My brother. Are you dying?

No. But it hurts.

Rest. I will stand watch.

I cannot explain what happened next. I let go of something, something I had clutched all my life without being aware of gripping it. I sank down into soft warm darkness, into a safe place, while a wolf kept watch through my eyes.

22

Burrich

LADY PATIENCE, SHE who was queen-in-waiting to Chivalry’s king-in-waiting, came originally of inland stock. Her parents, Lord Oakdell and Lady Averia, were of very minor nobility. For their daughter to rise in rank to marry a Prince of the realm had to have been a shock to them, especially given their daughter’s wayward and, some might say, obtuse nature. Chivalry’s avowed ambition to wed Lady Patience was the cause of his first difference with his father, King Shrewd. By this marriage, he gained no valuable alliances or political advantages; only a highly eccentric woman whose great love for her husband did not preclude her forthright declaring of unpopular opinions. Nor did it dissuade her from the single-minded pursuit of any avocation that caught her fleeting fancy. Her parents preceded her in death, dying in the year of the Blood Plague, and she was childless and presumed barren when her husband, Chivalry, fell to his death from a horse.

I awoke. Or, at least, I came back to myself. I was in my bed, surrounded by warmth and gentleness. I didn’t move, but cautiously searched myself for pain. My head no longer pounded, but I felt tired and achy, stiff as one sometimes is after pain passes. A shiver went up my back. Molly was naked beside me, breathing gently against my shoulder. The fire had burned low, nearly out. I listened. It was either very very late, or very early. The Keep was near silent.

I didn’t remember getting here.

I shivered again. Beside me, Molly stirred. She pulled closer to me, smiled sleepily. “You are so strange sometimes,” she breathed. “But I love you.” She closed her eyes again.

Nighteyes!

I am here. He was always there.

Suddenly I couldn’t ask, I didn’t want to know. I just lay still, feeling sick and sad and sorry for myself.

I tried to rouse you, but you were not ready to come back. That Other One had drained you.

That “Other One” is our king.

Your king. Wolves have no kings.

What did… I let the thought trail off. Thank you for guarding me.

He sensed my reservations. What should I have done? Turned her away? She was grieving.

I don’t know. Let us not talk of it. Molly was sad, and he had comforted her? I didn’t even know why she was sad. Had been sad, I amended, looking at the soft smile on her sleeping face. I sighed. Better face it sooner than later. Besides, I had to send her back to her own room. It would not do for her to be here when the Keep awoke.

“Molly?” I said gently.

She stirred and opened her eyes. “Fitz,” she agreed sleepily.

“For safety’s sake, you have to go back to your own room.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have come in the first place.” She stopped. “All those things I said to you a few days ago. I didn’t—”

I put a finger across her lips. She smiled past it. “You make these new silences … very interesting.” She pushed my hand aside, kissed me warmly. Then she slid from my bed and began to dress briskly. I arose, moving more slowly. She glanced over at me, her face full of love. “I’ll go alone. It’s safer. We should not be seen together.”

“Someday, that will—” I began. This time she silenced me, small hand on my lips.

“We will talk of nothing like that now. Let us leave tonight as it is. Perfect.” She kissed me again, quickly, and slipped from my arms and then out the door. She shut it silently behind her. Perfect?

I finished dressing and built up my fire. I sat down in my chair by the hearth and waited. It was not long before I was rewarded. The entrance to Chade’s domain opened. I went up the stairs as quickly as I could manage. Chade was sitting before his hearth. “You have to listen to me,” I greeted him. His eyebrows rose in alarm at the intensity in my voice. He gestured at the chair opposite him, and I took it. I opened my mouth to speak. What Chade did then put every hair on my body on end. He glanced all around himself, as if we stood in the midst of a great crowd. Then he touched his own lips, and made a gesture for softness. He leaned toward me until our heads were nearly touching. “Softly, softly. Sit down. What is it?”

I sat, in my old place on the hearth. My heart was hammering in my chest. Of all places in Buckkeep, I had never expected to have to use caution in what I said here.