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He made his way to the kitchen where she had spent most of her time, the floor tiles liberally adorned with broken crockery, the table where she prepared the

"Protecthere every night Her eyes went to the short sword at his belt, twinkling a little "I’m sorry, but that really doesn’t suit you"

"No," he admitted "It never did But, thanks to your brother, I do kno to use it"

In truth, he always knew she needed little protection Those few Faithful sufficiently deluded to iine her some kind of substitute for her brother were sent aith i never had reason to suspect her loyalty She worked every day under Master Benril’s less-than-pleasant tutelage and spent her nights in this e wonders from the parchht her toleration, for he always had an a some when he came, content to sit and watch as she worked, a bottle of Wolf’s Blood never far away despite her obvious disapproval

"Every word she speaks regarding her brother and her father is to be recorded," Malcius had told him that day he had been called to the palace, ostensibly to receive the queen’s endorsement of his latest collection of poems, but in reality to press hirave as they walked together in the gardens, a king forced to reluctant necessity "The identity of any and all visitors also Lord Vaelin’s shadoas ever far too long, Alucius Best if she’s not caught in it, don’t you think?"

He thought he wasat the here she had pinned her sketches, bare now, save for the outline of parchot there first Poor old Malcius, Janus would have known in an instant

He cli stairs to the upper floor, Twenty-Seven following, hopping the gaps with nimble swiftness He paused only a little at the door to Alornis’s rooht, just to catch the soft whisper of her breath as she slept Why did I never tell her? he wondered Words spoken so easily to so many others, but I could never say them to her, the one time they would have been true

The room where he had slept was ainst the wall coone He pulled it away fro place, hed in relief at finding the narrow leather bundle intact

"Doesn’t see the bundle on the bed and undoing the ties, revealing a ser The handle was undecorated whalebone and the sheath plain leather He drew it, baring a well-ave it to h to kill Not instantly, but the poison on the blade will ensure a swift death" Hehe rarely did since there was nothing there to see "What would you do if I tried to stab you with this? Kill me? I doubt it Disarm me more likely, break my wrist perhaps Or would you, I wonder, sie that I’ll find another just like you at my side before the day’s out?"

Twenty-Seven stared at hiood friend" Alucius returned the dagger to its sheath and pushed it into his belt "It’s not for you Besides, I find I’ve grown too fond of your coht"

He pushed the bed against the wall and settled onto it, lying back with his hands behind his head "How many battles have you seen? Ten, twenty, a hundred? I was in a battle once, well three tih my part was hardly worthy of note No, h Keep The first great victory in the illustrious career of our soon-to-be deliverer There are songs about it, awful and dreadfully inaccurate, but I’m in them, e his brother, ‘his sword like lightning frohteous stor It was always the smell and the sound he recalled best, es, which were just a red-tinged ju, the stink of sweat, the odd crunch steel od for deliverance, and shitthe acrid, stinging perfume of his own shit