Page 66 of The Sun King's Noon

“—and so I try to draw the two paths the creepy animal tells me. But when I picked the old oak, I killed my parents?—”

“You didn’t kill them, you daft goose,” Isolde said, flicking through the pages. “How could you have known? Tell her, Godwyn!”

“Um.” The hulking boy, with fair hair and a crooked nose, stared at the sketches. “Um. I think—I think—” He hummed. “I think if you draw a horse, the horse is not—is not—a real horse. Because it is a drawing of a horse. And so?—”

“Oh, that is excellent, Godwyn.” Isolde rolled her eyes. “Truly.”

Godwyn gave her a bashful smile. “It is?”

“No.” Isolde slammed the book shut and passed it to Briony. “Listen, you were only nine when those animals came into your dreams. And I do think you rather”—she paused and squinted suspiciously, as if trying to determine if Briony would laugh at her—“rather brave for dealing with it by yourself.”

Briony’s jaw dropped as she hugged the book to her chest. “Brave? Me?”

Isolde shrugged, winding her plait around her hand. “Yes. It all sounds very eerie. I would have wet myself if I’d had one of those dreams.”

Godwyn nodded earnestly. “Oh, me too. Rabbits with no eyes? Deer withtoo manyeyes?” He shuddered. “Oh, I could not bear to think of it, Briony. It would frighten me terribly.”

Briony blinked at them, then lifted her chin. “Why, yes. You are right, of course. I am a princess, and so bravery runs through my veins—especially being that I am the daughter of Haldric, who slew the Dark Necromancers of Joplin.” She sniffed and cupped her cheek. “It was awfully tragic of me to keep my dreams to myself. I did not wish to frighten anyone, you see, on account of my kind and gentle heart.”

Isolde gave her a withering look. “Yes, well. Don’t let it go to your head.”

As the three descended into a discussion of which dream animal was creepiest, Richard watched a wide, delighted grin light up Briony’s face and, with some relief, thanked the gods.

* * *

Elara and Corwincame for him a couple of hours before midnight.

Richard had known they would, and for a long while, had debated sleeping in the herb cabinet again. But he could not prolong a confrontation forever, and his back still ached from where the cabinet had jutted into his spine.

Nevertheless, his guts coiled as Elara and Corwin entered without even a knock. They settled by his study desk, Elara with her arms crossed, and Corwin slouched by her, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Speak, then,” Elara said.

Richard stood from where he’d been reclining on the bed. “There is nothing to say. I weighed the matter and decided that telling you served no purpose. Had I placed that knowledge upon you, one of you would have acted. Corwin might well have ridden for Estara in the dead of night.”

“So you decided,” Elara said slowly, rapping her fingers against her arm. “For all of us.”

“I did.”

“You had no right?—”

“I had every right.” Richard met her eyes. “I am king.”

Corwin snorted. “King. Of course. There it is.”

“Our parents weremurdered, Brother.” Elara’s eyes glistened, her words coming out through gritted teeth. “Murdered. And these past two years, you have had us smiling at Marius’s envoys, signing his trade writs, letting us play at diplomacy with his people?—”

“Yes.”

“—and you have the gall to sit there and tell us it was the proper course?”

Richard walked to the fireplace. Above the mantlepiece hung the portrait of his parents, and he willed their smiles to give him strength.

He turned to Elara. “Do you see now why I could not let you travel to Estara? Why I could not place you in a hall where the man who butchered our parents might offer you wine? Tell me, what will you do about Penelope? You have the truth. You know whose daughter she is. Will you sever ties as you should?”

Fire crackled along Elara’s wrists. “How dare you use her against me in this—how dare you—” Her voice splintered, and a tear tracked down a cheek. “I love her, Brother, more than I have ever loved anything in my life, and I could not kiss her goodbye this morn. Do you understand? Our hands touched, and I could not—I could not bring my mouth to hers because all I could see was Maranbog, and the trolls, and Mother and Father, and I do not know how to hold all of those things at once. I do not know how to look at her without seeinghim, and oh, Brother, you have ruined?—”

“I have ruined nothing. This is merely the facts?—”