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Bastian left soon after, when the silence became so heavy Lore felt like she was suffocating under it. He kissed her on the forehead as he got up from the table. “Nothing exciting,” he reassured, though Lore hadn’t asked where he was going. “It’s time to bother the treasurers again.”
“More payments?” Despite herself, there was a bright note to her voice. The direct payments to Auverrani citizens were still something she could feel good about.
He smiled at her, though it never climbed all the way into his eyes. He didn’t answer. “And how will you be filling your hours?”
“Probably seeing the Priest Exalted.” His title felt safer than his name. “Some extra lessons might be a good idea, if channeling isn’t something we’re going to get away from.”
And she was going to ask about Anton. The need had ballooned in her chest over the rest of breakfast until it pressed against her sternum, set to burst. She needed answers wherever she could get them, if only to lay her own anxieties to rest.
The curve of Bastian’s smile went sharper. “I think that sounds like a splendid idea. Tell Remaut hello from me.”
Her brows knit. “I doubt that will go over well.”
But Bastian was already out the door.
Lore let her head drop against the back of her chair. Bastian wanting to taunt Gabe was nothing new, really. Though she thought things had changed in that regard. That Bastian didn’t want to hurt him, either.
Maybe that was just her own wants talking. Her own desire for the three of them to find some sort of resolution.
She forced herself up, prepared to go spill her guts to one of the men who made her life immeasurably harder.
A bloodcoat guard stood next to one of the potted palms outside the door. Lore reeled back when she saw him—after ten years as a poison runner, the sight of guards still made her uneasy, perhaps even more than the Presque Mort did. Her time in the Citadel hadn’t done much to raise them in her estimation.
The bloodcoat said nothing. Lore cleared her throat. “Why are you here?”
The guard’s eyes cut her direction, nonplussed by her rudeness. “King’s orders,” was the clipped answer. “I’m to accompany you around the Citadel when he can’t.”
Her lips pressed together, anger building quick. “I’ve been moving through the Citadel just fine.”
The bloodcoat didn’t respond, but his eyes dipped down to Lore’s ring, then back up to her face.
Ah.
“That won’t be necessary.” She drew herself up to her full height, tried to put the weight of future queenliness into her voice. “I’ll inform the King that I relieved you of your post.”
The bloodcoat shifted on his feet but didn’t leave. “I’m afraid you can’t do that, my lady.”
Her smile was frosty. “I assure you, I can.”
“I can only be dismissed by the one who gave the order.” Dammit all, this bloodcoat had more spine than Lore had prepared for. She was used to scaring them, and the one time she wanted to use that, it wouldn’t work. The guard continued, “If you want me to call His Majesty back—”
“No.” She snapped it, turning on her heel. “No need.”
Because she wouldn’t win that argument, and she didn’t want to see the satisfaction on this man’s face when she lost.
Lore swept down the hallway toward the stairs without another word. The guard, whose name she didn’t ask for, fell in behind. She entertained fantasies of him tripping on the stairs and falling ass over feet all the way to the ground floor.
So focused was she on this particular daydream that she didn’t see Alie until she nearly ran her over.
“Hello to you, too,” Alie said, slapping her hands to Lore’s shoulders to keep her steady. There was a laugh in the words, but her eyes were jade-like, glittering and stony.
“Sorry.” Lore righted herself, cast a glance over her shoulder. The bloodcoat had stopped a few feet away, standing with his back to the wall, his hands at his sides and his eyes straight ahead. A casual enough posture, one that wouldn’t make it immediately obvious he was following Lore.
That was probably the idea.
Alie’s gaze followed Lore’s, the wariness in her face honing to a harder, flintier edge.
“Of course,” Lore said, loudly enough so that the bloodcoat could hear. “I’d be happy to accompany you to your apartment, I know how that time of the month can be such a bother.”
