Page 75 of Unrivaled
I shouldn’t be training her.I shouldn’t be, and I knew it.But it made her feel like she could control something.And mayhap it’d be important, one day.
Except she couldn’t manage the monster.No one could.
I’d be her champion until my heart no longer beat.If my oath ended too soon, she wouldn’t be without protection.If the noises I’d heard were any indication, the Captain would ensure she had joy, too.It was all I could do.
The door beside me started to open, stopped, the started again.Holding my grief close, I reached over, grabbing hold of the door so it didn’t swing back on the wizened form of Ettie.She looked at me, nodded in approval, and pottered in, the noise of her walking sticks muffled by the fresh straw.
Everyone was happier with me, nowadays.
I swallowed around the sudden tears in my throat, pulling my thoughts back to the present.Not now, Chay.
“Why’re we in here?”Ettie asked, with a disdainful sniff.“There’s hungry men about to come off duty.”
“Steward Daniel didn’t want to relocate,” my lady said, looking up.“Should we set up the kitchens?They could handle the few who?—”
“I said hungry, not starving,” Ettie said, impatiently.“StewardDaniel,you say?”she peered at the Head Steward.“Aren’t you dead?”
Color rose in the steward’s cheeks.Before I could begin to enjoy his discomfort, the door opened again.“I’ve got it,” I heard Brian saying.
“You’re a good boy,” Bernadette was saying.“I hope Friel doesn’t ruin that custard.It was lookingsogood.”
“Even a lumpy custard will be gratefully received,” Brian said, heartily.
I settled in front of the door as while they took their seats as if Daniel wasn’t there.
Audrey accepted the plate of food Isolde passed her, sharing it among the table.Brian took some, as did Ettie.“Thanking you all for gathering at such short notice,” Audrey said.“And thanking Kaelson for arranging the meeting.”
Kaelson, still dripping to the side, waved a hand in dismissal of her thanks.But it was relevant.In the past, they’d askedherindividually whether a topic should be discussed by the council.It was the first meeting called by anyone except her.
I knew she wanted them to call meetings, not her, because I’d heard her telling them.I’d heard her talking it over with Isolde, how she could disrupt the old patterns of deference and help them understand that they were equal.I’d heard her running through possible conversations as she practiced combat stances, trained her grips, exercised her core and stretched out her shoulders.That was only in the moon since I’d returned.
She hadn’t said anything to me, though.I didn’t get to advise.Not anymore.
I didn’t really have anything to offer anyway.Not on this topic.Not that Isolde had, either, but she’d been addressed, at least.
“Obviously, Steward Daniel has returned.”She offered the loaded plate to the steward who was yet to sit at the table.The angle of her body, her arm and the drape of her cloak clearly silhouetted her.I refused to let my eyes dip down to the soft curve of her breast.Still, I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t wearing her mastodesmos.“Brian and Bernadette, between the two of you, can we find how we can best use the steward and his men?Kaelson, I assume the guards he returned with?—”
“I have a role entrusted to me by the Duke, and those guards aremymen,” the Steward snarled.
Audrey took a cheddar-and-herb studded piece of bread for herself, setting down the plate.I watched her hands, hoping some of the food might make it into her belly.Too often it was destroyed by her fingers and forgotten on her plate.
“I sent the guards to rest for the afternoon,” Kaelson said, with a nod.“And to report at sunrise to me.I’ll have their shifts ready.They’re a welcome sight and that’s true.”
“How many’ve you got?”Bernadette asked him.Audrey leant back from the books before her and popped some bread in her mouth.
“Twelve, mistress,” Kaelson said, hands held crisply behind his back.“A good addition.”
“And the others?”Bernadette asked.“So I can feed ’em all.”
“Your schemes are so far from the locways you’ll never be forgiven.You’re all mad,” the Steward said, on a half-laugh.“Mad.”
“All the mages who might’ve been able to validate that claim are dead,” my lady said, unconcerned.“If it’s agreeable with everyone, I’ve also a letter from the Duke I suspect everyone—but especially steward Daniel—will be interested to hear.”
The tension those words brought to the table was palpable.The only person who seemed unconcerned was Brian, who held up the small, hand-sized bitten piece of bread and made an approving circle between his finger and thumb for Bernadette.
“While I’ll happily read it out,” she said, “the key points are that he’s sending back men to bolster our watch and predicts they’ll arrive early in the summer, that he’s giving his blessing for the tourney to have an associated faire, and that he’s wants me to encourage knights to enlist in the war effort.”
Anticipation coiled in my belly at the thought of listening to her develop that speech.I had no doubt she’d turn it into a finely honed weapon of dissent.
