Bitterblue

Bitterblue was mildly embarrassed to find herself in the company of Lord Giddon. 'Oh,' she said. 'Giddon. Hello. I'm all right, I suppose. I'm sorry about the other night. The falling asleep, I mean,' she bumbled, 'and—the hair.'

'Don't apologize, Lady Queen,' he said. 'An ordeal like the one with Danzhol is bound to be exhausting; it was the end of an extraordinary day.'

'That it was,' she said, sighing.

'How is your puzzle going?'

'Dreadfully,' she said, grateful to him for remembering. 'I have lords like Danzhol, who stole for Leck, connecting with thieves who are stealing the things back, connecting with a strange piece of misinformation about gargoyles my advisers gave me, connecting with other kinds of knowledge my advisers seem to prefer to discourage, connecting with knowledge the thieves would like to keep from me as well, such as why someone would stick knives in their guts. I don't understand the courtyard decoration either,' she said grouchily, glaring at the shrubberies that a moment before had been delighting her.

'Hm,' said Giddon. 'I confess, it doesn't sound very illuminating.'

'It's a disaster,' Bitterblue said.

'Well,' said Giddon with mild amusement. 'Your great courtyard is lovely in the rain.'

'Thank you. Did you know that my being here to look at it, alone, in the middle of the day, requires a lengthy debate? And I'm not even alone,' she added, indicating, with a nod, the man tucked behind an arch in the south vestibule. 'That's one of my Graced guards, Alinor, pretending not to watch us. I bet you my crown that they sent him along to spy on me.'

'Or perhaps to keep an eye out for your safety, Lady Queen?' suggested Giddon. 'You were recently attacked while in their care. They might be feeling a bit twitchy, not to mention guilty.'

'It's just—I did something today that I should be happy about, Giddon. I proposed a policy of remuneration from the crown for those who were robbed during Leck's reign. But all I feel is impatience, fury for the opposition I anticipate and the lies I'm going to have to tell to make it happen, and frustration that I can't even take a walk without them sending someone to hover. Attack me,' she said.

'I beg your pardon, Lady Queen?'

'You should attack me, and we'll see what he does. He's probably quite bored—it'll be a relief to him.'

'Mightn't he run me through with his sword?'

'Oh.' Bitterblue chuckled. 'Yes, I suppose he might. That would be a shame.'

'I'm gratified that you think so,' said Giddon dryly.

Bitterblue squinted at a muddy person wading into the courtyard from the west vestibule, which was the route from the stables. Her heart leapt; she jumped forward. 'Giddon!' she cried. 'It's Katsa!'

Suddenly Po shot into the courtyard from the north vestibule, whooping. Katsa, seeing him, broke into a run and they tore at each other through the wash. Just before the moment of impact, Po shifted to one side, crouched, scooped Katsa up, and, with admirable precision, propelled them both sideways into the pool.

THEY WERE STILL thrashing around and laughing and screaming, and Bitterblue and Giddon were still watching, when a stiff little clerk spotted Bitterblue, trotted up to her, and said, 'Good day, Lady Queen. Lady Katsa of the Middluns has arrived at court, Lady Queen.'

Bitterblue raised an eyebrow. 'You don't say?'

The clerk, who seemed not to have risen to his position on the merits of his powers of observation, confirmed his announcement humorlessly, then added, 'Prince Raffin of the Middluns has accompanied her this time, Lady Queen.'

'Oh! Where is he?'

'He is finding his rooms, Lady Queen.'

'Is Bann with him?' asked Giddon.

'He is, My Lord,' said the clerk.

'They'll be exhausted,' said Giddon to Bitterblue as the clerk slipped away. 'Katsa'll have ridden them hard through the rain.'

Katsa and Po were trying to drown each other and, judging from their hoots of laughter, enjoying it immensely. People had begun to gather in archways and on balconies—servants, guards—pointing, staring.

'I expect this will make a good story for the rumor mills,' Bitterblue ventured.

'Another chapter in The Heroic Adventures Of?' Giddon asked quietly. Then he shot her a grin that reached all the way to his very nice, but ordinary, matching brown eyes, and Bitterblue had the feeling suddenly of not being so alone. She'd forgotten, in her first joy, what this was always like. Preoccupied with Po, Katsa hadn't even noticed her.

'I was actually headed to the royal smithy,' Bitterblue said to Giddon, in the way of also having preoccupations and places to go, 'but the truth is that I'm not certain where it is. I wasn't going to admit that to my advisers, of course.'

'I've been there, Lady Queen,' Giddon said. 'It's on the western grounds, north of the stables. Shall I point you in the right direction or would you like company?'

'Join me.'

'It looks like the entertainment is breaking up, anyway,' Lord Giddon said. And indeed, the splashing and the noise seemed to have calmed. Katsa and Po had their arms around each other. It was difficult to tell if they were still wrestling or if the kissing had begun.

Bitterblue turned away with a small flash of resentment.

'Wait!'

It was Katsa's voice; it slapped against Bitterblue's back and spun her around. Katsa had climbed out of the fountain and out of Po's arms. Katsa was running toward her, eyes shining blue and green, clothes and hair streaming. She slammed into Bitterblue and gathered her into a hug. She picked Bitterblue up, put her down, squeezed her harder, kissed the top of her head. Crushed painfully against Katsa, Bitterblue heard the wild, strong thump of Katsa's heart. She held Katsa tight. Tears pricked her eyes.

Then Katsa was gone, flying back to Po.

AS BITTERBLUE AND Giddon moved through the western castle to the exit nearest the smithy, Giddon told her that remuneration for a king's thefts was one of the Council's specialties. 'It can be quite beautiful in execution, Lady Queen,' he said. 'Of course, when we do it, it involves trickery, and our thieving kings are still alive. But I think you'll feel the same satisfaction we do.'

He was a big man beside her, as tall as Thiel and broader. 'How old are you?' she asked bluntly, deciding that queens had the privilege of asking nosy questions.

'Twenty-seven last month, Lady Queen,' he answered, not seeming to mind the question.

Then they were all of a similar age—Giddon, Po, Katsa, Bann, and Raffin. 'How long have you been Katsa's friend?' she asked, remembering, with mild indignation, that Katsa hadn't greeted him in the courtyard.

'Oh,' he said, calculating, 'well, some ten or eleven years? I offered myself to her and Raffin as soon as the Council began. Of course, I knew of her before that; I'd seen her at court many times. I used to watch her practices.'

'Did you grow up at King Randa's court, then?'

'My family's estate is near to Randa's court, Lady Queen. As a boy, I spent as much time at court as I did at home. My father, while he was alive, was a great friend of Randa's.'

'Your priorities differed from your father's.'

He glanced at her in surprise, then made an unamused noise. 'Not really, Lady Queen.'

'Well, you chose the Council over any allegiance to Randa, didn't you?'

'I joined the Council more out of fascination for its founder than anything else, Lady Queen. Katsa, and the promise of adventure. I don't think I much cared what it was for. At the time, I was one of Randa's most reliable bullies.'

Bitterblue remembered then that Giddon was among those excluded from the truth of Po's Grace. Was this why? Was he a bully? But Giddon was one of Po's closest friends now, wasn't he? How did a man who was crony to a bad king undo that entanglement while the king was still alive?

'Giddon?' she said. 'Do you care about the Council's purpose now?'

When he looked into her face, she saw his answer before he gave it. 'With all my heart.'