She wasn’t looking his way. She wasn’t saying anything. Draka did all he could to mimic her poise. To concentrate on the others. On Maud when she told him about how disappointed she was her cousins didn’t come. On the food that was brought before him. On the servants who grinned with each platter they presented.

  Slices of pork with charred ends and bits of apple surrounding them. He nodded.

  Her hair wasn’t braided this time. It is pinned with pearls.

  Chopped vegetables with sauteed mushrooms. He nodded as they were spooned onto his plate.

  She barely grins. I wish I could tell her how sorry I am for throwing her. Did I hurt her? That dress…it makes her eyes shine bright as the sun.

  Maud was laughing at something. Draka suddenly realized he was staring at his food instead of eating it. She touched his hand and chuckled toward him, “Apparently there was a scuffle outside. Vigora got into the apple crate and ate most of what they needed for the apple cobbler, so we will be having cake instead!”

  Draka wanted to laugh with her. But all he could think was how upset he knew Aurie was. He could feel it wafting from her along with the smell of her rose perfume that only subtly met his senses. He chanced a glance her way and she was the opposite, laughing in conversation with Enya, whose hooded eyes met his the instant he turned them. He turned back to Maud, reddening and blinking. He needed to eat to hide his embarrassment.

  Maud gave him a look but cast it off when he took a bite. He pretended it tasted as good as it smelled. He had let it get cold. When he looked up from the plate, it was Balian who was looking his way from the far end of the Hall, looking as abandoned as Draka felt. A kindred spirit, in that moment, for different reasons, but intertwined in the same person.

  She’s not upset. You’re upset. You need to get a hold of yourself, Draka. That woman is not your wife. You are not a man who can look. Your heart is taken.

  A little longer.

  “What’s wrong?” Maud whispered with a lean.

  Draka filled his mouth and shook his head with a playful closed-mouthed grin. She knew him too well to believe it. Her eyes narrowed at him beneath a raised brow. He raised a brow at her and shrugged, swallowing way too soon.

  “Well, hurry up, we’re all waiting on you.”

  Draka sheepishly looked around the room. She was right. Everyone was watching him in between their conversations. Empty plates were being stacked on carts. His was nearly full. He had only taken a few bites. He lifted his plate for the man behind him to take it with a nasally breath. He had turned the wrong way. Aurie was right there, watching him, studying him. Her pale blue eyes were wide enough that he saw the redness in them, the ache behind them. The pleading within them. She was grinning through him, but her eyes were upon him, piercing into him like two daggers.

  He hesitated. How could he look away? How could he stop himself from being in her presence? He wanted to thank God for being allowed to sit at her table. If that were all he could ever have, it would be enough for a lifetime. A single smile was enough. A single greeting more.

  She turned away. Draka found himself looking over to Balian again. The other man alone in a room filled with people, also forced to be there when all he wanted to do was escape, be anywhere else.

  “Something is wrong,” Maud pinched him. She tipped her head to draw his gaze. “What is it?”

  I can’t say.

  Then, act happier. This is your feast for them. They think you hate them. Maud eyed him. It’s time for you to see the families so we can have fun. Here, she slid him a small cup that wafted fumes of schnapps.

  Draka let out a long breath at it.

  It will calm you down. Maud rubbed his back.

  Draka took it with a quickness that was hopefully lost on the onlookers and handed it to the one placing dishes on a cart behind them. It warmed his chest. Maud crinkled her brow at him. She wasn’t certain it was enough. He tried to make her think it was. She knew him better than that.

  The Alcer men were the first to be brought to him. They were loud and boisterous when stating their names. Their bows were halfhearted. Good enough.

  Does Maud know? Great, now she’ll be upset. What will she say? I’m in love with your mother. So not only did I try to take your father’s name, but I’m also intending to take his wife as soon as I’m no longer with one. Draka heaved a breath that made his empty stomach stir with fire. What kind of man am I?

