As he racked his brain, trying to get to the bottom of it, suddenly he felt a stiff hand on his chest, stopping him hard in his tracks.
He looked up to see a boy, maybe a couple of years older than him, tall and thin, dressed in the most expensive clothes he had ever seen-in royal purple and green and scarlet silks, with an elaborate feathered hat- grimacing down. The boy looked dainty, spoiled, as if raised in the lap of luxury, with softened hands and high arched eyebrows that peered down disdainfully.
“They call me Alton,” the boy began. “I am the son of Lord Alton, first cousin to the King. We have been lords of the realm for seven centuries. Which entitles me to be a Duke. You, by contrast, are a
Thor stood there, having no idea who this boy was or what he had done to upset him.
“What do you want of me?” Thor asked.
Alton snickered.
“Of course, you would not know. You probably don’t know anything, do you? How dare you barge in here and pretend to be one of us!” he spat.
Thor hardly knew how to respond.
“I’m not pretending anything,” he said.
“Well, I don’t care whatever wave you washed in on. I just want to warn you, before you get any more fantasies in your head, that Gwendolyn is mine.”
Thor stared back, shocked.
“Our marriage has been arranged since birth,” Alton continued. “We are of the same age, and of the same rank. Plans are already in motion. Don’t you dare think, even for instant, that it will be any different.”
Thor felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him; he didn’t even have the strength to respond.
Alton took a step closer, and stared down.
“You see,” he said in a soft voice, “I allow Gwen her flirtations. She has many. Every once in a while she’ll take pity on a commoner, or perhaps a servant. She will allow them to be her entertainment, her amusement. You might have come to the conclusion that it is something more. But that’s all it is for Gwynn. You are just another acquaintance, another amusement. She collects them, like dolls. They don’t mean anything to her. She’s excited by the newest commoner, and after a day or two, she gets bored. She shall drop you quickly. You’re nothing to her, really. And by year’s end she and I will be wed. Forever.”
The boy’s eyes opened wide, and Thor could see his fierce determination.
Thor felt his heart breaking at his words. Were they true? Was he really nothing to Gwynn? Now he was confused; he hardly knew what to believe. She had seemed so genuine. But maybe Thor had just been jumping to the wrong conclusion?
“You’re lying,” Thor finally said back.
Alton sneered, and then raised a single, pampered finger, and jabbed it into Thor’s chest.
“If I see you near your again, I’ll use my authority to call the royal guard. They will have you imprisoned!”
“On what grounds!?” Thor asked.
“I need no grounds. I have rank here. I will make one up, and it is me they will believe. By the time I’m done slandering you, half the kingdom will believe you are a criminal.”
Alton smiled, self-satisfied; Thor felt sick.
“You lack honor,” Thor said, uncomprehending that anyone could act with such indecency.
Alton laughed, a high-pitched sound.
“I never had it to begin with,” he said. “Honor is for fools. I have what I want. You can keep your honor. And I will have Gwendolyn.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Thor walked with Reece out the arched gate of King’s Court and onto the country road that led to the Legion’s barracks. The guards stood at attention for them as they passed and Thor felt a great sense of belonging. He was finally starting to feel like he wasn’t such an outsider. He thought back to just a few days before, when a guard had chased him out of here. How much had changed, so quickly.
Thor heard a screeching and looked up to see, high overhead, Estopheles, circling, looking down. She dove, and Thor, excited, held out his wrist, still wearing the metal gauntlet. But she rose again, and flew off. She flew higher and higher, never completely out of sight. Thor wondered. She was a mystical animal, and he felt an intense connection to her that was hard to explain.
Thor and Reece continued in silence, keeping a quick pace towards the barracks. Thor knew his brethren would be awaiting him, and wondered what sort of reception he would receive. Would there be envy, jealousy? Would they be mad that he got all this attention? Would they make fun of him for being carried back across the canyon? Or would they finally accept him?
Thor hoped it was the latter. He was tired of struggling with the rest of the Legion and just wanted, more than anything, to belong. To be accepted as one of them.
The barracks came into sight in the distance, and Thor’s mind began to be preoccupied with something else.
Gwendolyn.
Thor didn’t know how much he could talk to Reece about this, given that it was his sister. But he could not get her out of his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking of his encounter with that menacing royal, Alton, and wondered how much of what he said was true. A part of him feared to discuss it with Reece, not wanting to risk upsetting him somehow and losing his new friend over his sister. But another part of him had to know what he thought.
“Who is Alton?” Thor finally asked, hesitant.
“Alton?” Reece repeated. “Why do you ask of him?”
Thor shrugged, unsure how much to say.
Luckily, Reece continued.
“He’s but a menacing, lesser royal. Third cousin to the king. Why? Has he been after you about something?” Then Reece narrowed his eyes. “Gwen? Is that it? I should’ve warned you.”
Thor turned and looked at Reece, eager to hear more.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a lout. He’s been after my sister since he could walk. He’s certain the two of them will be wed. My mother seems to think so, too.”
“Will they?” Thor asked, surprised by the urgency in his own voice.
Reece looked at him and smiled.
“My, my, you have fallen for her, haven’t you?” He chuckled. “That was fast.”
Thor reddened, hoping it wasn’t so obvious.
“Whether or not they do would depend on my sister’s feelings for him,” Reece finally answered. “Unless they forced her into marriage. But I doubt my father would do that.”
“And how does she feel for him?” Thor pressed, afraid he was being too nosy, but needing to know.
Reece shrugged. “You’d have to ask her, I guess. I never talk to her about it.”
“But would he force her into marriage?” Reece pressed. “Could he really do such a thing?”
“My father can do anything he wants. But that’s between him and Gwyn.”
Reece turned and looked at Thor.
“Why all these questions? What did you talk about?”
Thor blushed, unsure what to say.
“Nothing,” he said finally.
“Nothing!” Reece laughed. “Sounds like a lot of nothing to me!”
Reece laughed harder, and Thor was embarrassed, wondering if he was just imagining that Gwen liked him. Reece reached over and put a firm hand on his shoulder.
