The King's Blood(31)

The cut on his ear was small but bloody. One of the servants, a lithe Dartinae man with one blind, unglowing eye, dabbed at it with a salve of honey and nettle, then put a bandage over it. Aster’s tutor—a severe man in the employ of King Simeon—found them and led Aster off with an air of proprietary dismay that had Geder and the prince both giggling, the one setting off the other. When he was alone, Geder lay back on a divan and let his eyes close. His ear hurt more than he had let on in front of Aster, but the salve was helping. He was halfway to dozing when a soft sound came from the doorway. He opened an eye. His house master stood just inside the room.

“Mmm?” Geder asked.

“A visitor, my lord.”

“Oh,” Geder said. And then recalling the last time, “Who exactly?”

“Sir Jorey Kalliam, my lord. I’ve taken him to—”

“North drawing room,” Geder said. “That’s fine. I’ll see myself there.”

The house master bowed at the neck and retreated as Geder stretched, tugged his shirt back down over his belly, and rose.

If Geder had a friend of his own age, it was Jorey Kalliam. They had served together under Sir Alan Klin when they took Vanai and during the long weeks when Klin had been the city’s protector. Jorey had been with Geder when Vanai burned, and they had broken the mercenary coup that Maas, Klin, and Issandrian had engineered. Jorey’s father had been the one to celebrate Geder when he’d returned to Camnipol expecting censure or worse. Without Jorey and his family, Geder would still be just the son of a small viscount and known for nothing more interesting than a fondness for speculative essays. Geder would have called Dawson Kalliam his patron except that he now outranked him.

The winter had been kind to Jorey. His face was calmer than Geder had seen it in living memory, as if he had stepped out of a long shadow. There was color in his cheeks and his smile seemed effortless.

“Geder,” he said, rising. “Thank you for seeing me unexpected. I’m afraid I’ve been a little scattered. I hope I haven’t interrupted you.”

“Nothing to interrupt,” Geder said, taking him by the hand. “Now that I’m a baron, I’m living a life of dissipation and sloth. You should try it.”

“I have two brothers I’d have to bury before I was baron of anything,” Jorey said.

“Well, yes. Don’t do that if you can help it.”

Jorey rubbed his palm against his sleeve uncomfortably. His smile went a degree less certain.

“I’ve—” he began, then stopped and shook his head as if in disbelief. “I’ve come to ask you a favor.”

“Of course,” Geder said. “What can I do?”

“I’m getting married.”

“You’re joking,” Geder said, and then he saw Jorey’s eyes. “You have to be joking. We’re the same age. You can’t be… To who?”

“Sabiha Skestinin,” Jorey said. “That’s part of why I want you to be part of the ceremony. Your star is on the rise, and having the darlings of the court involved would go a long way to pull the sting.”

“The sting?” Geder asked, sitting on the divan where Sanna Daskellin had been. For a moment, he thought he could smell her perfume again. He liked this divan. Good memories were associated with it.

Jorey lowered himself to the seat opposite, his hands clasped before him.

“Well, you know about her trouble.”

“No,” Geder said.

“Oh,” Jorey said. “It was a few years ago. There was a scandal. People still talk about it, usually behind her back. I want to wash that away for her. I want her to see that she isn’t the girl the gossips tell stories about.”

“All right,” Geder said. “You’ll have to tell me where to go and what to say, though. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a wedding before. Oh! The priest. We could have Basrahip be the priest!”

“I… I suppose we could.”

“I’ll talk with him about it. He isn’t traditional, though. Maybe you could have two priests.”

“I think just one is more the custom,” Jorey said. “But let me find out. But you don’t mind? Being part of this, I mean.”

“Of course not,” Geder said. “Why would I?”

Jorey shook his head and leaned back. He looked bemused and a bit uncertain, as if Geder were a puzzle he’d only half solved.

“You can be a very generous man,” Jorey said.

“Not so much, I hope,” Geder said. “I mean, it’s just being part of a ritual. It’s not as if I have to do anything particular apart from being there, do I?”