  Vorners and Greshons in Alcer are insufferable, Draka concluded when he got through them. If he didn’t have the Paladinate as his army, he’d be avoiding war at all costs with the knowledge that those conniving men would be filling his ranks, likely to join his enemies at the first engagement. The Deschamps seemed a bit more likeable, but they had an air about them that made him wonder at first, only to be clarified when he was informed that Morin's second eldest daughter, Eleanna, was married to Maurice, who dressed nearly as splendidly as Adrian. Speaking of, where is Adrian? Oh, he was sitting with Olaf and Dimitriy.

  Balian didn’t wait to be called. Draka wasn’t certain it was when he would be called. By the way Valmond stopped short of the name he was about to announce, it probably wasn’t his, yet he stood and marched down the center of the Hall toward them. When he reached the foot of the platform, he didn’t bow. He dug into his pocket and reached to hand whatever it was to Valmond with a whisper in his ear first.

  Then he went down on one knee like a proper knight. There was a symphony of scoffs. Valmond stared at his hands for a moment, then turned to Aurie with a worried look, and Draka let his eyes fall shut. He grabbed Maud’s hand and squeezed it until she met his gaze so he could motion for her to rush to her mother quicker than Valmond could. He already knew what Balian had brought.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “He says these are more precious than any land he could ever possess and they belong only to you,” Valmond said as he pressed the handful of small stones into Aurie’s hands.

  Could have been at any other time, Balian. Any other time. Any other place than now. Draka’s jaw stiffened.

  Maud nearly climbed over the table at him if Aurie hadn’t put her hand up to stop her. Aurie was staring at them in her hand, running a finger over those tiny smooth stones, one at a time, with her eyes glistening. Enya’s mouth was gaping.

  “I am unworthy to be here,” Balian stated plainly and loud enough that it broke the silence that had gripped the Hall. “I know that. But have been granted your grace and the grace of the one true God. So, I will say what none of the others who have come up here has said.”

  Draka felt his lip curl. Aurie may have stopped Maud, but Draka was still weighing how difficult it would be to leap over the table and beat the man himself for this. Apparently, once wasn’t enough.

  “You are worthy of being our King,” Balian lifted his head but nothing else. “And my girls will raise their children to know that I am alive because of your mercy. I keep hearing that your people make oaths and I don’t know what it takes to do that, so I’ll just say mine and I’ve always been a man of my word, even when I was wrong. So here it is.”

  Draka had no idea when he had gotten on his feet, but he was on them when his fiery glare was fixed on the man.

  “I give you my oath that I will be in the front lines of your next battle, wherever it may be, and will die there defending you and my niece…and my brother’s widow…and the land that my brother and my nephew are buried on as I should have died defending them in the first place like a proper man should. Because I was raised to be that man, my brother was that man,” Balian stared up at him with a hardened face, “But I never have been. I will die the man you have proven exists in this world, your Majesty. A true and good man. I haven’t lived as one. I will die as one and may God and Balor have mercy on my soul, because I never will. There’s my oath.”

  Aurie wasn’t staring at the rocks. Her hand was still holding them, fingers open, presenting them, as she regarded him in shock. Maud was gaping. Draka was no longer enraged. His brow crinkled at the man kneeling beneath him.

  “I’ve only a spear and no armor, but I will do it as I once saw you with no fear, no matter whom you face. I will wear no shoes, I will march as far as you require, but I will stand against whatever comes. You didn’t execute me. You didn’t kill me. Well, I will fight for you and I will bleed and die for you against whatever your people are about to fight in those woods. And my land can go to God and the curse I brought on my family with it.”

  Balian didn’t wait for an answer. He stood and walked down the long Hall, ignoring the many awed faces following him, even his own wife, who stood at the table with her mouth gaping in silent protest. The Hall erupted with the bustle of voices the moment that Coralin and Balian were gone and the footmen shut the door.

