The King's Bastard - By Rowena Cory Daniells Page 0,92

I'm a disappointment to her.'

'You misunderstand me. She'd be disappointed in herself. We'll keep this a secret, you and I.' Seela summoned a smile. 'From what your father says Rejulas is a brave, clever man.'

'I still don't trust him.'

'Words are cheap, deeds ring true. This is what I told your mother when she was fretting about coming here. She was only a little thing, eight years old. I told her, only by King Rolen's actions can we know if he is trustworthy. Give him a chance to prove himself. And she did and look what happened!' Seela took Piro's hand. 'The best thing you can do is close your heart and mind against the Affinity, just as your mother has done, and do your duty as a kingsdaughter.'

Piro sighed. Since this was also Fyn's advice, she nodded. 'All right, but I can't sleep for the nightmares.'

'We can banish those. A little sleeping draught will do the trick. Your mother has been taking it for years. Whenever it gets bad we say she's having one of her turns and she retreats to her private chamber so that I can dose her. I'll water down some dreamless-sleep for you this very night. You're worrying needlessly.' Seela patted Piro's arm. 'I know. Let's prepare a performance for the visiting nobles. We can get the costume chest out and do one of the midwinter pageants!'

Piro nodded slowly. Usually she enjoyed performing but now it all seemed so trivial.

Seeing her expression, Seela clucked her tongue. 'Dreamless-sleep will settle the nightmares. It works on your mother. You'll see.'

And Piro had to be satisfied with this as Seela bustled off. Alone again, she paced the chamber. It was all very well to say that Rejulas's action would tell her what kind of man he was, but what if she was already married to him when she discovered he could not be trusted? How would she escape him?

Fyn arrived at the abbey as the sun was setting behind the Dividing Mountains. After pulling the sled for three days solid, his thighs and shoulders ached. All he wanted to do was rest, but first he had to take Joff to the boys master. This happened to suit him, since he wanted to ask Master Wintertide's advice.

He dumped his travelling pack on his bunk and turned to Joff, who was standing in the acolytes' dormitory looking out of place while the others unloaded their packs, checked the work roster then shuffled off to line up for the hot baths.

'Come on, Joff.' Fyn headed for the corridor, pointing out the rooms as they passed them. 'This wing of chambers houses the acolytes in order of rank, oldest at this end, the youngest down here.' He passed that door and entered the spiral central stairs, gesturing upwards. 'The hothouses are high above in the crater's mouth, set on the shores of Lake Halcyon. That's where we bring on the seedlings so the farmers can make an early start with their planting. Otherwise they'd never get two crops harvested each summer.'

Joff nodded as they headed down the steps. As a farmer's son, he would be familiar with monks delivering hothouse seedlings.

'Fyn?' Lonepine called over the acolytes' balcony. 'You're rostered to work in the gardens tonight.'

Fyn cursed under his breath.

'But we've only just got back,' Joff muttered. 'How could you be rostered to work? That's not fair.'

'Who said abbey life was fair?' Fyn muttered, then took pity on Joff's confusion. 'No. It's not fair. But that's the way it is. The acolytes master is warning me.'

'Why?'

'Because I haven't accepted his offer.'

'Why not?'

Fyn sighed. 'You ask a lot of questions.'

Joff shrugged. 'If I don't ask, how will I ever learn?'

Fyn grinned. During the sled ride he'd discovered he liked Joff.

'This way.' Fyn continued down the stairs to the next level. 'This is where the boys live. They're aged between six and twelve, so you'll be the oldest. But don't worry, Wintertide is the best of the masters.'

He jogged down the corridor towards his old teacher's chambers, pausing in the entrance. 'Master Wintertide?'

'He's not here,' a small boy said.

'Do you know how long he will be?'

The boy shook his head. 'Is there a message I can give the master?'

Fyn hesitated. When he had been Wintertide's servant, bigger boys had offered him bribes to spy for them. He'd refused no matter how much they tried to intimidate him. He had no idea how many masters this boy served.

'The abbot called all masters up to his chambers,' the