Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,11

“The right . . . ?”

“Yes, the right! How dare he.”

Now Soko was lost. “He seemed as confused as you, Crow. I don’t think—”

“He has no right to come here and to look at me. The nerve.”

“Are you feeling okay, my lord?” Soko asked quietly, cautiously.

“With his perfect skin and his perfect eyes and long red hair!” Crow was annoyed, but Soko finally understood.

“Ah.”

Crow put his hand to his forehead; his gaze met Soko’s. “What colour even is that? The colour of fresh blood? Or last year’s redberry wine?” He was genuinely outraged. “What kind of man appears so perfect?”

Another rhetorical question, but Soko couldn’t help himself. “Well, you’ve used the word perfect three times, so I’m going to go with perfe—”

“How dare he!”

“Yes, quite,” Soko said, amused now and relieved his king hadn’t succumbed to lunacy, and he was, it seemed, quite simply, enamoured. He went to the table and poured two goblets of blackberry wine, thankful—and a little disappointed, but mostly thankful—it wasn’t redberry wine. He held one out to Crow. “Here. Drink.”

Crow took the wine, still angry. “He looked right at me. I’ve never seen eyes like his. And his mouth. The audacity of him to have lips like that.”

Soko smiled behind his goblet. “The audacity.”

Crow took a long drink of wine and seemed a little calmer on the other side of it. “And it still doesn’t explain the arcane fire that woman drew from my wrist. I’ve seen healers work all kinds of magick, but this was sparks, as if she summoned the fire from my skin.”

“Does the mark still burn?”

Crow showed his wrist and scowled at it. The birthmark appeared unchanged, but the pain was gone. Mostly. “The pain is absent, though it still buzzes.”

“The spell was supposed to numb it for the duration of dinner, that’s all. Whatever happened to you and Tancho was not expected,” Soko said. “And I’d guess that all nine elders are, at this very moment, sitting around a table, reading scroll after ancient scroll, trying to figure out what it means.”

Crow’s brows furrowed and he conceded an angry nod. “I should hope so.”

“I hope so too,” Soko said. With a tap of his goblet to Crow’s, he gave him a cheeky smile. “And I hope they figure it out soon. Because come sun-up, after breakfast, you get to see King Perfect again. And perhaps you’ll see his hair in the sunlight so you can get a better likeness.”

Crow bristled and was about to remind Soko of his manners, but Soko laughed and collected the wine from the table. “I joke with you, that’s all. Apologies, my king.” He poured Crow some more wine. “But I will remind you, Crow,” Soko said, serious now. “That while what happened tonight was a far cry from normal, there’s still a chance that tomorrow you will need to meet Tancho in the arena. To fight.”

Crow’s eyes hardened; his jaw bulged. And with a low growl in the back of his throat, he drained his wine, then held out the empty goblet for more.

Dawn came far too early. A platter of breakfast foods was delivered to their quarters, which Soko gratefully received while Crow dressed. He also grumbled incessantly, scowled at everything, and cursed his wretched headache.

“Whose lapse in judgement was it to drink last night?” he mumbled, walking out to the common room.

“Well,” Soko began. “I could say the first goblet was my idea, but the remainder and the second bottle was yours.” He held out some bread with a spattering of marmalade. “This is good. You should eat.”

Crow took it and, after a few mouthfuls, reluctantly agreed. It was good, so he ate some more, then some cured meats and fruit, and a pot of valngi angelica tea. It tasted like home. They had made the effort to source foods from the Northlands and that should have comforted Crow somewhat.

But it felt like an overreach.

An apology, perhaps.

A knock at the door drew Crow from his thoughts, and Soko was quick to answer. It was the messenger from the day before. He stood, dressed in his yellow cloak, hood up, head bowed, and handed Soko the note. “From Adelais, herself.”

Soko closed the door and handed the paper to Crow. He read it aloud. “The Consul requests your attendance in the grand hall prior to formal proceedings in the courtyard, if you will.”

“To discuss what they found out about last night,” Soko surmised.

Crow absentmindedly rubbed at his wrist. “Yes. One would think so.”

Soko nodded