We walked slowly and ate grapes. Anna and Elle were too tired even to gossip about the squires. But it was a good silence, the kind that falls between friends and makes you feel closer, not more distant, because you know that what they are thinking is probably what you are thinking. That we all did a job we could be proud of. Relief that it all came out as well as it did. Wonder mingled with amusement about the Trolls, who turned out to be friendly after all.
I parted with them at our rooms and left the remains of my bunch of grapes on the nightstand, then headed straight for the Royal Suite.
Papa was waiting for me in his favorite chair, a lamp beside him, and beckoned to me to come into the light. I stood before him silently, my hands clasped behind my back, wondering if an ax was about to fall.
He studied me for a very long time.
“Technically, you didn’t disobey my orders,” he finally said.
I thought about what I was going to say before I said it. “Perhaps. But I was with the Companions.”
“But you were not with just the Companions. You were also with Lady Brianna. You didn’t rush off without a plan. You had a Fae warrior with you. You even had a dragon with you. You brought Sir Delacar into your plans and got his approval. There was no time to find me or wait while messengers ran after the fighters who had gone haring off in all directions. You made plans, good solid plans, and when circumstances changed, you thought things through and made new ones rather than acting without thought. You are so much like your father. Inside as well as out. He would not have stood by while a child was in danger. He would have done exactly what you did. And he would have been just as deliberate as you were—that’s the part that impresses me the most, Miri. Half or more of my knights would simply have snatched up Aurora and tried to fight their way out of there—and the first victim would have been an unarmed child, the Troll Prince. The next victim would have been peace—for the Trolls would certainly have joined the Dark Fae in a war against us. Miri, I do not often admit this, but I was wrong.”
A thrill ran up my back at those words and I straightened up, all fatigue forgotten.
“I should not have acted as I did and taken away your responsibilities. You were correct. And I am putting you all back in charge of Aurora’s safety again.” He smiled at my gasp of happiness. “And I want you to continue to train as Brianna’s apprentice—I would like you to learn everything she can teach you about being a warrior as well as a mage. This is clearly something you were born to do. The least I can do is give you everything you need to do it superbly.”
He got up and hugged me and kissed my forehead, then he took my shoulders, turned me around, and gave me a little push.
“Go to bed. Get your rest. By morning, all your young friends will know of my decision—and that I expect you all to get right back to work.”
Anna and Elle were waiting up for me in my room. “What did he say?” Anna demanded. But Elle had already read the decision in my expression.
“He’s letting us be Aurora’s Companions again!” she crowed. Then she and Anna jumped off my bed and seized my hands, and the three of us made a happy little circle dance as quietly as possible to avoid arousing the wrath of Melalee.
We sat on the bed and whispered and chortled, and to be frank, we didn’t make much sense because we were light-headed from exhaustion and elation. But exhaustion finally took over, Anna and Elle went to their room to sleep, and I sat on my bed in the moonlight, not thinking for a very long while.
Finally, I got up again and tiptoed into the nursery. Melalee was asleep in her bed. The maid she had taking the night watch started as she saw me come into the room, but a finger to my lips kept her quiet, and I made my way over to the cradle.
“Who’s the fairest in the land, hmm?” I whispered to the sleeping baby. “You are, that’s who. And I will always protect you.”
And I would. I had the feeling that the Dark Fae were done for now. But there would be another time. Certainly on her thirteenth birthday. And her sixteenth. Possibly even her third or her ninth. Her sixteenth would be the most dangerous time of all; that would be when she came of age, and if what I suspected was true—that she would be able to create allies for us out of the unallied creatures who lived in this kingdom—both the Dark Fae and the external enemies of Tirendell would do their best to stop her.
But by her third birthday, the Companions and I would be old enough to be knights with every bit of training and more. By her ninth, we’d be even stronger.
And by her thirteenth? If I had anything to say about it, she’d have been training with us for two years. By her sixteenth…
I smiled a little. There was no reason why my beautiful baby sister could not grow up to be as fierce as she was lovely. In the right cause, of course.
“And I will always protect you,” I repeated as she sighed in her sleep. “No matter what.”
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MERCEDES LACKEY is the acclaimed author of over fifty novels and many works of short fiction. In her spare time, she is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. Mercedes lives in Oklahoma with her husband and frequent collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots. She invites you to visit her at mercedeslackey.com or on Twitter @mercedeslackey.
By MERCEDES LACKEY
HUNTER
Hunter
Elite
Apex
Briarheart
Briarheart Page 31