Page 151 of Shadow Queen
“I give him what he needs to know to protect my queen.”
She paused, studying him. “He will, you know. He will protect her.”
He did know.
Now how to protect Mercia—Alexander stood and pulled the army records from his cabinet. Where to draw more forces…
“The council wants me to pull the last of the Northmen from Bahoul to help defend the villages,” he said, freer with information than he would normally be.
“I won’t argue with that,” she said. “But then you’d be stupid. To Kharav’s benefit, though, so by all means, listen to your old men.”
He tightened his lips to keep from smiling. He could use a captain like Katya, especially with Caspian gone. He ran his eyes down the records and through the soldier counts and placements. “This is a cunning foe, whoever he is, is he not?” he said as he leafed through the pages of numbers. “Mercia has a large army, but he forces me to spread them across the kingdom, so in effect, I have nothing.”
“He’s a clever opponent,” she said, nodding. “But then, Bear, so are you.”
He lifted his gaze from the records to find her looking back at him. Her eyes smiled. Dark, but bright.
Captivating.
No. He caught himself. Just dark.
Chapter forty-six
Thesunhunghighin the cloudless hues of blue. Soren leaned against the rail of the sparring field, watching the earlies as they practiced. He was pleased with this group. Their movements were fluid, their weapons’ work accurate and deadly. Several of them would make the Crest. He needed more of them, but he wouldn’t take those who didn’t meet his standard. He couldn’t sacrifice quality, not when it came to Salara’s safety.
Adrian caught his eye, and he watched him. The boy had skill, and he was clever—sometimes too clever. Soren had wanted to loathe him, this brother of the Bear, but there was nothing to loathe about him, aside from having to admit the Bear had trained him well. He was born of natural talent, he worked hard, his loyalty was absolute, and his spirit unbreakable. He was an excellent soldier.
And Soren could make him even better.
The Bear would call for his return eventually, and Soren would send him back the greatest warrior of both kingdoms.
“Boy!” he called.
Adrian turned mid-practice; he knew when Soren called him. He pulled off his helm and trotted up to him, breathlessly giving a quick bow of his head. “Yes, Lord Commander.”
Soren eyed him for a moment. “Have you written to your brother?”
Adrian looked to the ground. “Uh, not yet,” he answered. “But I will.”
Soren shot him a steely gaze. It was one of the boy’s rare faults—the fear of disappointing his brother. He still hadn’t shared the news of his marriage. No doubt, the news would upset the Bear, but not telling him would cause a greater conflict between them. Soren didn’t want that for him.
“You’re a man now. You make your own decisions, but you must also own them.”
Adrian nodded. “I’ll do it tonight.”
“You’ll do it now.”
The boy looked back out to the field. “But what about practice?”
“I said you’ll do it now,” Soren growled.
Adrian swallowed and then gave another bow. “Yes, my lord.” Then he trotted off to do as he was bid.
Soren sighed. He hoped this wouldn’t cause the Bear to call the boy back. There was so much potential in him, but he still needed a lot of work. He needed more experience—experience only Soren could provide. He needed at least two years. Soren would have to accelerate his training.
He turned back to the sparring field and caught sight of Salara beside the far railing. She must be out for a walk; she liked to occasionally take the route by the sparring field to see how Adrian and the sibling pair were doing.
Soren waited for her to see him and give him her usual stupid smirk, but when her eyes found him, she quickly looked back to the earlies, then abruptly turned and headed back toward the castle.
