Chapter 10

N azar snatches my hand again and curves it into the crook of his left elbow then lifts his right hand in greeting. “Lord Fortiss,” he calls out while I try to keep from gawking. “Well met. I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

Fortiss looks up with a broad smile, sees me, and springs to his feet.

“Not in the slightest,” he says as we draw near. “I came looking for Merritt, but it seems my luck has improved even over that option. Lady Talia, I’d heard you were staying in Trilion. I didn’t know you had ventured this far into tournament grounds.”

It’s no difficulty to flutter and gape over him, and I do both in equal measure for another half-second until I regain control over myself. Up close, he’s even more impressive in his rich and glittering silks than when I’d seen him on the tournament ground. And without my sword and boots, I feel woefully insignificant in his eyes, even though he regards me with more than a little interest. What’s his game?

“Lord Fortiss,” I say, and drop into a curtsey. “Merritt will be so disappointed to have missed you.”

“As long as he’s off enjoying the splendors of the tournament, I have no complaints.” Fortiss grins, and I find myself unreasonably glad that my face has healed so well—then annoyed that I’m even thinking something so stupid. “Perhaps you’ll allow me to show you some of it as well?”

He glances to Nazar. “I assure you, I’ll keep her safe.”

It’s all I can do not to roll my eyes, but Nazar nods back to Fortiss, every inch my solemn guardian. “Your escort is much appreciated. She returns tomorrow to the Tenth House, to await her brother’s return.”

“The Tenth?” Fortiss asks with ease, turning his smirking gaze on me. “And yet a sneaky little bird told me you were intended for the Twelfth House when you were waylaid. If that’s still your goal, we can arrange for an escort all the way there. Lord Orlof hasn’t deigned to send any representatives to the Tournament of Gold in far too long. We’d like to make sure he still fares as well as we hope he does.”

If this little speech is meant to get my back up, it succeeds, but once again Nazar saves me from saying something I’d surely regret. Instead, he continues to embroider the lie he’s so deftly weaving around us. “It’s a gracious offer, but no. It’ll be good for the family to gather close again once we have a full complement of soldiers loyal to the Tenth house. The union of the Tenth and the Twelfth houses can wait a bit longer.”

“Then I’ll take full advantage of my opportunity,” Fortiss says smoothly and holds out a hand. I’d sooner push him into the dirt than walk with him, but I accept his grasp and allow him to draw me away from our camp. He curls my hand into the crook of his elbow much as Nazar had done, only his grip is like iron, as if he’s fully aware that I would flee from him at my first chance.

The moment we’re out of Nazar’s view, I test his hold. I attempt to tug my hand away, and he grips me closer still. “I’ve already had the pleasure of you running away from me once, Lady Talia,” he assures me cheerfully, though steel now laces his words. “I have no wish to repeat the experience.”

“Why?” I asked him, just as lightly. “Are you worried I might interrupt some new villain attempting to shoot my brother? What was the term you used? Oh, right. Marauder . Do you suppose these unknown marauders’ tastes still run to small houses who pose no threat?’

He turns a much colder gaze on me. “Have a care, Lady Talia. The words you speak are treason at the Tournament of Gold. Lord Rihad takes his security very seriously.”

“So do I. And so does Merritt, especially given how close he came to returning to the Light on his way to your vaunted tournament. Tell me, why were you in the forest by the Shattered City that day, Lord Fortiss? Of all the hills and valleys to hunt in, it seems a curious choice.”

“I’d answer the question, should your brother put it to me. Alas, these aren’t topics for a woman’s ears, even one as fierce as you. But rest assured that no one was more pleased than me to see the villains thwarted that day. Your brother’s health ensures the health of his house. And the health of all houses contributes to the safety of the Protectorate.”

“Mmm.” I don’t trust myself to say anything more for a moment. Instead, I recall the words Fortiss used the first day I arrived at the tournament. How had he put it exactly? That unlike many, he was genuinely happy to see me—to see Merritt, anyway?

Merritt. We step into a wide square just as music starts up, and I’m struck again with the unfairness of it all. Merritt would have loved this. The torches, the color, the music and food—the people milling around, old and young, men and women. He would have reveled in the pageantry, and his place among his peers, celebrated and fêted, honored and cheered. I may not care for celebration, but he would never have wanted to leave.

Irritation crests anew. “Well, if our safety was such a concern to you, you could have stopped the slaughter of our men and my handmaiden. We could have used your sword in that melee.”

“And if I had been at liberty to use it, I would have gladly done so. But once again we speak of things that are better shared with your brother, not you. Plus, if I’m not mistaken, you have changed your hair.”

He steps away slightly to regard me, not quite letting go, and I tilt my chin up to meet his gaze. He doesn’t know the half of the changes I’ve undergone since he saw me in that forest. “And you have changed your clothes, but not your colors,” I counter. “Tell me, what house dares to try to assassinate a nobleman with gray arrows, Lord Fortiss? Have other houses been attacked? Is there a traitor in your midst?”

“Enough.” Fortiss’s grip tightens on me, and as his hand closes around my forearm, I count myself lucky that he has my right arm in his grasp and not my left. But how easy it would be for our positions to change, and my secret found out with a brush of his fingers across my warrior band?

Too easy . I should not provoke the man.

I draw in a fortifying breath and pray to the Light for patience. It doesn’t fully work. “My apologies. I just have heard there’s no end to your power and influence, and we lost good people that day. Seems like you could have helped.”

He scowls. “I did help.”

“Well, thank the Light you didn’t help more, or my whole family would be dead.”

