Chapter 20: Can’t Talk Treason if There’s No Royals To Hear

Chapter 20: Can’t Talk Treason if There’s No Royals To Hear

The library fey whod helped him out of the dungeon took in a gasping breath. Then another, steadier. Her cloaks hood had fallen back, and in the dim light he could make out red hair, light eyes, and the rosy blotch of a wine stain birthmark spilled across the left side of her face. Straw peppered her clothes.

She was younger than hed thought. Twelve or thirteen at the most. Or at least, thats all the older she lookeda man never could tell, with her kind.

A certain tension left Aarons shoulders. After a moment of thought, it came right back.

Sorry, he said, taking a hasty step away.

She pulled her hood back up, tucking herself safely under its shadows. Her other hand clutched at the front of her cloak, just below where hed pressed his arm to her throat.

Sorry. Really. I thought someone was up here, but I didnt know it was you.

Do you make a habit of accosting people in stables? She tried to make herself sound properly offended, but she was breathing a bit too hard to pull it off, and pressing a bit too close to the wall.

This is a first, I admit. He took yet another step back, for good measure. Thank you. For your help the other day. And the warnings, even if I didnt read them right.

She took in a deep breath, and straightened herself up. It didnt make her much taller, but it seemed to help with her confidence. What would you have done? If I wasnt me?

There were squares of hay behind him. Aaron sat himself down. Id have figured something out. Probably. To be honest, hed been expecting either a Kindly Soul or one of the Raffertys hires. He knew how to deal with each, in their own way.

She frowned. Probably?

Probably. What are you doing up here? If I may ask. I thought you were a library fey.

She gave another tug to her hood. He wasnt quite sure, but he thought he saw a blush under there. After a moments pause she joined him on the hay bales, keeping an arms length between them. Just watching. Listening. The stable is the best place for hearing things.

Try the kitchens sometime, Aaron suggested. Especially while the bakers boy is getting a letter scribed.

Her gaze was serious and without humor. He stretched out his legs in front of him and took great interest in staring at his hand-me-down boots.

So what do they say? he asked. The stablehands.

That the king is dying.

I suppose he is, at that.

Dont you care? Her vehemence startled him. You work for him. It is the kings family that gives you food and shelter. Dont you feel a a debt of loyalty to them?

Was that what fey felt towards those who housed them? It was clearly too serious a thing for him to make light of, but he couldnt just sidestep the question, either. She deserved better than that, with what shed done for him. Aaron leaned back on his palms.

I didnt mean offense. But it was you who gave me a chance, and John, and Mrs. Summers. Even one of the guards. The kings had nothing to do with me. The only time Ive seen the man was during the foxs attack. He and his family wouldnt know me from a sparrow on the roof. Loyaltys an earned thing. What have they done to deserve mine?

But she began, then started again: But you IThis chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Aaron shrugged. If its Letforget, its better to leave it die, isnt it?

But why? Its so much knowledge, and theyre just theyre killing it. Another topic of passion for her.

Aaron rubbed his heel along the floor, clearing the straw off the boards in a little half-moon. Cant say I know much about it. But its the people who knew it best that decided not to pass it on, isnt it? Thats the kind of decision folk are better off respecting.

She was quiet for a moment. Then she asked, almost hesitantly; Is it true? That the old castle still stands in the stone caves?

Thats a fancy way of putting it. Not wrong. Not even half wrong. But fancier than hed ever heard and with a lot less swearing than he was used to. Yes. It does.

She leaned in. Have you been inside? Whats it like?

He shivered a little. The Letforget is still awake down there. Whatever the OSheas did when they sealed the place, they didnt leave any chinks. Ive seen men die just from brushing against the outer walls. Ive only looked at it from the bridges. And not the nearer ends of them, mind.

The OShea line had sealed it for a reason, and it wasnt because their new castle was grander. He didnt know what that reason was, but a man didnt need to understand fire to know that sticking his hand in was a fool idea.

I want to go there. I want to see it. There was a force to her longing that was painful to hear. I dont want to stay trapped up in here forever.

Then dont. His words startled him. But he couldnt stop speaking them, now that they were out. You said the way into Twokins is blocked, but can you get out anywhere else? Outside the castle walls, I mean.

She sat up a little straighter. Theres an entrance on the south wall, under the guard tower.

Of course it was under the guard tower. Well, hed work with what he could get. Meet me there. A week from now.

At the Wake for the Old Year?

The? Yes. Yes, exactly; at the Wake. Ill show you the lower town. Its a better offering than stale bread, isnt it?

The little fey thought about it very seriously. Then she nodded.

They set the details: a week from today, just after sunset.

For long moments, he stared at the place where she left. It looked like just a wall to him. The same stone that everything in the plateau was made of. He rose and examined it closer. Set a hand against it, tentatively. It was rough and solid. But when he pushed, when he thought Are you open?, his hand slid through as if it wasnt even there.

* * *

The doors into the old ways stayed open after she left. He wasnt sure for how long, exactlywasnt sure whether they ever really were closed, or whether hed just forgotten where to touch. Once hed lost them, he couldnt find them again. But if he saw her come or go, if he didnt take his eyes away

Aaron experimented. He put his hand through, then his head. The next time he was smarter and brought a shuttered lamp.

The feys doors let into the stone of the castle itself. To straight and even corridors, and simple flights of stairs. She was right about themthey were dying like a spider, the side halls atrophying and crumbling, or simply dead-ending. But the main passage, the one that connected the ground floor with the royals apartments, clung to life.

Aaron didnt explore much. He didnt want to run afoul of the halls Fair occupant. He stepped back into the castle proper and blew out his light.

A week would be enough.