  “Is there anything that I have to do?” Aurie asked Valmond with her opened palm still holding those rocks. Valmond shook his head. “Good. Draka, enjoy yourself tonight. Dance with someone. Anyone. Really. And, sweety,” Aurie kissed Maud’s cheek after she stood from her chair, “You enjoy yourself, too. Have a few drinks on me.”

  “Wait, are you—” Maud tried to reach for her.

  “I’m fine,” Aurie smiled. Draka could see the glisten of tears in her eyes. “Really, I am. I just want to put these in my room. I’ll be back. I promise.”

  “You will?”

  Aurie chuckled, giving her another kiss on her cheek, “I left these for a reason, Windleaf. I’ll be back.”

  Aurie had to lift her petticoat to sprint for the ferry while shouting, “Balian Clevlan!”

  He and Coralin were about to step onto the ferry when they turned. Coralin took a step back and to the side so that she was behind him. He only lowered his eyes.

  “What was that?” Aurie shook at him. “Are you that much of fool to think going into battle against demons barefoot and in your rags will make up for what you did?”

  Balian bit his lip.

  “You act as if he killed Balor and Alden himself,” Coralin snapped. “Why won’t you let him be? You’ve done enough to destroy us.”

  “Coralin, so help me,” Aurie balled her fist, “I have only lifted a finger to let you have that house. The rest was God’s doing. But if you really want me to, I’m willing to show you a thing or two of what God’s taught me.”

  “I thought you were a Paladin now,” Coralin started to step around Balian. “You’re not allowed to threaten me anymore, no matter what I do to you. Turn the other cheek, right?”

  “Yes,” Aurie narrowed the space between them with a sneer. “And He also taught me to see what others can’t. Tell me, Coralin, when was the last time you asked for forgiveness for what you did to us? For the rumors about Maud not being a Clevlan because you found out about my life in Alcer? Think me being a Paladin protects you from being punished for calling me and the Princess his whores?”

  “You think it will protect you when he finds out I’m right?”

  “Woman, will you shut your mouth and get on the ferry,” Balian growled, “And if you ever say anything like that again, I’ll be the one who turns you in. Maud is my niece and the last thing I will ever allow is for you to call them whore again. Believe you me, I will learn you that lesson.”

  Coralin stiffened to that with a shiver. “You’ve never spoken to me like that.”

  “I’ve never had to,” Balian was still growling. He pointed. Coralin went. He turned to Aurie. “Say your piece, he won’t wait long and I haven’t the coin to pay for longer.”

  “Why?”

  “I said why,” Balian glowered at her. “I’m too much of a coward to do it myself. I’m figuring I can get my girls on the staff in that castle so they don’t have to worry about starving once I’m dead. Coralin, the bitch, will remarry sooner than my pyre’s built or buried or whatever they do when a Cathol dies. And I give a plowing shit less what happens to the rest. There’s no Clevlan to carry on the name. The Clevlans to be remembered will be. I’ve been on borrowed time, remember, Aurie? That’s what you said, wasn’t it? Well, if I’m running late to my own trial, I best get to it. I hear the judge likes things done His way.”

  “He also forgives when you ask.”

  Balian grinned. “Some things you just don’t ask for. Some things should never be forgiven. God blessed you and Maud, Aurie. I didn’t understand why until I saw those rocks, right where they always had been, not a mark of dust on them.” He looked past her and all around them. “Have your life. Live and be happy. You honored my brother and our family. You’re a good woman, Aurie. He was lucky to have had you. And so was I. God be with you always.”

  “He’s with you, too, Balian,” Aurie pursed her brow at him. “Don’t give up on Him. Pray, He’s been listening.”

  “So, I’ve been told.” And he stepped onto the ferry, leaving her where she stood. As the ferryman began pulling them toward the other side, he called to her, “Put in a good word for my girls. I’ll send them in the morning.”

  “I’ll have a place for them!”