Razi huffed. ‘The Merron have been useful, that is all. We crossed paths on our journey here. I treated one of their warriors and they gave us shelter.’
Alberon dismissed his lingering men and waited for them to leave before speaking again.
‘You called that thief your friend,’ he said.
‘Christopher is not a thief,’ corrected Wynter.
‘Freeman Garron is not one of them,’ said Razi. ‘Do not make that mistake, Alberon.’
Alberon regarded the two of them carefully, his eyes hopping from one fierce expression to another.
‘So you have no allegiances to those people?’ he said at last.
‘None,’ said Razi firmly.
‘That is good, brother. There is no place in our world for them.’
Wynter’s heart went cold at that, but if Alberon’s harsh words chilled his brother, Razi certainly gave no sign of it. He simply shrugged his shoulders as if the Merron’s fate was of no concern to him.
‘When you addressed your men, you said my father’s palace,’ murmured Wynter. Alberon nodded. ‘Are we to take it that you do not stand against the King?’ she asked.
Alberon tutted, waving his hand dismissively, as if the answer to the question was too obvious to articulate.
‘He believes that you do,’ said Razi.
Alberon rolled his eyes. ‘Father and I have disagreed,’ he said. ‘That is all.’
‘Disagreed?’ said Wynter. ‘Disagreed? Is that what you call this? Alberon, the kingdom is rocked to its core!’
Alberon smiled at her in galling amusement, and Razi laid his hand on hers, squeezing gently to silence her. His voice was carefully neutral when he said, ‘I must agree with our passionate sister, Alberon. This would seem a touch more than a disagreement. People are dying because of it.’
Alberon lost his smile. ‘People have been dying these last five years, brother. Did you forget that?’
‘Of course not,’ said Razi.
‘Perhaps death is easily disregarded when you have not been the one wading through the blood of the fallen?’
‘Alberon, I do not deny that the insurrection was bitter fought. I am simply pointing out that this current rift between you and our father is doing nothing to heal the kingdom’s wounds.’
‘This kingdom has no hope if Father continues rejecting my plans, Razi. He must be brought to see sense. He must! Or else all we have endured has been for naught. We may as well have laid down our arms as soon as those damned troublemakers set their faces against his reforms.’ Razi went to speak and Alberon threw up his hand in a now familiar gesture of dismissal. ‘You will help me convince him,’ he said. ‘You have always been the one with the words, Razi. You will make our father understand how sensible my ideas are. You will bring him to see reason. We cannot rule this kingdom as lambs, Razi! Not as lambs! We must do it as lions, or we shall not rule at all!’
‘I cannot see that your father has ever been a lamb,’ murmured Wynter. ‘Not in any way that endangered his throne.’
Alberon huffed bitterly as if to say, What would you know of it.
If Razi had anything to add to this, he bit it down as Anthony returned and began setting a fire in the brazier. The three of them sat in silence as he did so, and Alberon took the opportunity to demolish his paltry meal, draining his beaker of small-ale and pouring himself another. ‘Eat,’ he ordered, pointing at Wynter’s plate. ‘Don’t waste what is so hard won.’
Wynter made a grudging attempt to gnaw at the bread, but not even her great hunger could combat its hardness, and so she crumbled it in with her meat, hoping the juices would soften it.
Alberon’s lips tightened as his brother neither ate nor drank, but simply fidgeted with his beaker as he waited for the little servant boy to leave. ‘Have you gone religious on me in your time away?’ he asked abruptly.
Razi looked up at him, startled, and then down at the beaker. ‘No, I . . . it’s just . . .’
Wynter frowned. ‘Small-beer never did agree with him, Albi,’ she said. ‘Particularly unfiltered. Surely you remember?’
Alberon tutted with sudden impatience and snatched the beaker from Razi’s hand. ‘Bring the Lord Razi some water, Anthony,’ he said. He grimaced disapprovingly at Razi. ‘You’ll not find any cold sherbets here, brother. Let alone a concubine to serve them up to you. You would do well to toughen up.’
‘Alberon!’ cried Wynter.
Razi was silent and motionless for a moment. He nodded his thanks as Anthony