Free Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon

nothing.”
    “True, but I’m not minded to see your grandfather’s face if I put you against rested fighters twice your size. Maybe after breakfast I can find you someone suitable to spar with. And maybe you’ll see something here you don’t see at home.”
    Concentrating on the boy, Kieri had ignored his Squires. The boy’s eyes widening a little was his only warning; he lunged sideways just as someone grabbed for his shoulder and knocked him off balance. He fell on his side, rolled, avoided the kick. Arian, of course. She shifted sideways as he came up to one knee and then pounced, but hewas ready with a strike to the back of her knee. She fell, already rolling away, and he made it to his feet. “Enough,” he said. “Our guest needs his breakfast, as do we.”

    T he boy had never been to Chaya before, let alone the palace. Kieri ignored his startled reactions and trusted that the arrival of food would overcome any shyness. He had long persuaded the palace cooks that he needed a heartier breakfast, and platters of sizzling sausage, stirred eggs, and hot breads disappeared as the Squires joined in.
    Garris came into the room. “Courier’s ready to go—anything else?” Then he noticed the boy. “Is that—”
    “Yes. Aliam sent him ahead to tell us: two days. But I still need to send word of the attacks and the present situation.”
    “I could go,” young Aliam said.
    “You probably could,” Kieri said, “but your king wants you here for the time being. I have a courier available who slept last night and has already eaten, and I have questions for you when we’re done.” He and Garris left; when he returned, Arian sat with the young Halveric, who was eyeing the basket of honeycakes.
    “Go ahead,” Kieri said, taking two for himself. “Do you like sib?”
    “Yes, sir king.”
    Arian poured for all three of them.
    “Do you always have King’s Squires with you?” the boy asked.
    “Yes, that is what they do.”
    “Could I ever be a King’s Squire?”
    “Not until you’re a Knight of Falk,” Kieri said. “After that, we’ll see. You may not want the job. It’s not all living in the palace, you know.”
    “I saw them—you, Lady Arian, too—back home last fall. I thought then, if Granfer isn’t going south again, and Father doesn’t want to, then being a King’s Squire would be exciting.”
    “It’s not a second best,” Arian said sharply.
    “I didn’t mean it that way—only it’s been our family tradition to go south and fight there. But Granfer’s old now, and my father doesn’t want to go again.”
    “I wanted to ask you about the rebuilding,” Kieri said. “How is that coming?”
    “Oh, it’s almost like it was before. We all worked on it, of course, and the elves made wood join even better than old Sosti, that Granfer said was the best he’d seen. The elves didn’t like having our Old Halveric’s skull up in the attic, but Granfer insisted and so did Gram. She said it belonged there. The elves wouldn’t touch it, but when the roof framing was up, I put it back in. Gram is happy. I wanted an indoor salle, like the one here, but Granfer said wars aren’t fought indoors.”
    “He’s right, and he said the same to us when I was his squire,” Kieri said. “I kept thinking I’d build one when I had my own Company, but instead we used the dining hall if the weather was really too cold.”
    The boy yawned suddenly, then blinked and widened his eyes. “I’m not really sleepy,” he said. “If there’s something you need—”
    “I need you rested for later,” Kieri said. “Sleep now.”
    “But it’s daytime. And I’m in Chaya.”
    Kieri chuckled. “And Chaya will be here when you wake up again. Come now, don’t argue with your king.”
    When the boy was well away, following one of the palace servants to a guest room, Arian said, “I hope our sons are like that.”
    “And I.”
    “You didn’t tell him about us—”
    “No. He’s Aliam’s grandson and