‘What for?’ asked the woman. She came no closer.
‘She hungers. You have a babe about her age. You can feed her.’
It was a ghastly idea and Lorn knew it. The woman’s mouth dropped.
‘Do not refuse me,’ he warned. ‘I have nowhere else to go, and the child needs milk. I will not let you say no to her.’
‘We have milk inside-’
‘No,’ said Lorn. ‘For two days she’s had nothing but water and bread and old meat. I’ve fed her garbage and now she needs milk. Real milk. Mother’s milk.’
The woman cringed. ‘I cannot. Please don’t make me do this.’
Suddenly Lorn realised how much he had frightened her. ‘My promise is good, woman. I want nothing from you but to feed my child. When that’s done I will be on my way, and you will be none the poorer.’ He held Poppy out to her. ‘Please.’
‘And if I don’t?’ said the woman. Lorn stared hard at her, and she knew the truth. ‘If I don’t you will harm me. Or my children.’ She snorted. ‘Beast.’
‘You see me clearly,’ said Lorn. ‘So then, if you won’t do it for my child, do it for your own.’ He gestured to the stool he had seen earlier. ‘There. Sit. I will look away if you wish.’
There was little the woman could do. For a moment she considered her dismal options, but in the end she went to the stool as Lorn knew she would. She was driven by the same instinct as he — to save her children. When at last she sat down she held out her arms.
‘Give the child to me. You stay here with me while she feeds. I don’t want you anywhere near my children.’
Lorn agreed and gave Poppy over to her. Amazingly, her anger slackened when she held the baby. She studied Poppy’s face, shaking her head. ‘You have this child out on a night so chill. You’re a very stupid man.’
‘And you are a very brave woman to speak so to me. Just feed the girl and keep quiet.’
‘Look away then, brute, and let me do this thing.’
Angered by her insults, Lorn nevertheless turned to look outside the stable doors while the woman set to work. He listened to the soft noise of her unbuttoning, then her uncomfortable groans as Poppy latched on. It embarrassed him to be here like this, and he remembered with pain that he had been a king two days ago. Now he was lost in the Bleak Territories, forcing a woman in a stable to feed his daughter, the only family left to him. The sounds of Poppy suckling comforted him a little, though, and he took a breath to steel his resolve. Soon they would be out of Norvor. Then it was on to Liiria, where he could hide. In the chaos of that former kingdom, he knew Jazana Carr would never find him.
‘Your daughter is hungry,’ said the woman. There was mildness in her voice. ‘She’s a good baby. A gentle feeder.’
Lorn grimaced. No one had told him that before, and he wasn’t sure what it meant. ‘She has great need of you, no doubt.’
‘She is quiet,’ said the woman. ‘And her expression is strange.’ She paused, then said, ‘Can this child see?’
It was the question Lorn had dreaded. ‘I don’t know yet,’ he confessed. ‘She is deaf, that I know already. She can see shadows, I think. But she can eat, and that’s all that should concern you.’
‘Where is her mother?’
‘Dead.’
Another pause. ‘A cruel world, especially for a child born like this one. I am sorry for her.’
‘Do not be sorry.’
‘I’m sorry that the girl has a brute for a father and no mother to learn from. I suppose she should be grateful you haven’t killed her yet.’
Lorn suppressed his anger. ‘What is your name, woman?’
She surprised him by answering quickly. ‘Gedena. What is yours?’
‘I won’t be telling you, so don’t ask again. Where is your husband? A woman with children shouldn’t be alone in these parts.’
‘No,’ chuckled the woman acidly. ‘You would know about that, wouldn’t you?’
This time Lorn turned around just as she was switching breasts. The sight of her exposed bosom quelled his anger. She looked up at him. He stared. Seeing her softened him at once. She was beautiful in a way, because she was feeding his child and because he missed Rinka so much. The woman named Gedena hefted Poppy higher to cover herself.
‘Look away,’ she said.
Reluctantly, Lorn did so. ‘I am right, though,’ he said. ‘A woman should not be left alone. Your husband does you no good leaving you to yourself.’
‘You see this place? What kind of palace do you think it is? My husband has gone to earn money for us. He’s gone to fight with Jazana Carr’s army.’
‘What?’ It took a great effort for Lorn not to turn around again. ‘He’s left you to fight with that witch?’
The woman guffawed. ‘You are a southerner. I can hear your accent. Jazana Carr pays good gold and diamonds for men who will fight. It’s more than the king has done for us. Your king, southerner.’
Lorn bristled at the words. He was hated; he’d always known that. But word of his fall had yet to reach Gedena, it seemed. ‘Then your husband is a turncoat. He is not a man at all if he would fight for Jazana Carr.’
‘Enough!’ said Gedena. ‘I’ll not sit here and listen to you castigate my man, not while I feed your daughter milk meant for my own son!’ She rose. Lorn turned around and saw her bitter face. ‘If King Lorn is so just, why do you run north? Your king is a tyrant and a fool. Jazana Carr offers us freedom.’
‘She will enslave you with her diamonds,’ said Lorn. He took Poppy, now sated, from the woman. ‘She will change Norvor, and you will not like it when she does.’
Gedena began buttoning up her shirt. ‘What would a man know of change? You come to my home and order me to feed your child. Because I am a woman I have no choice. You threaten my children and I have no choice. I yield to you because I must. But it will not be so when Jazana Carr triumphs. And when King Lorn hangs, I will celebrate.’
Stung, Lorn looked at Poppy, then back at Gedena. The woman had done him a remarkable favour, but only for the sake of the girl. He wondered how willing she’d have been to feed a boy child.
‘Jazana Carr has poisoned your mind,’ he told her. ‘She will bring chaos to Norvor. Mark my words — you will miss King Lorn someday.’
‘I will not,’ said Gedena, ‘any more than I would miss a wart.’ She had dressed herself and now stood up tall, summoning her dignity. Obviously she was waiting for Lorn to leave. He dug into his pocket and fished out a silver coin, one of a handful he had stolen off the Rolgans. Gedena glowered when he held it out for her.
‘I am not a whore,’ she said. ‘What I did I did for the sake of the child.’
‘You have done me a service,’ Lorn said. ‘Take it, and if you have some milk I could take with me I would be glad for it. For the child, you see. We still have a long ride ahead of us.’
‘Now you would take goat milk? After I offered it to you before?’
‘Unless there are more willing teats on the road to Liiria, my daughter will starve without it. And I won’t take it; I will pay for it.’
‘Liiria?’ Gedena raised her eyebrows. ‘Why would you take the child there? I thought you wanted to escape war. You won’t find peace in Liiria.’
Again Lorn went into his pocket and came out with another coin. ‘This one is to keep your tongue from wagging. My business in Liiria is my own. Now, will you fetch us what we need?’
Gedena frowned, still unwilling to help.
‘Have I not kept my promise to you, woman? You and your children are unharmed. My daughter is fed and I can be on my way now. What I’ve paid you is more than you deserve, but you’ve shamed me into it. The milk would be fair recompense.’
Reluctantly, Gedena nodded. ‘All right, but you bring that child to her doom, you know. Perhaps you don’t know this, being from the south — Liiria is at war with itself. There’s no safety there for you. If you’re a deserter-’
‘I am not a deserter, madam,’ said Lorn stiffly.
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Perhaps not. But if you’re trying to make a better life for that girl, you should stay here in the north. There will be peace soon. Jazana Carr has promised it. The war is almost over.’