Assassin's Quest

When we were loaded and finally ready to leave, Kettle announced that I must not be allowed to walk on the road, and that someone must always be with me. I bristled a bit at that, but they ignored me. The Fool volunteered quickly to be my first partner. Starling gave him an odd smile and a shake of her head over that. I accepted their ridicule by sulking manfully. They ignored that, too.

Nighteyes developed a taste for a certain seedcake that was also the Fool’s favorite. The wolf would stare fixedly at him whenever the Fool was eating it, drooling great pools of saliva onto the floor until the Fool would relent and give him a share. I scolded them both about what sweets could do to his teeth and coat and was ignored by both of them.

Finally, he promised her he would tell no one, and bade her to think well and do what she wished to do, not what she thought was wisest. Then they said no more, so I went in. She excused herself and departed. Later, you came and said she had left you.” He paused. “Actually, looking back, I was as dull-witted as you, not to have worked it out just from that.”

“Thank you,” I told him dryly.

“You’re welcome. Though I will admit we all had much on our minds that day.”

“I’d give anything to be able to go back in time and tell her that our child would be the most important thing in the world for me. More important than king or country.”

Our procession attracted the attention of the locals, but it was a surreptitious curiosity they showed us. I wondered when it had become bad luck to wonder too much about the King’s business.

Her hair was glistening black where it peeped from her hood, but not all of the white in it was snow.

So I hungered for knowledge of them, but dared not attempt to satisfy that hunger.

He gave a helpless shrug. ‘The feelings of it, mostly. I was exuberant and joyful, for not only was I announcing Realder’s dragon, but he was going to fly me on it. I felt I was a bit in love with him, you know. That sort of lift to the heart. But …’ he faltered. ‘I cannot recall if I loved Realder or his dragon. In my dream, they are mingled … I think

the Fool sat on a stool

My thumb rubbed the black stone.

she was becoming more and more attuned to him.