“ Look .” In one swift movement, Fortiss sweeps me behind a tent where they are hawking spiced corn. He reaches out to grab me by my shoulders—presumably to lift me up and shake me like a witless doll. But my sense of self-preservation kicks in just in time and I jerk back. He pursues me until my shoulders brush up against the fabric walls of the food vendor’s tent, and he leans forward, giving me no chance of escaping further. “I get the feeling there’s a lot you think you know, Lady Talia. About everything?—”

“It’s a gift.”

“But you don’t ,” he continues resolutely, his eyes flashing as his jaw works. “You don’t know the powers at work here, you don’t know what it is to be a warrior, and you don’t know how much your father has done your brother and your house a disservice by refusing to honor the Lord Protector. Everything Lord Rihad does is to support the houses, to keep us strong, and you stay up in your mountain hideout like you can’t be bothered to interact with the rest of us. It’s a problem.”

I stare at him, my mind spinning. Has Father ignored the direct summons of the Lord Protector? It wouldn’t surprise me. Father hasn’t left the mountains since Merritt was born—not once.

Not once.

Unfortunately, Fortiss is still spewing on, unable to recognize my willingness to soften my stance on our discussion. “You should be grateful you’re still alive out there in your fringe fiefdom, not making demands and expressing outrage that the forest is a dangerous place.”

Well, so much for softening.

“The forest didn’t attack us,” I shoot right back, driving my finger into his chest, expecting to meet bone. It’s not bone—it’s muscle. A lot of muscle under his shiny gold shirt. But I won’t be distracted by that. “A man and his dirty gray arrow did. And I—we—were lucky to survive that arrow and the assault that happened next. My handmaiden died in that attack, Lord Fortiss. Five of our soldiers did too. While you just ran. A. Way.”

He grits his teeth so loud I can practically hear his jaw pop. “Well, you did survive. You and your brother made your way to the Tournament of Gold. Here, Lord Merritt can make your house leagues stronger. Especially if he steps on the tournament field to claim his birthright as a first-blooded and firstborn warrior. You should focus on that, Talia of the Tenth. Focus on building him up, keeping him strong. He’s young, but his Divh?—”

“You saw his Divh?” I can’t help myself. I stop poking and flatten my hand on his chest, vaguely registering how hard his heart is pounding. “A-afterwards? After the arrow was shot? You saw him?”

Fortiss’s gaze locks with mine. His face is so close, I can smell his breath—spices and mulled wine, the drink of those with money to spare and time to enjoy life’s bounty. “Talk of Divhs is forbidden for any woman, Lady Talia,” he murmurs, “or is that something else you’ve forgotten about, up in your mountain home?”

“Tell me!” I urge him, and now, somehow, both my hands are on his chest. It’s a wide chest with plenty of room, but I’m still not quite sure how my hands took up residence there. The heat that pulses from it warms my cheeks, my neck, and sends spinning whorls of fire through my belly. “I’ve never seen it, not from a distance, not really at all. Was it—was it powerful? Was it fierce?”

“It was beautiful,” Fortiss says, surprising me with the word—surprising himself too, I think. He dips his head lower, until his lips hover just above mine. “Powerful too.” He leans a fraction closer and softly, gently, his lips brush my mouth, taste my fitful breath. Then he rocks back on his heels and grins down at me. “But, eh…not so fierce, I think.”

“You lie!” But I’m laughing suddenly, and he is too, and he pulls me away from the food vendor’s stall, spinning me into the crush of people thronging through the makeshift square. I’m out of my depth again, my heart pumping too fast, my mind churning with too many thoughts. I glance up—and blink.

A woman stands at the far end of the courtyard, watching me with cold and curious eyes. Her skin is deeply tanned, her mouth thin, and she wears no paint that I can see. She’s tall and sturdily built, and though she’s fully cloaked, her hair hidden beneath her hood, I sense she could shed that cloak in an instant and have daggers in her palms. I reach out almost blindly for Fortiss and meet his gaze urgently as he turns back to me.

“Who is…” I begin, turning back to where the woman stands—then break off lamely as I stare at the empty space. She’s disappeared like a puff of wind, so fast I wonder if I imagined her. “Never mind.” I shake my head, and Fortiss grins down at me.

“A truce, fierce Talia of the Tenth, for the short time we have together?” he asks. In that moment, laughing at me with his golden eyes, his easy smile, I think I’ll never meet another man as beautiful as he is—and certainly will never want to. Just the sight of him turns my brains to mush.

“A truce,” I agree. “And maybe?—”

“Lord Fortiss.”

We spring away from each other as if we were caught tumbling in a haymow, and I smooth my hands down my dress, shifting my left shoulder back as Fortiss’s two retainers stalk up. The bigger one bows with deference, then straightens. “Lord Rihad requests your presence at once.”

The soldier’s gaze shifts to me, and his dark eyes categorize me as quickly as so many other men have tonight. A tendril of fear snakes through me. “I can escort your lady back to her camp.” Beside him, his fellow solder takes my measure too, and the creeping sensation worsens.

“Ah—honestly, I’m good,” I stammer, stepping away, but Fortiss merely nods.

“Yes, do that, Ginn.” He looks to the second soldier, clearly forgetting me. “What’s this about?”

“What ho, Lady Talia!” Caleb’s bright, brash voice breaks over us as Ginn moves toward me. I whirl around to see my sturdy squire bounding up, sandy-haired and wide eyed. He’s once more in Tenth House green, and he practically dances with excitement as he greets me, grinning ear to ear. I could kiss him.

“What luck ,” I say, far too brightly, but I don’t care. I turn back to where Fortiss blinks at us and don’t look at Ginn at all. “I’ll just be on my way. Thank you, Lord Fortiss—and for your offer, sir—but don’t trouble yourself, we’re off?—”

I practically drag Caleb away.