The Will of the Empress - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,57

no magic in them, then," Briar said. He sat next to Zhegorz and offered a hand. "Briar Moss. These two are my mates." Not everyone knew this was slang for close friends, so he added, "My sisters."

Gingerly, Zhegorz offered his own hand. "I can tell," he said, his voice soft.

Briar clasped his hand, then let go and glared at Tris. "You know, I don't go around feeding everybody magic the first time they sneeze," he said belligerently. "It's not good for them. You get used to it, and it stops helping. You'd be a lackwit not to know that."

"Not wanting to butt in or anything," said one of the maids with a wink at Briar, "but shouldn't you be asking my lady before you go bringing in..." She rethought the word she was about to use and supplied, "Guests?"

Briar, Daja, and Tris all exchanged glances. Daja could see they felt just as she did. They were bewildered at the thought of having to ask such a thing of one of them.

"But I had a house and it didn't bother us then," she said.

"You're different," Briar and Tris said together. They looked at each other and smiled wryly.

"Then it shouldn't be different here." Sandry emerged from the shadows by the door into the kitchen. "Don't I get to meet our new guest?"

Zhegorz lunged to his feet so fast that he ended up knocking the bench over again. He and Briar went sprawling onto their backs. Sandry helped Briar to his feet as Tris assisted Zhegorz again. Chime rose onto her hindquarters and made a crisp series of splintering glass noises at Sandry. It sounded rather like a scolding. Sandry almost dropped Briar on his rump again when she clapped both hands over her mouth to cover her giggle. He staggered to stay on his feet, then grabbed the bench and set it back up.

Sandry looked at them, waved for the maids and the cook to stop curtsying, and said quietly, "I'm still me, you know. And you were very right to scold me. I didn't think to ask you."

Tris propped her fists on her hips. "It's just as well now," she said, eyeing Zhegorz. "He'll need someplace quieter than this to stay until we can sort him out."

Zhegorz blinked down at his stout protectress. Standing, he was five inches taller than Tris. He should have more of a presence, thought Tris. He's a grown man, after all, older almost than the four of us together. But maybe it's that he's spent so much of his life running and hiding from things, and being locked up. Maybe inside he's not that much older than fifteen.

"I'll make sure you have a room, and somewhere we must have spare clothing," Sandry assured Zhegorz softly. "Will you mind a day's ride tomorrow?"

The man's eyes shuttled from Sandry to Briar, to Daja, then to Tris. "You won't want to adopt me when all your secrets come popping out of my mouth," he warned them, rubbing a temple. "It always happens."

Briar clapped Zhegorz on the back. "Well, if it happens, and I doubt it, we'll make sure you've got a pack full of clothes and food, at least."

"We're not going to get rid of you," Daja said, glaring at Briar. "We blurt people's secrets all the time. You'll be safer with us."

"It's settled, then. Come on, Zhegorz," said Briar companionably.

As he led their new comrade off, Sandry looked at Tris. "Will we be able to help him?" she asked.

Tris was looking at the chewed end of one braid. "At least enough to get him back to Winding Circle," she murmured. "I think he'll have to go there in the end."

"But you're going to be nice, right?" Daja asked. "You're going to be gentle with him, because he's all broken to pieces inside."

"When am I not nice?" demanded Tris with a scowl.

That reduced Daja and Sandry to laughter. Each time they met Tris's glaring grey eyes, a fresh surge of laughter began. Finally Tris herself began to smile crookedly. "Well, nice by my standards, anyway. Treat me right, or I'll make sure you get rained on all the way to Landreg in the morning."

*

Briar had difficulty getting to sleep that night. Bedding down alone — alone in the bed, Zhegorz had a cot in the dressing room not fifty feet away — was a strange new experience for him of late. He hadn't deliberately set out to ensure there was always someone warm and cuddly to share his