“You know who I am,” he said, stopping just beside her.
Seeing him up close, she realized that he was younger than he had appeared. Though his hair was silver, his face was smooth and boyish, his eyes a bright, clear green. She would have liked to say something cutting, something that would make him realize that she owed no allegiance to him or his realm. But all she could manage was a simple, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You should know as well that no matter what those leading your movement have told you, I’m neither a tyrant nor a fool. If you answer my questions honestly, you’ll be treated fairly. If you refuse me, or try to deceive me in any way, your child will be taken from you and you’ll be imprisoned. Do you understand?”
Her heart pounded in her chest like ocean breakers and she was shivering despite the sun. She looked past the king to Grinsa, who stood just behind him, his gaze lowered. She wanted to rail at him, to ask him how he could choose this man and his court over Bryntelle, but once more the words wouldn’t come. After a moment’s pause, she merely nodded.
“Good,” the king said. “Lord Curgh and the gleaner tell me that you’re part of the conspiracy we’ve heard so much about, and I have no reason to doubt their word. They also tell me that you’re unlikely to flee or try something foolish. They say that you love your daughter too much to risk harming her or yourself. On their recommendation, you’ll be given a chamber near theirs and food, and you’ll be allowed to come and go as you please. Don’t do anything to make me regret the faith I’m placing in your good sense.” He turned to Grinsa and Tavis. “Eat, rest. We’ll speak later in the day.”
Both men bowed to Kearney.
“My thanks, Your Majesty,” Tavis said. “We’ll await your summons.”
The king nodded and walked back into the nearest of the tower entrances. An instant later one of the king’s soldiers stepped forward and gestured toward a different doorway.
“This way, my lord,” he said to Tavis, and even Cresenne heard the ice in his voice. The king’s men, it seemed, were no more convinced of the young lord’s innocence than were the soldiers of Glyndwr.
Grinsa helped Cresenne from her mount, and all of them followed the guard up a winding stairway and into the castle corridors. They were given three rooms on an otherwise empty hallway. Grinsa took the room between Cresenne’s and Tavis’s, telling them both to await word from him before going anywhere.
“Surely I’m safe within Audun’s Castle,” the boy said, frowning. “I’m not a child to be kept in my chamber while you wander freely about the place.”
For once, Cresenne agreed with him. But a sharp look from the gleaner made it clear to both of them that he would not discuss the point.
Cresenne’s room was ample for guest quarters, though rather spare and chill. Aside from a bed, a wardrobe, and a single chair by the dark hearth, it was empty. She gently laid Bryntelle on the bed and watched her for a moment. The child slept still, though her mouth moved as though she were suckling.
Almost immediately someone knocked at the door. Pulling it open, she saw a young servant, burdened with a large load of wood and kindling. He bowed shyly to her and hurried to the hearth, where he began to build her a fire. She nearly stopped him-she could have started the flame with a single thought-but before she could speak, Grinsa appeared in the doorway.
He cast a quick look at the servant, then cleared his throat.
“How is she?” he asked, nodding toward Bryntelle.
“She’s fine.”
He nodded, his eyes wandering to the servant again. The boy had piled several logs in the hearth, placing the rest beside it.
“That will do,” Grinsa told him. “We can take care of the rest.”
The boy stared up at them, looking frightened. Certainly he had seen Qirsi before, living and laboring in a castle, but from the expression on his face, one might have thought that they were the first sorcerers he had ever met.
“Yes, sir,” he murmured. He bowed and quickly left the room.
Grinsa closed the door.
Cresenne turned away from him. “It didn’t take you long to tell the king all about me, did it?”
“You work for the conspiracy. Do you honestly think I’d allow him to make you a guest in his castle without telling him that first?”
She shrugged.
“I also told him I didn’t think you were a threat to him or anyone else.”
“That might have been a mistake.”
“I don’t think so.”
She gave a small laugh, facing him again. “You’re just like them. You think nothing of using our baby as a weapon against me.”
“We’re both guilty of that, Cresenne. She deserves better from both of us.”
“I won’t tell the king anything. I won’t betray the movement and I won’t risk my life to save the Curgh boy.”
He gazed at her for some time, offering no response, until she began to grow uncomfortable. She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes wandering the room.
“What are you looking at?” she finally asked.
“Did you ever love me?”
“I did what I did for the movement. You must know that by now.” Her hands were shaking and she rubbed her arms, trying to get warm.
Grinsa glanced back at the hearth and an instant later flames leaped from the wood.
“That should warm you.”
“Thank you.”
“I did love you,” he said, stepping past her and sitting on the bed beside their baby. He looked down at Bryntelle for a long time, running a gentle finger along her cheek. Hands more gentle than any I’ve ever known. .
“I loved you more than I’ve loved anyone since my wife died,” he went on, his voice low now. “When I realized you were the one who sent that assassin, it nearly killed me.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m not sure. I suppose I’ve been wanting to for some time now. I never thought I’d get the chance.”
“So is this the reason you brought me to the City of Kings? Are you trying to exact some measure of revenge for what I did to you?”
He shook his head, though he still gazed a the child. “I’m doing it because I have to, just as I had to leave you in Galdasten.”
“To protect the boy.”
“It’s more than that.” He looked back at her. “Your movement will bring ruin to the Forelands, Cresenne. You may think that you’re building a new realm for the Qirsi, but all you’re doing is destroying the land, destroying Bryntelle’s home.”
“She has no home so long as the Eandi rule.” Cresenne said the words with all the force she could muster, but even she could hear how hollow they sounded.
“I’m going to defeat your Weaver.” He spoke with such certainty that she didn’t dare argue. “I may not live to see the end of the war, but neither will he. So you need to choose. Are you going to devote yourself to a doomed cause, or are you going to help me, and make certain that your daughter grows up knowing her father?” He stood, crossing to the door. “The king will want to speak with Tavis and me before questioning you. I doubt he’ll summon you before tomorrow morning, so you have some time to think about it.” He pulled the door open and started to leave. Then he stopped himself, facing her once more. “You never answered my question.”
She held his gaze as best she could, balling her hands into fists so that he wouldn’t see how she trembled. “Of course I did.”
“You told me that you seduced me for the movement. But you didn’t say whether or not you loved me.”
Cresenne tossed her hair and smiled coldly. “I didn’t love you. I could never love a man like you.”