as much food as he could, a group of men, and left us to die of plague.
“This is adisgrace,” he spat, finger drilling into Kaelson’s chest.
“What’s a disgrace?”my lady asked, sweeping in through the doors to my side.The entrance should’ve been dramatic, but with the four leather-bound volumes under her arm and the roll of parchment in her hand, it had a uniqueAudreyenergy that I’d never call simply dramatic.Intimidating?Awe inspiring?I watched her, searching for words, aching.
“You,” he said to her.As he whirled, his fur lined cloak lifted to swirl dramatically around his calves.
He said it as you’d acknowledge an interruption, not as an accusation, but I still felt the blow for her.
The way her eyelids would flicker, sometimes, when she didn’t know we saw.When she made a mistake.Something small and normal.In my head, it wasn’t the steward’s voice, nor the Butcher’s, but my own father’s booming tone.The rage drummed through my veins like hooves over well-maintained roads.
I saw Isolde’s eyes narrow and lifted my shield.Before I could say anything that would’ve only inflamed the situation, Audrey waved the parchment at him.“I’ll defer to your more experienced knowledge, Head Steward, on what constitutesdisgrace,” she said, without a shred of malice in the words.“Captain Kaelson, the remainder of the council is on the way, I assume?”
“They are, my lady.”
“Thecouncil?” the Steward spat.“Who areyouto devise acouncil?”
“I’m the only surviving nobility in these parts,” my lady said, sliding into her usual spot in the middle of the rectangular table.“I can have a family tree fetched for you, Master Steward, if your memory would benefit.”
The rage in me made me ache to act.Instead, I enjoyed the satisfaction from her well-placed barbs.
“Your father?—”
“Have you heard from him?”she cut in, opening a book.“What a coincidence!I did too.”The smile she sent Kaelson seemed genuine, but my angle wasn’t wonderful for admiring the way it’d light up her eyes.“We’ll wait for everyone to be present, for efficiency.”Idly, she picked up the roll of parchment.“How’s Billy, Kaelson?”
“Recovering well, my lady.I’ll pass on your best.”He went over to the fireplace, shrugging off his cloak.“I was caught in the streets earlier.My apologies.”
“Pass them on, too,” Audrey said, with a wave of her hand.
“I will not have this,” the steward said, flatly.“Youwere supposed to stay in your tower, my lady.You would’ve been safe.”
“Mm,” she said, looking as if she’d just settled in to read.
Isolde slipped away to where the remains from lunch were left for anyone too hungry to wait for dinner.I didn’t watch her prepare a plate, knowing who it’d be for.Audrey had been in her tower all day.The Captain of the Siren’s Ally had arrived not long after I’d left another training session.
If I’d known the Captain would be coming, I probably couldn’t have settled into my role as Audrey’s mentor as comfortably as I had.
I hadn’t seen Audrey since.Isolde, on the other hand, had been out all day.It was because of her I’d known the Head Steward had returned, so I’d come down to help maintain the peace.
Though it felt like I’d been gone an eon, it hadn’t really been much more than a moon.And yet somehow, I’d found myself back in the same pattern as we’d held during the plague.My lady working quietly, looking over scrolls and tomes, scratching out notes, never glancing my way.
Except now I knew the alternative.
And the cost.
