Page 18 of Hooked

“Do you suppose you’ll ever invite me into your game?”

He turned to me, eyes lighting with excitement. “Is that what you want?”

“Perhaps,” was the only honest answer I could give without revealing too much of my longing. And it was longing. I longed to know him more. To unearth all his facets. “Is that why no one calls you by your first name? You keep the real Porter hidden away behind a character?” Was I getting to know the real him, or a personality he put on?

He shook his head. “There is no ‘real’ Porter. It’s all just me. If anything, Falstone feels more like my name than Porter ever did. I’ve been called Falstone ever since I started training. I suppose it was my way of choosing who I would be.”

“So I should not start calling you Porter?”

“Please no,” he said with a shake of his head. “Porter is the name my father gave me.”

“Ah.” His words and the look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. “Falstone it is then.”

***

I thought a great deal (more than I should have) about what Falstone had said about not growing up. I’d certainly seen his playful side when it came to training the children, but playing games with children was a far cry from acting like a child himself.

Over the next week, though, that side of him became more obvious.

One morning I finished breakfast and returned to Marilee’s room, startling at the sight of Falstone standing at attention just outside the door. I put a hand to my heart. “You frightened me. What are you doing out here?”

He didn’t respond. In fact, he remained stock-still, feet apart, hands clasped behind his back, chin held high. I looked around, wondering what was going on to make him act so. When I saw nothing, I turned back to him, catching just the slightest curl at one corner of his mouth before his expression turned to stone again.

My eyes narrowed. What game was he playing?

I shook my head and decided to go about my duties as normal.

When I left Her Highness’s room a short while later, Falstone was no longer just outside the door. I figured he must have gone about his own work, which meant that he succeeded in startling me again when I walked down the corridor and found him in an alcove. Once again, he was standing at attention, his eyes straight ahead.

I set a hand on my hip and glared at him, watching to see if he would crack. He didn’t.

“Is this what you meant when you talked of playing at being a soldier?”

He didn’t answer or move, and after a few moments I felt foolish talking to this statue version of Falstone, so I moved on, delivering Marilee’s soiled riding clothes to the laundress.

This time, as I traversed the corridors, I was determined not to be caught unawares. Falstone was playing a game, and I refused to be the loser even if I didn’t understand the rules.

He was standing up against the wall on the servants’ stairs as I climbed them. When I saw him I rolled my eyes, even as I fought against a smile and lost.

“You are an odd one,” I said as I came to stand on the same step that he occupied, though the width of the step made it so that I barely fit. I planted my feet directly in front of him and crossed my arms. “You know, some of us have work to get done. We can’t all go about playing games in the middle of the day.”

Still nothing. So I scooted just a little closer. “I wonder what it would take to get you to flinch…” I purposely let my voice trail off, giving him a chance to come up with worst-case scenarios. “Perhaps I could tickle your nose with a feather,” I suggested, then took another step closer.

His eye twitched.

“You’re really not going to say anything?” I gave a dramatic sigh. “Very well.” I reached toward his hip and grabbed the handle of his knife that was sheathed there.

His hand immediately went to cover my own, protecting his weapon from falling into the hands of a villainess. He looked down at me, his eyes narrowing. “That is cheating.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “How can it be cheating when I don’t know the rules? I don’t even know what game we are playing.”

His smile was bigger than I’d ever seen and it almost knocked the wind out of me. “You won this round.” He leaned down and we were suddenly very close to one another. “Until next time,” he whispered, then gave me a salute and retreated down the stairs.

I returned to my responsibilities, much more cheerful than I had been that morning.

When I joined Marilee and the others for tea that afternoon, I had to ask. “Have any of you noticed Falstone playing a bit of a game today?”

Marilee’s cup froze on its way to her mouth. Her brow arched in surprise. “Game? You mean with the children?”