Chapter 51: Do Keep Up

Chapter 51: Do Keep Up

Castle steps, Aaron had quickly realized, went by much more quickly on four feet than two. There was a certain satisfaction in stretching the wolfs lanky body out from pawtip to pawtip and seeing how many stairs he could take in a bound. The castles endemic redcoat population was less enamored with this new hobby of his, particularly within the winding tower up to the royal wing, but he was rarely within shouting distance for long. And, being entirely unbriefed upon where a journeyman of the Late Wake stood with regards to the royal guards hierarchy, he felt rather immune to rebuke.

Get a leash on that thing, Lieutenant Varghese, shouted a final guard, as Aaron bounded past her and into the royal wing.

Hes not a pet, the good lieutenant said back. Hes hardly even domesticated. And hes certainly not mine.

Aaron sat himself next to the good lieutenants legs. The other guard pointedly shifted her glare from Aaron up to the lieutenant. Lochlann let out a slow, controlled breath through his nose.

Ill speak with him, he said.

Youd best, the guard said, and continued whatever it was that redcoats did when they only had each other around to stab.

Lochlann stared down at him. Aaron stared up. The Princess Rose, feeling quite left out, crossed her arms and glared at the both of them. For a change, she didnt have to peer past her scarf to do so: she still wore one, but it had been done up to hold back her hair rather than to hide her face. Shed been wearing them like that more and more, inside the castle.

I went to the courtyards all the time in the winter, she said. I do not see what problems would arise from continuing the habit.

The castle wasnt full of lords in the winter, Your Highness, Lochlann said.

Most of them are my cousins.

Most of them had never met her, and would probably react to the red spill of her fey-marked face as well as anyone whod grown up on the fair border could. She knew that just as well as the lieutenant. That was not what this was about.

I could escort you to the library, Lochlann offered, like some kind of acceptable compromise.

I do not need an escort to the library, the girl said. Im not going to live my whole life in there, either.

No, shed only spent the first thirteen years there, so far as he could tell. She was even now carrying a book, its title too faded for him to read and mostly under her arm besides, which was a disappointment, which was a strange thing to feel over some lines tooled into leather. Learning ones letters did strange things to the mind. He was forever trying to make sense from scribbles, now.

We are going to our usual courtyard, she said. It is sunny. I desire to read where the sun is not a hypothetical.

Would a balcony suffice?

Aaron, she said, with sudden sweetness, how do you feel about the roof?

He felt lovely about the roof, in fact, and wagged his tail quite accommodatingly.

Wolves dont grin, Aaron, Lochlann said. Stop that.

He did not.

Rose had checked, and double-checked, that the mans current cell was not connected to the old ways.

Im coming down after you, Lochlann called, either trusting his voice to carry through the stone, or needing to get the words out even if it didnt.

Rose snorted, in a distinctly un-princessly way she would not have used, outside these walls. Aaron chuffed his agreement.

Let Lochlann follow, by more common stairs. And what then? Drag her back up, against her will, in front of all the castle and those southern lords?

The princess would not be confined to her rooms any longer. She couldnot be confined.

They paused outside her rooms, as she lit the lantern, and carried his light for him. Also his book. He was grateful for both, if one somewhat more than the other.

He wouldnt even read it, would he, she asked. A question for which she did not need a reply: no, King Orin had declined to read the letter shed sent him. Hes been avoiding me.

She had also been avoiding her older brother, a fact that Aaron couldnt exactly say. So far as he knew, that was the largest difference between these cloaks and true doppeling: he was wearing some dead souls skin, but their voice had left with them. He would have kept his wolfy jaws shut on this particular point, regardless.

Hes hiding me, like father did. I wont stay hidden.

She was leading them down flight after flight, towards the exit nearest their sparring courtyard. He let her lead, until the final turn: then he nipped a corner of her sleeve between his teeth, and tugged.

There were times to stay hidden. Aaron knew that. There were times to listen, and keep ones head down, and be as little and cowed as anyone could please.

The point of those times, in Aarons estimation, was to pay ahead for these times: when one walked through walls, and straight out of what anyone anywhere quite expected one to do.

Oh, she said, when he let go of her sleeve.

They stood at the exit that let out under the guard tower. Out of the castle entirely. As far as he knew, it was a route shed only taken once before. He turned his snout up to her, and waited.

Her letter had said a lot of words. Shed talked them over with him, even if he hadnt been saying much back. She didnt want to be caught in the castle, didnt want to be hidden away, didnt want to be a secret or a burden or a shame on the OShea name. She knew she wasnt human enough for the militia. But there was another, rather more discreet option.

In conclusion, and after much reflection, shed written, after a rather detailed breakdown of her arguments, I request your due consideration for my apprenticeship to the Late Wake.

And after all, Aaron had given the king her letter, and not been sent back with a no. After the king himself had approved his status as a royal messenger, no less.

The Lady had given Aaron a mission. Shed never said he need do it alone.

And so they stepped out of the castle wall, a fey-marked child and a wolf, each with exactly as much formal Late Wake training as the other.

After a moment, Rose ducked back inside, and left their books and lantern behind.