Lucia novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Chancellor Comes North

Montalban swung down from his white horse.

"Captain Garrick," he said, his gentle eyes sliding over the blood on Tobin's sleeve. "You are hurt."

"A scratch," Tobin said.

"Raiders?"

"Aye."

"Dreadful." Montalban pressed his soft hands together. "I came as soon as I heard. The king is most distressed."

My fingers were cold.

The strip of wood with the owl on it lay flat against my ribs inside my coat, and I felt every inch of it.

"What brings the Chancellor so far north?" I asked.

"A royal order, Highness." He took a folded paper from his sleeve.

"His Majesty commands that you and your husband appear at Vellora on Midsummer day."

"You will answer for the Naming before the whole court."

"Answer for it?"

"The king will rule on whether it stands." He smiled sadly. "The seven nights will be nearly done, after all."

I held out my hand.

"Read it aloud."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Read it aloud," I said, "to the garrison."

Behind me, eighty men had drifted into the yard in the cold dusk, standing in rows along the walls with their arms folded.

Montalban's smile thinned a little.

"It is a private matter of state."

"It concerns the captain of this fort and the wife he is ordered to give up," I said.

"I'd say it is the garrison's business."

A low murmur went around the yard.

The Chancellor looked at the faces of the men, then at the fifty royal guards, then at me.

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