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“Tomorrow midday?” The timing of our meeting just occurs to me.
“Aye. He suggested it himself. I also learned he is to be a guest of Lord Bailor.” Thomas shrugs. “I suppose that’s where the queen’s men can be found this eve.”
He drinks, unconcerned.
Lord Bailor did not make such an offer to us when we arrived. I watch my friend, wondering how he could be so oblivious.
“A guest of Lord Bailor?”
“Aye.”
“Why didn’t he offer us the same courtesy?”
“Maybe he would have if you were as good-looking as Stokerton.”
Laughing at his own joke, Thomas does not seem bothered by my concern. So I lean forward, lower my voice, and enlighten him. “The queen’s commander is here, in Murwood End, as a guest of the highest-ranking noble in town. Weeks after our failed attack.”
He blinks.
God save me from him.
“And now I know why Galfrid thought so long and hard about naming you Knight Commander,” I quip.
Thomas isn’t bothered by my words. He’s openly admitted he can be quite difficult at times. If he weren’t such a fierce warrior . . .
“He is here to gather support.”
Thomas stares at me a moment and then laughs. “From the Voyagers? They will not give it. They’ve always withheld aid and allegiance from both sides.”
True, but these are curious times.
“Maybe so, yet it hasn’t stopped them from trying in the past.”
When Galfrid’s father reigned, the War of Loigh claimed more lives than any of the other wars in Meria’s history. In a bid to end the fighting, the King of Edingham had sent a contingent of men to Murwood to elicit the aid of the Voyagers. They refused, and none have attempted to solicit their support since.
Some say the Voyagers trade more regularly with Meria because of that long-ago breach of their unwritten rules: Voyagers do not care for any to test their neutrality. Now that I’ve spent time here, I have a better understanding of their ways. Of their independence. The people here honor Aldwine for his fearlessness more than they do Bailor for his title. Such things are meaningless in Murwood, and the queen should know that already.
But she’s accustomed to wealth and power mattering, and here they do not.
“If they do get the Voyagers’ support . . . ,” Thomas begins, but I stop him.
“You are correct—they would never agree to such a thing. But I can tell you, unequivocally, that is why Stokerton is here.”
“Hmm. Then it should be an interesting meeting. So, since I went to the trouble of arranging it, perhaps you can tell me more of the complications you have embroiled yourself in.”
I have a feeling he already knows. But Stokerton’s arrival gives me an unexpected stay of execution. An extra day to speak to Aedre, to make her understand. She thinks my interest in her was solely to gain an audience with Kipp, and I have to convince her otherwise. I was drawn to her from the start, and there is no way I will leave Murwood End without her. Now I have a reason to stay, to convince her that we should marry.
