Court of Fives (Page 108)
“In a time of war, an unloved and weak king and his sickly underage son may be deposed for the good of the kingdom, especially in favor of a bold military prince like Nikonos. But even Prince Nikonos may meet with an unfortunate accident on the battlefield if he has enemies on his own side. And a queen who bet on the wrong horse will find herself put out to pasture. Which leaves you and your sister next in line to become king and queen.”
His voice is so soft I barely catch the words and yet his tone rings harder than I have ever heard it. “Do you know what it means to be king in Efea?”
“The king must defend the country from its enemies and honor the gods in the proper way so their peace will shelter the land.”
“The king sits atop a mountain of treasure. All bow before him because his will is law. His army defends not the country but his power. That’s why I don’t wish to be a part of it. But I also don’t despise the army and its soldiers, Jes. I’m no coward, or at least I pray I will never act the coward’s part.”
Driven by secrets, he quickens his pace, and I hasten to keep up.
We turn at last onto Garon Street. I reach for his hand, and he clasps mine with more strength than I expected.
“I shouldn’t have involved you, Jes.”
“You know I’m not afraid.”
He has the strong hands of a climber, and when his grip tightens on my fingers, it crushes. “You should be afraid. They are monsters waiting to eat us.”
I release his hand as if we only now remember we ought to do so. He offers a pleasant smile and an agreeable nod to the startled guards at the stable gate. As they open the pedestrian door they mumble greetings—“My lord prince, a good wakening to you”—in the voices of men who have been allowed to greet him before and are still grateful that he acknowledges their existence. But oh how they struggle not to stare at me, for they are Patron-born men who serve Patron lords, and I am what I am in their eyes.
As I consider how to make the most dramatic farewell, he pulls me into the stable courtyard. At this early hour the kitchen girls have already begun stoking the clay oven, soaking millet and barley for porridge, and sweeping around the tables to make sure no brown scorpions or striped asps linger on the tile. The cook appears with her baskets and two assistants, ready to head down to the market to buy her perishables. Tana and Darios sit sipping at tea whose flavor is so strong I can smell the aniseed from here. Several other early risers are emerging from the barracks, yawning and rubbing their eyes.
“Make it convincing,” whispers Kalliarkos into my ear, the words as startling as the thunder of a hailstorm that drowns all hearing, all sense of the world outside the shell you live in.
I could kiss him just by inhaling but suddenly I can’t remember how to smile as a doting lover would. As my mother and father would smile at each other. As they never will again.
So I cup his face in my hands and I match him, look for look. “This isn’t hesitation. This is my challenge.”
I press my lips to his, and after all it is easy to forget everything else and just kiss him, because we are learning who we are, as if he and I will turn by turn unfold each other until we know everything that matters about our hearts.
A bark of command slaps down over us. We break apart, but it is not anyone speaking to us. The dawn changeover of guards has arrived. The gate stands wide open and, with the sun rising, all the guards have seen.
With a parting smile he walks out the gate, leaving me standing in full sight of every awake person in the stable. My pulse eases down from a hammering gallop into a mere trot. Without meaning to, I touch fingers to my lips.