Page 9

I put my earplugs in, muffling the chatter and gossip on the other side of the door as the knights took far too long to leave. I released a breath as the quiet washed over me. Much better.

I hadn’t slept in nearly a day and planned on spending the next hour doing just that. Whoever returned with the coach could wake me.

But I hadn’t even gotten close to sleep when frantic footsteps and multiple raised voices echoed through the waiting room on the other side of the closed door. I sighed—the work of a squire was never done, it seemed—and forced myself out of the comfortable chair. Fielding discontent and complaints had never been my favorite part of the job.

Or socializing.

Or … speaking.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to slip out the back door and walk to the palace.

But I hadn’t even taken a step when a man charged into the room. It was baffling how quickly he brought himself within killing range, stomping up to me like a petulant child.

“You must have a great ego, indeed,” he bellowed, without introduction, “to reject my sister in such a cruel fashion.”

I didn’t recognize him, let alone place his relation to one of the many knights I’d seen over the course of the morning. But I left my earplugs in. I anticipated more yelling and was not looking forward to it. Anyway, years of frustration had helped me develop a useful skill—lipreading.

“It would have been far crueler to waste her time,” I said.

That seemed like the correct response, and yet the man looked even more annoyed. “How can you select a candidate when you haven’t even seen what everyone can do?”

“My apologies, Lord Beric!” A woman rushed into the room, grabbing hold of the raving man’s arm in an attempt to pull him away. He angrily shoved her off.

I didn’t particularly concern myself with the well-being of knights—they could, after all, hurt you just as badly as any man and deserved no pity. I did, however, have an urge to relieve us all of this knight’s miserable brother by crushing his skull.

“Forgive my brother,” the knight said, quickly. “He’s been away on the continent for some time and knows not to whom he speaks.”

She said it with stern emphasis, but the warning went over her brother’s head, his nose crinkling in distaste and confusion as he looked me over. Perhaps I didn’t need an excuse to end him, after all. “You, a lord? As unkempt as you are?”

It had been a while since someone had annoyed me so thoroughly. I had been ridiculed relentlessly by childhood bullies, but puberty had soon changed that—a little mass and height and a practiced ability to fight had solidified me far and wide as someone who wasn’t to be toyed with. And after I’d acquired my magic-crafted sword? No one would have even thought such a thing without shuddering.

But this man had been on the continent—he had a small excuse not to know my reputation. A small excuse for a small-minded man …

Let it go, I coached myself with a deep breath. Eliza would be disappointed in me if I broke yet another jaw over one disrespectful comment.

So, I made sure not to use much force when I slapped him across the face.

He stumbled sideways with a pathetic whimper before looking at me with wide eyes, as if he never expected retaliation for his insult. That was the usual reaction. Whoever it was would leave me alone soon after.

But this man was resilient, gathering himself up as if he could ever intimidate me. Utterly annoying. I should’ve hit him harder, if only to end this interaction once and forever.

“You either give my sister a fair chance…” He moved closer, agitating my patience, lowering his voice to say, “or we can settle this with a duel.”

“I accept,” I said, without a pause.

“You—” The man’s haughty expression dropped to something a bit more confused, the confidence suddenly drained from his voice. “Accept?”

Ah … okay. He’d been bluffing. A common tactic used by the men at court that, in my ten years working for the king, still baffled me. Why challenge me to a fight if you didn’t actually wish to fight? But then, I was used to taking threats seriously from a lifetime in the king’s service.

It was rather ungallant of me to accept, anyway—this man stood no chance against me, and then I’d have a corpse to deal with. Too complicated. Besides, I fought to teach people not to mess with me, and if they died there was no satisfaction of seeing the lesson learned.

Still, if I was to teach him that lesson, backing out was the last thing I’d grant him. “Accept,” I clarified. “Yes. That is what I said.”

The man glanced at his sister. I could see all the usual tics of nerves—the swallow, the shifting eyes, the hands in need of an occupation. So why wasn’t he leaving? “Are you quite serious?”

“I’m not sure what you mean. You challenged me.”

He tried to laugh off my response, as if I was the foolish one. “You do know it’s illegal.”