Page 45 of The Lord of Light

“What’s your business? Speak fast,” the soldier ordered, his attention directed to my driver.

“I’m hired help here. I was taking this one from Harborview to the High Court when we ran into some trouble,” my driver answered.

“Who are you then?” the soldier asked, now looking at me. A list of possible answers ran through my head—the Commander of the Northern Force’s girlfriend? No, that couldn’t be easily verifiable. The Prince’s secret mentee protégé? No, that was even worse. “I’m senior counselor to House Heroux,” I declared.

“We don’t need any counselors out here,” the soldier replied skeptically.

“Listen, can you just go ask someone? Commander Davante? High Lord Dumont? High Lord Vitruvian?” I added, thinking that Jay must be around.

The soldier looked more and more skeptical as my list continued with each person higher in rank. There had to be someone here who knew me.

“Perhaps I should just go ask the King himself,” the flippant soldier joked with his companions.

I thought for a moment that the King would remember me before I realized the soldier was messing with me. Just then, a retinue of Valencian soldiers arrived at the base camp entrance ahead of us. And then I saw him atop a brown gelding, his golden spun hair shining like a beckon.

“Oh, thank the fucking gods,” I said under my breath, ignoring the soldier that was showing signs of wanting to search our carriage. “Rhett,” I called out. “RHETT!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

The handsome bastard trotted over to me.

“Al, whatin the fuckare you doing here?” Rhett asked. “Leave it to you to ride right into the middle of a damn battle.”

We were granted entry into the base camp, and Rhett helped me out of my carriage. My driver was more than happy for me to be someone else’s problem now.

“Come on, Al baby. Let’s get you somewhere where you can relax and tell me how it is that you are here,” Rhett offered, seemingly cool as a cucumber, but there was tightness around his blue eyes.

“Rhett, what’s going on?” I asked, showing the opposite of the composure he exhibited. “First, Cass had to leave me in Harborview in a hurry. And now, this,” I said, gesturing toward the camp full of soldiers around us.

Rhett casually threw an arm around my shoulders, and I felt myself calm just a fraction. He began to walk with me toward what appeared to be the largest tent in the entire encampment. We walked into a tent that was much larger and nicer on the inside than it appeared on the outside.

The King sat slightly slumped in a chair on the far side of the tent. He looked regal but exhausted. High Lord Rein was next to him, and they were whispering intently. If they thought my presence at the camp was odd, they didn’t say anything. I didn’t even think my existence really registered with them.

Rhett plopped down into a wooden chair, gesturing for me to sit next to him in a dark green, velvet-lined seat that seemed very out of place in a temporary tent.

“It’s okay, Al. The battle is over. At least for now,” he said wearily.

I scanned around the tent again. There were shelves of books and a long, large table and many other items I would not have expected to be in such a makeshift operation. Perhaps I was wrong to assume the tent was here for purposes of this one engagement. Maybe we had these kinds of set ups all over Valencia and I just didn’t realize it. I made a mental note to ask Cass about it.

I looked around the tent again and finally realized what, or actually who, I was looking for.

“Where’s Luke, Rhett?” I asked, failing to keep the panic from my voice.

If Rhett was here, that meant Luke probably was, too. My heartbeat spiked. Rhett gave me a smirk that was meant to be reassuring.

“He’ll be here shortly, Al. I came back with the King. He’s helping some of the others round up some of the last few Alancians who were unlucky enough to get left behind,” Rhett explained.

Cass, Rhett, Luke,I tallied in my head. The Prince and Jay had to be around as well. It felt like someone was trying to squeeze my heart until it popped.

“Has the wall failed, then?” I asked after the one thing we all worried over.

“No,” Rhett answered. “The wall is still intact, though they are still managing to get some Alancians through somehow. If the wall wasn’t functioning, they would have had an entire army here. Instead, only those who could be magically traveled were present,” he explained.

He was not conveying information to me fast enough. I needed to know what was happening. I couldn’t just sit here. I went to rise from my chair. Then I heard what sounded like a group of people arriving all at once, followed by the sound of several pairs of heavy footsteps walking up to the tent. Rhett stood, moving between me and the entrance.

One by one, they came through the tent entryway. First in was Jay. He was wearing his normal stoic facade and simple clothing similar to what I’d seen him wear before when he practiced with his sword. His gray eyes darted to me, but he quickly directed his attention to the King. My eyes stayed glued to the tent flap, waiting for the next person to walk through.

“Luke,” I cried out, nearly running to his side the moment he ducked under the tent flap. He wore the same tight forest green clothing as Rhett and big, heavy-looking dark boots. It was so unlike the clean-cut suits he normally donned at Court.

I took two steps toward him, and he met me the rest of the way. He gave me a smile that felt like salve on a wound I didn’t even know I had. Relief rolled through my entire body.

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