Royal Assassin

By the time I reached the top of the spiraling tower steps, I was winded and my legs ached. I pushed at the door and it gave easily on oiled hinges. From long habit, I stepped quietly as I entered the room. I had not really expected to find Verity or anyone else there. The sea storms were our watchmen in winter, guarding our coasts from Raiders. I blinked in the sudden gray light of morning that was flooding in from the unshuttered tower windows. Verity was a dark silhouette against a gray storm sky. He did not turn. "Shut the door," he said quietly. "The draft up the stairs makes this room as windy as a chimney."

I did so, and then stood shivering in the chill. The wind brought the scent of the sea with it, and I breathed it in as if it were life itself. "I had not expected to find you here," I said.

He kept his eyes on the water. "Didn't you? Then why did you come?" There was amusement in his voice.

It jolted me. "I don't really know. I headed back to my room ...." My voice dwindled away as I tried to recall why I had come here.

"I Skilled you," he said simply.

I stood silent and thought. "I felt nothing."

"I didn't intend that you should. It is as I told you a long time ago. The Skill can be a soft whisper in a man's ear. It doesn't have to be a shout of command."

He slowly turned to face me, and as my eyes adjusted to the light my heart leaped with joy at the change I saw in the man. When I had left Buckkeep at harvest time, he had been a withered shadow, worn thin by the weight of his duties and his constant watchfulness. His dark hair was still salted with gray, but there was muscle once more on his stocky frame, and vitality snapped in his dark eyes. He looked every bit a King.

"Marriage seems to agree with you, my prince," I said inanely.

That flustered him. "In some ways," he conceded as a boyish flush rose on his cheeks. He turned back quickly to his window. "Come and see my ships," he commanded.

It was my turn to be baffled. I stepped to the window beside him and looked out over the harbor, and then over the sea itself. "Where?" I asked in bewilderment. He took me by the shoulders and turned me toward the shipyard. A long barn of a building of new yellow pine had been erected there. Men were coming and going from it as smoke rose from chimneys and forges there. Dark against the snow were several of the immense timbers that had been Kettricken's bride offering to him.

"Sometimes, when I stand up here on a winter morning, I look out to sea and I can almost see the Red-Ships. I know they must come. But sometimes, too, I can see the ships we shall have to meet them. They will not find their prey so helpless this spring, my boy. And by next winter I intend to teach them what it is to be raided." He spoke with a savage satisfaction that would have been frightening, had I not shared it. I felt my grin mirror his as our eyes met.

And then his look changed. "You look terrible," he offered. "As bad as your clothes. Let's go somewhere warmer and find you some mulled wine and something to eat."

"I've eaten," I told him. "And I'm much better than I was a few months ago, thank you."

"Don't be prickly," he admonished me. "And don't tell me what I already know. Nor lie to me. The climb up the stairs has exhausted you, and you're shivering as you stand there."

"You're using the Skill on me," I accused him, and he nodded.

"I've been aware of your approach for some days now. I tried several times to Skill to you, but could not make you aware of me. I was concerned when you left the road, but I understand Burrich's concern. I am pleased that he has looked after you so well; not just in bringing you home safe, but in all that went on at Jhaampe. I am at a loss as to how to reward him. It would have to be subtle. Given who was involved, a public recognition would not do. Have you any suggestions?"

"Your word of thanks would be all he would accept. He would bridle that you thought he needed more. My own feelings are that no object you gave him would be a match for what he did for me. The way to handle him is to tell him to take his pick of the likely two-year-olds, for his horse is growing old. He'd understand that." I considered it carefully. "Yes. You might do that."

"Might I?" Verity asked me dryly. There was an acid edge to the amusement in his voice.

I was suddenly amazed at my own boldness. "I forgot myself, my prince," I said humbly.

A smile curved his lips and his hand fell on my shoulder in a heavy pat. "Well, l asked you, did I not? For a moment I would have sworn it was old Chivalry instructing me in handling my men, rather than my young nephew. Your trip to Jhaampe has quite changed you, boy. Come. I meant what I said about a warmer spot and a glass of something. Kettricken will be wanting to see you later in the day. And Patience, too, I imagine."

My heart sank as he heaped the tasks before me. Buckkeep Town pulled at me like a lodestone. But this was my king-in-waiting. I bowed my head to his will.