Page 124 of The Sun King's Noon

Kaelen had been right. These past few days, Richard had lowered his guard. Flint was, in the end, a bandit. The leader of a guild that had robbed for years. A man who’d tortured and killed a witch—and perhaps many more—without hesitation. A loverwhose vengeance would be fierce if he ever learned the face of the Ardenian king.

Flint would kill him.

The realisation made the hairs on Richard’s arms stand up. Above, the moon hid behind a cloud, and as if a curtain had been swept across, the seawaters went black.

PART FIVE

A SIREN’S WEB

“Did you know that Aralynn once foretold Dain and I would become in-laws? I was a little older than Corwin is now. Your father was newly made Deputy Captain, and your mother an accomplished healer. We four sat on my chamber’s balcony, and Aralynn stared at Dain and I for a long moment. Then she said, with utter surety, that one day our houses would bejoined.”

CHAPTER 45

The lantern swayed, throwing shadows along the cabin’s walls in time with the ship’s rocking. Richard had pulled the chair close to the bunk and settled himself into it with his cloak draped over his knees. Kaelen lay flat on the bed, an arm flung above his head and the other resting over his stomach. It’d been hours—with midnight likely past them—but his face was still peaky and grey. With his fringe damp across his forehead, he looked utterly miserable.

“Drink.” Richard pressed the water flask into Kaelen’s hand. “Tomorrow, you must ensure you eat.”

Kaelen tilted the flask to his lips. After a swallow, he groaned. “I doubt I shall manage food. The very thought of it?—”

“Try, regardless.”

Another groan. Kaelen peered at Richard from beneath heavy lids. “I have heard, you know, of sailors taken ill by the swell. I never thought it would affect me.” Indignation crept into his words. “I am a knight. I have endured all manner of hardships?—”

“None of that has any bearing on what a ship does to a stomach.” Richard’s mouth quirked. “The sea, I am afraid, has no respect for your rank or training.”

Kaelen huffed and let his head loll against the pillow. The lantern caught the sweaty sheen on his brow.

“It has been a long day,” Richard said. “The burning. Then Alaric, of all people. Then what occurred above deck. It is no wonder you are shaken.”

Far below the hull came a muffled thud that made Kaelen stiffen, but as the quiet persisted, he relaxed again with a sigh.

“You must think me soft,” he murmured. “I would have killed him. Marek, I mean. Once his crime was revealed, I would have given him a chance to speak, then dealt out my judgement and struck him down. That much I can do. That much Ihavedone.” His jaw tightened. “But Flint enjoyed it. Tied him up all day and forced him to teach us. Let him hope, let him beg, and let him think he would see his shore again, and killed him with a smile. That is sport.” He shuddered. “That is a dark path, and he walks it gladly.”

Richard retrieved the water flask and fastened its cap. “He was raised in a terrible place that hurt him and those he loves. He has built his life on the certainty that men like Marek do not deserve to keep theirs. I venture he smiles as he kills because every blood spilt pays a small part of an old debt.”

“And does that make it just?”

“No, but it was not without cause.”

Kaelen closed his eyes. “It is still a dark road.”

“Yes.” Richard hesitated. “There may come a day when you yourself are required to walk it. Not Flint’s road precisely. But the harder one, where ugly choices must be made.” He gazed at the gold-threaded blanket over Kaelen’s legs. The shade reminded him of his father’s hair. “After my parents died, I led the party that captured the trolls that remained in Maranbog. I tortured one for answers—I sawed off his tusks and cut behind his joints until he confessed Marius had hired them all.”

Kaelen’s eyes were open again, fixed upon him.

“I did not enjoy it,” Richard said. “But when you say Flint walks a dark road, in truth, it is not so different from one I have walked myself.”

Kaelen gingerly eased himself onto an elbow. “That is not the same. You are kind. It is the very nature of you. You perform against it sometimes for the sake of the realm. It comes at a cost, so being, I do not wish you to stray further down that road.” His eyes narrowed. “But for a man like Flint, cruelty and vengeance are enjoyments he has grown accustomed to. He is dangerous, and you ought to have care.”

Richard chewed on his lip, unsure of how to reply. Somewhere above, Flint was humming another shanty.

“You are too harsh on him,” Richard said at last. “But tonight has reminded me that Flint is not a predictable companion. I shall be careful.”

Kaelen nodded. Colour was beginning to return to his cheeks.

Richard’s hand drifted to the inside of his jacket. The sun locket was still warm where it had sat against his chest the whole day. He had nearly forgotten it.

Perhaps it would brighten Kaelen up.