The Black Raven - Katharine Kerr [90]
“I see. Life would be much simpler if only he were stupid.”
After Nevyn gave her leave to go, Lilli sought out Branoic and found him in the great hall, sitting with Maddyn and a few other silver daggers on the riders’ side of the room. The men from the various warbands filled the tables around him, and they were drinking heavily, teasing the servant girls who were trying to bring them ale and bread. Lilli had no desire to walk through the mob, nor did she want to ask a page to take him a message, not here where half the people in the dun could see. As she stood by the honor hearth, debating what to do, Branoic solved the problem by looking up and seeing her. He stood, waved at her, and came trotting over.
“It’s so good to see you,” Branoic said.
“And it gladdens my heart to see you safe,” Lilli said. “Old Nevyn told me an interesting thing about you, just now.”
“Oh, did he? What?”
“That your quick thinking saved our prince’s life.”
Branoic looked modestly down at the floor.
“Ah well,” he said at last. “I did naught that any other man wouldn’t have done.”
“Truly?”
He shrugged and sat on the bench. Lilli glanced around and realized that Maryn and his retinue were coming down the staircase.
“Somewhat like that deserves a reward,” Lilli said. She leaned over and kissed Branoic on the cheek.
“I’ll take that for a reward over any favor of princes or priests,” he said, smiling. “My thanks, my lady.”
Lilli sat down next to him but a decorous distance away. Out of the corner of her eye she was aware of Maryn, walking across the great hall with Nevyn while pages trailed along behind. If Maryn had seen the kiss, he showed no sign of caring one way or the other. The two men sat down at the honor table some distance away, well out of earshot. She turned her attention resolutely to Branoic.
“You must tell me about the battle,” Lilli said. “Nevyn didn’t tell me much.”
“Well, the details aren’t fit for your ears, my lady. Our prince acquitted himself well, though. Maybe a little too well. All I really did was keep him from making some kind of hopeless charge into the thick of the enemy.”
“Well, tell me about it!”
Branoic rolled his eyes heavenward, but tell her he did, though she knew he was leaving out a fair bit of mayhem. Speaking of their prince together was oddly satisfying, she realized. Branoic could show her the part of Maryn’s life that otherwise she wouldn’t see, and it was fascinating. Now and then she’d glance up, but she looked directly only at Nevyn, who smiled at her in approval. Yet always she was aware of the prince, sitting at his distance, like a fire blazing with warmth felt halfway across a room.
After the evening meal in the great hall, Nevyn retired to his chamber. He lit candles, then laid a leather-bound book, as tall as his forearm, on the table. Although he’d owned this book for many years, it had only recently returned to him after spending some time in the hands of a thief, and he couldn’t remember if it held the information he wanted or not. He had just found a page listing the various kinds of spirits when he heard someone coming up the stairs with a tread far too heavy to belong to Lilli.
“My lord Nevyn!” It was Oggyn’s voice, puffing from the climb. “Nevyn, are you in?”
“I am.” Nevyn laid in a scrap of cloth to keep his place, then closed the book. “I’m on my way.”
Nevyn got up and opened the door to find a winded Oggyn, his arms full of parchments. In the dim light spilling out of the chamber, he looked terrified.
“What’s so wrong?” Nevyn said.
“A private word with you, if I may. Somewhat’s very wrong indeed.”
Nevyn ushered him inside. Oggyn dumped his parchments onto the table and sank onto the only chair. He pulled a rag out of his pocket and mopped the sweat from his bald scalp. Nevyn sat down opposite on the edge of his bed.
“Whilst you were gone, I rode around the royal demesnes