Free The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell

scandal. Such things attracted an audience as surely as carcasses called to vultures. Tanil smiled from the safety of the crowd.
    “Touch my cadet again, and I will break each one of your fingers,” said a quiet voice behind her. “One at a time.”
    Renee swallowed as Savoy, in his midnight black instructor’s uniform, stepped up beside her. He stood motionless, but nothing could conceal the fury spilling from his gaze. Around them, spectators stopped pretending to be otherwise occupied and stared openly. His words repeated themselves in her mind. She was his cadet. He wasn’t her friend, he thought her weak, but he would stand beside her without asking what the quarrel was or how it came to be. Servants protected each other’s backs because sometimes, too often, there was no one else.
    Renee’s father cleared his throat, indecision playing in his eyes. He was a good spokesman. Would he apologize that a trivial misunderstanding created such a disturbance? Or puff his chest in indignation? He squared his shoulders. “I apologize, young master. My daughter and I found a poor place for a family squabble.”
    “Servant,” said Savoy.
    “I beg pardon?”
    “Servant.” Savoy crossed his arms. “The proper address is Servant or Commander, not master. You seem to have forgotten where you are, my lord.”
    “Indeed.” Lord Tamath bowed just deep enough to avoid discourtesy. “My partners and I have business to attend to. Please do not let us impose on your time further. Renee, come along and guide us to the clerk.”
    Savoy put his hands behind his back and shifted his weight just enough to give her freedom of movement.
    She took a breath. “I am needed elsewhere, my lord. I will see you . . . ” She paused, stumbling on the words. If there had been any chance of regaining a welcome to her father’s estates, she had destroyed it. “I will see you at another time.”
    Savoy’s weight shifted back. A small movement but unmistakable.
    Alec’s face appeared at the edge of the crowd and moved toward her. A moment earlier, Renee was a girl outnumbered. Now she had the whole Crown’s army behind her.
    At least until midyear exams.
    * * *
    A long table stretched down the palace family dining room. Flickering chandelier candles reflected in the polished wood. King Lysian sat at the head of the table, his back to the door. The night beyond pressed at the glittering window across the room from him until Savoy opened the glass, reached out, and swung the shutter closed. Lysian sighed but said nothing.
    With Queen’s Day’s emphasis on family, the guests were just that—people who were cousins and grandparents and uncles as deeply as they were esteemed members of the royal household. Sasha’s parents sat together, holding hands like enthralled lovers despite their years. Renee swallowed and looked away. A large-eyed toddler clutched a wooden puppy doll and reminded everyone that her name was
Claire,
pointing a chubby finger at her chest and rocking her raised chair until Sasha tickled the girl into silence. Sasha’s attempt to carry a political conversation over Claire’s bobbing form earned shushing noises. Lysian inclined his head toward her. “This isn’t the forum, cousin,” he said quietly, his eyes as cool as Savoy’s. The topic was not raised again.
    Renee rocked back on her heels, studying King Lysian as he fed a scrap to a dog beneath the table. Although Lysian did not appear to remember her, she had seen him with Sasha a few times before, when he was a prince. Once, he had pulled his cousin’s braids. Then he grew taller and pulled back her chair instead. Now he silenced her with a look. He was her liege and her cousin, like a gold coin twisting in midair, showing one face, then the other.
    The room erupted in laughs at someone’s jest. Renee wondered how soon Lysian’s easy smile would become a relic, buried beneath duty. Her eyes cut to Savoy, who stood poised, like a stalking cat, behind his