'Warder Dogstar?' said Tate from behind us.
'Come on. We need to get the others together.' He waited until Blackbird released me and then pointed at me and then at the floor. 'Stay here. Do not leave this room until I come and get you. Consider it an order.'
'Yes, sir,' I said, grinning at him.
'Learn to follow them. It'll keep you alive.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Tate. Get the others. Team briefing in five.'
'Yes, sir,' he rumbled.
Garvin looked steadily at him. 'Don't you start,' he said.
Tate grinned at me, then left to gather the others together. Garvin nodded to Blackbird and pulled the door closed behind him, giving us our privacy.
'Warder Dogstar?' she said.
'It was the price of freedom, though I'm not exactly free. They swore me into service.' I showed her the cut across my wrist where the blood had smeared and was already clotting.
'She knew, Niall. All that time, she knew. When Kareesh offered you the sight of something she said 'courts', plural.'
'I thought they would let us go, that they would have to. They nearly didn't.'
'It's enough, Niall. What will you do now?'
'Garvin said he'd train me. He sounded like he wasn't going to enjoy it.'
'Will you stay here?'
'I don't know. I think they were as surprised as I was. Mellion suggested it and I don't think Garvin could find a way to turn him down.'
'You don't mess with Mellion,' agreed Blackbird.
'And what about you?' I asked her.
'I had to swear to keep the secret,' she said. 'If I tell another soul it will kill me and the baby.'
'Our son.'
'I know, they told me too. They have offered me a bursary, an income to help me through the months ahead in return for my silence.'
'You accepted?'
'There wasn't really much of a choice.'
'They offered me a boon. I asked for somewhere for you to live that's secure while you're pregnant and for them to accept Alex into the courts, when and if she comes into her gifts. That was before they swore me in as a warder, though.'
'Did they agree?'
'They did, yes.'
'Then it is done. They will not go back on their word.'
'So you have somewhere to live.'
'We have somewhere,' she said, pressing her hand to my cheek. 'I don't want you too far away.'
That possessive glint had appeared in her eye.
'Don't say it.'
'Why not?' she said, turning her face up to be kissed. 'It's true.'
I kissed her, and she laughed, throwing her hands around my neck. I pressed my lips to hers and whirled her around. It didn't stop her though. I had to release her eventually.
She stood before me, breathless but determined, eyes full of green fire.
'Mine,' she said.
