Fire - Kristin Cashore [84]
‘Nothing, Lady Princess. I’m happy to see you and Blotchy.’
Hanna laughed. ‘He’s getting your dress muddy.’
Yes, Blotchy was destroying her dress, and practically bowling her over as he bounced in and out of her lap, for in his mind he was still a puppy, even though his body had grown. ‘Blotchy is much more important than my dress,’ Fire said, taking the wriggling dog in her arms, wanting his muddy joy.
Hanna came close and whispered in her ear. ‘Is that angry man Lord Archer?’
‘Yes, and he is not angry with you.’
‘Do you think he would shoot for me?’
‘Shoot for you?’
‘Papa says he’s the best in the kingdom. I want to see.’
Fire couldn’t have explained why this made her so sad, that Archer should be the best in the kingdom, and Hanna should want to see. She burrowed her face for a moment against Blotchy. ‘Lord Archer, Princess Hanna would like to see you shoot, for she’s heard you’re the best in all the Dells.’
Archer was hiding his feelings from her mind, but Fire knew how to read his face. She knew how his eyes looked when he was blinking back tears, and the muted voice he used when he was too miserable for anger. He cleared his throat now, and spoke in that voice. ‘And what kind of bow do you favour, Lady Princess?’
‘A longbow, like the one you carry, only yours is much bigger. Will you come? I’ll show you.’
Archer didn’t look at Fire. He turned and followed Hanna up the hill, Blotchy bounding after them. Fire stood, and watched them go.
Quite unexpectedly, Musa took her arm. Fire placed her hand on Musa’s, grateful to be touched, fiercely glad to think that her guard might be overpaid.
IT WAS A very hard thing to have crushed the heart, and the hopes, of a friend.
After dark, unable to sleep, she went to the roofs. Eventually Brigan came wandering by and joined her. Now and then, since their conversation in the stables, he opened a flash of feeling to her. Tonight she could tell he was surprised to see her.
Fire knew why he was surprised. After her quarrel with Archer, Musa had told her, matter-of-factly, that at Fire’s request Fire actually was permitted to be alone with Archer; that in the very beginning, in his instructions, Brigan had made an exception for Archer, as long as the grounds outside the windows were guarded and guards stood outside every door. She should have informed the lady of this before, Musa said, but she hadn’t expected Lord Archer so soon. And once Fire and Archer had begun to argue, she hadn’t wanted to interrupt.
Fire’s face had burned at this knowledge. And here was why Brigan had defended Archer in Garan’s bedroom earlier: he’d seen Garan’s jibe as an offense to Fire, believed, even, that Fire was in love with Archer.
Fire told Musa, ‘The exception is not necessary.’
‘Yes, I got that sense,’ Musa said. Then Mila brought Fire a cup of wine in the timid, comprehending way Mila had. The wine was a comfort. Fire’s head had begun to ache, and she recognised the onset of her pre-bleeding time.
Now, on the roof, Fire was silent. She said nothing, not even when Brigan greeted her. He seemed to accept her silence and was rather quiet himself, filling the space occasionally with the gentle patter of his conversation. He told her that Hanna was bedazzled by Archer, that they’d shot so many arrows together she had blisters between her fingers.
Fire was thinking about Archer’s fear. She thought it was Archer’s fear that made his love so hard to bear. Archer was controlling and imperious, and jealous and suspicious, and Archer always held her too near. Because he was afraid of her dying.
She broke a long silence with her first words of the night, spoken so quietly he moved closer to hear. ‘How long do you think you’ll live?’
His breath was a surprised laugh. ‘Truly, I don’t know. Many mornings I wake knowing I might die that day.’ He paused. ‘Why? What’s on your mind tonight, Lady?’
Fire said, ‘It’s likely one of these days a raptor monster will get me, or some arrow will find its way past my guard. It doesn’t seem to me a morbid thought; only realistic.