Chapter 7: What He Lets Adrian Believe

Adrian set the letter face down on the table, palm flat over it.

He kept his hand there. The paper still held the underlined clause Noah had read in the courier room.

Noah crossed the room and unfastened the prince's collar without asking.

The leather was stiff with old blood at the seam.

'Look at me,' Noah said.

Adrian looked at him.

One button, then the next. The prince did not lift a hand to stop him.

Noah felt the cold coming off him before their skin touched.

Adrian's throat worked. He said nothing.

'You don't have to do this,' Adrian said at last.

Noah took his jaw in one hand and turned his face toward the fire.

He held it there until Adrian stopped talking.

Adrian's pulse moved under his palm, faster than his face allowed.

He was afraid. Noah filed it, the way he had filed every promise made in this fortress.

'I want a promise,' Noah said.

'Name it.'

'No priest. No guard. No court official enters these rooms again without my permission.'

Adrian's eyes went to the letter under his palm.

'Then I want the letter,' he said.

Noah looked at the paper, then at him.

One of them was going to hold the proof. He had already decided which.

He picked it up and tore it along the old creases.

He laid the outer half on the table and kept the rest folded in his sleeve.

The half with Orwin's underlined clause stayed against his arm.

Adrian looked at the half a long moment.

He did not ask for the rest. He knew better.

Then he went to the door and opened it a hand's width.

'No one enters these rooms without the priest's leave,' he said into the corridor. 'Not you. Not the steward. Not my father.'

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