Page 32 of The Faceless Mage

The princess had an odd definition of “rest.”

She was also pretending nothing had happened. Hoping, perhaps, that he was unaware of what she had just experienced?

Before the Raven could decide whether to challenge her further, the sounds from the hall outside came to a stop outside the door. The princess’s fingers tightened in her dressing gown, just as whoever was out there decided to use their fists to indicate their desire to enter.

Lady Piperell winced, but glanced at the princess for instructions before moving.

“I suppose you may let them in,” Evaraine said with a sigh.

She appeared calm, but her grip on her dressing gown had not eased. Probably wondering whether the guards would insist on searching her room. Especially once they discovered the Raven had returned to confront her himself.

The moment Lady Piperell opened the door, a handful of guards pressed in, almost causing the older woman to stumble with their abrupt entry. The princess took a step back, as if frightened by their armed presence. Then again, she probably was. With as many secrets as she had to hide, it was a wonder she could face them so innocently.

“We believe there may be an intruder hiding somewhere on this level,” one of the guardsmen said, addressing himself to Lady Piperell. “We’re searching all the rooms, and we’ll need to question Her Highness.”

“I do not give permission for you to violate my privacy,” Evaraine objected, her voice shaking audibly.

The Raven did not think she was pretending—the stench of her fear was growing stronger. Still, her face revealed nothing but what might be expected of a shy yet determined princess who’d been pressed past what she was willing to endure.

“I am a guest, and princess of Farhall,” she continued, “and this is the second time I have been importuned this evening. If His Majesty’s guards continue to treat me with such discourtesy, I will have no choice but to make official objections. I’m sure my father would not wish me to be subjected to such an unseemly uproar.”

Technically, His Majesty King Melger could do whatever he wanted. He’d already proven that many times over.

But the Raven couldn’t help but feel some reluctant admiration for her audacity. She had no allies here, and she was hiding secrets so explosive, they could easily result in her death. He guessed she could not afford for them to search her room, but there was no one she could count on to take her side.

She’d seen him on the balcony. She had to be wondering whether he meant to betray her secrets.

And he could. Perhaps he should. But again, that curiosity raised its head, and the Raven found himself reacting in the strangest way.

He pivoted to face the guards and drew his sword, letting his stance say very clearly what his silence couldn’t.

His place was to protect the princess.

The shock of that silenced the entire room. The guards looked at each other as if trying to decide whether it was worth their lives to continue carrying out their orders, while the Raven felt the pressure of the princess’s eyes as she stared at his back.

Hopefully, she was as confused as he was.

Because this was not the work of King Melger’s compulsion. After so many years, the Raven knew too well the feeling of his decisions coming under another’s control. Knew what it felt like when his very muscles rebelled against his own commands.

This action he had chosen for himself. And he had no idea why.

“Your Highness, it is simply a precaution…” Whatever the guardsman had been about to say died on his lips as the Raven took a single step towards him. If nothing else, he had always enjoyed terrorizing the king’s flunkies.

“I’m sure we can entrust the security of this suite to His Majesty’s bodyguard,” one of the other guards said hastily. “My apologies for disrupting your rest.”

They bowed and backed away carefully. Once the door had finally shut behind them, Lady Piperell collapsed into one of the chairs, her head shaking slowly.

“I can’t imagine what that could have been about. But to see him standing up to them…” Her eyes widened abruptly as she glanced up at the Raven, obviously embarrassed to be caught talking about him while he was still there to hear her. Like everyone else in the palace, she never seemed quite sure whether to treat him like a person. Most of the time, he scarcely noticed anymore, but today, for some reason, it bothered him.

“Your Highness,” Lady Piperell said, turning to the princess, “may I assist you in returning to your rest?”

“No, thank you.” Evaraine offered her a tremulous smile. “My nerves are quite overwrought, and I am so weary, I’m sure I will simply fall into bed and be asleep in moments.”

Overwrought nerves? The Raven found himself struggling with an unaccountable desire to laugh. The woman who had only recently leaped over a balcony railing into the middle of a royal ball could hardly be feeling intimidated by a brief confrontation with a few inept royal guards.

But Lady Piperell seemed to take the princess’s statement as fact. She rose silently, curtsied, and disappeared into the small room where she’d presumably been sleeping until a short time earlier.

That left Evaraine and the Raven regarding one another with what seemed to be equal degrees of curiosity.

---