Page 136 of A Crown of Lies

They set up camp, but Ieduin didn’t bother pitching his own tent. The perks of being the king’s lover meant he got to sleep in the king’s tent.

Instead, he spent the setup time directing Crows and Greymarkers, assigning tasks. There was much more to an army camp than just putting down tents. Latrines had to be dug—a job nobody wanted—and guard rotations set. They had to set temporary fortifications, send out scouts, and see that rations were distributed. A fight broke out between a few Crows and one of the Greymarkers that he had to deal with personally, and then the scouts reported in.

After all that, it was dark, and he was exhausted. His feet carried him to Rowan’s tent, almost on automatic. Ieduin was looking forward to falling into bed and not moving until the sun came up, but apparently, Rowan and Rixxis had other ideas.

Ieduin passed the guards and came through the door, making it only another foot before he came to a dead stop, trying to make sense of the scene in front of him. There was a table, a proper table with chairs and real plates andfood. Not just rations either, or even the kinds of simple dishes that had been served back at the castle.

There was noodle stew, and honeyed rice, and… Gods above, were thoserealmeat dumplings?

Rixxis and Rowan were standing near the table as if they’d been waiting for him, though the food was all still hot and steaming.

He scanned their faces, frowning. “I knew it. I’m dead, aren’t I?”

Rowan chuckled.

“No, silly.” Rixxis stepped away from the table and took his hands, bringing him to the seat in the middle in front of all his favorite foods. “Before we all left Brucia, I got a few recipes from Katyr.”

Ieduin blinked and tilted his head. “You made this?”

“Gods, no,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I couldn’t boil water. No, Rowan brought a cook. I gave the recipes to him.”

“I still don’t understand,” Ieduin said. “Why’d you go through this much trouble? This can’t have been easy all the way out here.”

Rixxis and Rowan exchanged a glance.

“Katyr told me today was your birthday,” Rixxis said, brows pinched. “Did I get the date wrong?”

Ieduin stared at her. “My… birthday? Today?”

She fidgeted with her fingers. “Isn’t it?”

He stared at the food. “I don’t know. I… I mean, I know it’s in the fall but the exact day, Rixxis, I have no damn idea when it is.”

“You didn’t celebrate it annually when you were a child?” Rixxis stared at him in disbelief.

“I…” He trailed off, his throat tight.

How was he supposed to tell her the truth? Birthday celebrations were luxuries for people who had time and money and not eight mouths to feed. They weren’t something that his parents ever did for any of them. Not really. It was one of the few things Ieduin had changed when he was in charge of his sisters. He couldn’t remember the exact dates some of them had been born, so he’d used his best guess. On their birthdays, they always had birthday soup, which was just their normal vegetable soup with meat thrown in and some of the baker’s bread from the day before. When he started making good money at the Hen House, he brought them dolls and paints, or hairbrushes and mirrors with real glass. One year, he’d even been able to afford new dresses for all of them, and new shoes.

Buthedidn’t have birthdays. He didn’t get gifts, or special soup, and no one ever sang to him, or wished him a happy birthday. He was always so busy taking care of his sisters that there just wasn’t room in his life for such things.

It’d never mattered to him. At least, he thought it hadn’t. Now that he was sitting there, with Rixxis and Rowan staring at him, all the fine food cooling in front of him, it struck him just how fucked up that was.

It wasn’t just a birthday celebration he’d never had. He’d never gotten to be a kid at all.

His chest tightened, emotion overwhelming him. He wanted to laugh, to scream, to bring his father back from the dead and yell at him, hithimfor once. Instead, it all came out as a single choked sound and tears. His stomach hurt so much he doubled over, holding it and crying into nothing.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Rixxis muttered, elbowing Rowan before she knelt next to him. “Please don’t cry. I’ll take it away. I’m sorry.”

“No, please don’t.” He sniffled and wiped away the tears, giving her a sheepish glance. “I’ve never had a birthday before.”

Rowan came over, squatting next to Rixxis. “It’s all right. You don’t have to explain.”

He couldn’t, anyway. The words wouldn’t come. Not until he threw his arms around both of them, unable to stop the tears. “What did I ever do to deserve the two of you?”

“Absolutely, positively, nothing good,” Rowan replied, returning the embrace. “But I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Rixxis echoed, rubbing his back.

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