Taming the Thorny Rose novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Rose
They signed the new treaty in the square at Ashby Cross, three days later, under a white canopy.
Three thousand people stood in the snow to watch.
Aldric wore a grey hooded cloak over his black, because the winter sun was thin but not kind.
He had come in daylight on purpose, and every person in the square knew it.
The paper on the table was plain cream, not black.
It had two names at the bottom, written in two different hands.
Mine was first.
Not Guild's champion.
Not a bride.
Only the name, in the clean careful letters I had learned from a man who was no longer allowed to teach anyone.
Aldric signed beneath it and set down the quill.
"The border stays at the river," he read aloud, "and the Guild's blades stay in the Guild's hands.
"The Night Court will hold no siege, keep no hunters and sell no bolts.
"The queen of the Night Court sits in both houses and answers to both."
A cheer rolled out across the roofs.
I took his hand, in front of everyone, and I didn't let go.
The captains brought Crane out of the Guild house at noon.
They had shaved his beard and taken his coat, and he walked in irons between two guards, with his bad knee dragging.
The square went quiet as he passed.
No one threw anything.
It was worse than that.
Nobody looked at him at all.
He stopped in front of me.
"Kes."
"Oswald."
"The cells will hold me ten years.
"They say it may be twenty."
"It may."
"Will you come?
"Once?"
I looked at the man who had taught me to write my own name.
"Not today," I said.
"Ever?"
"I don't know."
It was the truth, and it was all he got.
"Serve what the captains give you.
"Say what you did out loud, every time they ask.
"After that, we will see."
He bowed his head and let them lead him away.
The old drill master put a hand on my shoulder.
"The Guild owes you a captaincy," he said.
"I have a kingdom."
"Then give it to someone who deserves it."
I looked across the square at Astrid, who stood on a barrel with her hatchet on her hip and a ridiculous red cap.
She waved.
"Her," I said.
Astrid nearly fell off the barrel.
We went home that night, to Hollin, in a closed carriage with the curtains drawn.
The keep was quiet and warm, and the east tower room had a fire waiting.
I closed the door and turned the key.
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