A memory tumbled through her mind unbidden. She did remember him. He dove from the waterfall into the pool below to save Ambivalence Bigrock. Repentance had been—what?—in her tenth year? So Sober had been in his fifteenth. Everyone in the village thought he was the bravest boy.
And he was cute even then, with dark curls and dark eyes and that slightly crooked nose.
So why hadn't anyone buttoned him the following year? Or the one after that?
She wasn't sure she believed he'd been waiting for her. She wanted to believe, but no boy ever waited five years for a button mate. It was too dangerous. The girl you chose might die, for one thing. She'd half believed he'd made that story up to cover up whatever flaws the button girls had seen in him when they turned him down four years in a row. But now, with him sitting right next to her, she found it hard to believe anyone would find him flawed.
He shifted a bit and his hip snuggled against hers. She scooted back, pressing herself up against the corner of the settee, but she couldn't get away from him. He was so big and so near. She bit her lip. What had she been thinking about?
Oh, yes, his flaws.
He hadn't any.
She remembered his earnest look on the slave dock when he pronounced the ancient blessing on her. He, who should have hated her, had blessed her.
She cast back into her memory looking for all that she knew about him. Third son. Only child. Devoted to his mother. She remembered him vaguely from school. She never knew him well. He was one of the big boys. And then he was gone. He lived on the other side of the swamp. She saw him at village meetings. And occasionally when she was fishing. Often when she was fishing, now that she considered the matter. She'd row her boat around a corner in the stream, and there he would be in his skiff. He'd nod his head and smile and say something about the fish or the weather. She'd barely paid him any notice.
He was so overpowering. He took up the whole room. He squeezed the air from it. How had she passed him by so often without notice?
He chuckled. "This fellow is funny," he whispered, tapping the page.
How could he read? She couldn't concentrate on anything but him. His proximity. His smile! It did something to her. Or was it the hot wine she'd had with the cakes downstairs?
She jumped up from the settee and began pacing.
He glanced up from his book and raised his eyebrows as if to ask what was wrong.
She shook her head and continued pacing.
He went back to reading.
She walked behind the settee. His silky hair curled at his collar and she had an urge to reach out and touch it.
If he didn't have any flaws, then he must have been waiting for someone. But that didn't mean he was waiting for her.
Sure, he had blessed her. And he had befriended her at the palace. But he was the type of man who blessed and befriended everyone. Generosity loved him, and even the older maids and Cook doted on him. Repentance sighed. He hadn't treated her any differently than he'd treated any of them. If they'd been in the dungeon he'd have risked his life to save any of them.
She circled the room again.
Sober looked up from his book. "Sit down," he whispered. "You're making me nervous."
She sat on the far end of the settee.
Sober looked over and smiled, his teeth gleaming in the dim light. "You still dislike me so much, eh, Repentance? You can't stand to be stuck in here with me?"
"I never said any such thing," she whispered back.
He leaned toward her. "Why the pacing, then?"
She pulled back.
The door in the wall scraped open.
Repentance held her breath.
Lord Carrull ducked into the room. "They've gone," he said breathlessly. "They suspect nothing. Going door to door. Checking all the houses."
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. "Those stairs." He tucked his handkerchief away. "Well then, what is next on the agenda? Early to bed, I should think. Tomorrow is a big day. I'll go to the king at first light."
"If you say you know us, won't you be in danger yourself?" Sober asked.
Lord Carrull nodded. "I don't intend to tell him I know you. I plan to make it clear that I'm not ready yet to disclose how I got the news I'm going to share with him. If I can get him to call Tigen in, that might be all it will take."
"Oh, I wish Tigen wasn't needed. It's a terrible thing to ask a small boy to tell on his own father. If the prince goes to the swingman, Tigen will always feel responsible."
"It can't be helped. He's your only witness."
"I tried to protect him. I didn't want him to know his father had tried to kill the king. I thought of asking him to tell the king that his father had a slave hidden in the barn, but I was sure the king wouldn't believe it. He knew Tigen and I were friends. I think if you make Tigen tell, the king will assume that Tigen is lying to help me."
"Not necessarily," Lord Carrul said. "Tigen was not a credible witness while you were in the dungeon. He would have spouted off with any tale he could think up, in order to get you out. But now that you are no longer locked up, he has no reason to lie."
"Lord Carrull," Sober said. "If the king doesn't arrest the prince and if the prince hears what you've done, he might kill you."
"I'll have to make sure the prince doesn't
