Free Warden of Time (The After Cilmeri Series Book 8) by Sarah Woodbury

five foot ten, a few inches shorter than I was, but he’d filled out in the last year. Soon I would have to knight him and find myself a new squire. Before he could speak, I pointed at him. “I need my sword.”
    He bowed, “Yes, sire,” and scuttled away to do my bidding.
    I turned around to find Callum, his face calm, looking at me. His eyes flicked right and left, drawing my attention to the various onlookers in the hall. I wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding my emotions, and an angry king was a fearful sight. I’d been king for only four years, and many still remembered the towering rages of King Edward. By contrast, I worked hard not to expend my temper on my underlings and never in public.
    Instead of speaking—because I didn’t trust myself to speak—I stalked towards the doorway that would take me to my receiving room, Callum on my heels. Once inside, I dismissed my various secretaries who were laboring over today’s papers and turned on my friend. “What was that?”
    “An ambush, my lord.”
    I waved a hand at him. “Don’t call me that. David. I’m David to you right now.” I paced to my throne but didn’t sit, instead turning back to look at Callum. “Why did Acquasparta arrange for that man’s arrest? Why the three untenable requests?”
    Callum took in a breath and let it out. “He arrested that man in this city within your vicinity to test the limits of your position. He wanted to bring the matter of heresy to a head and dispatch it.”
    “Well, he sure did that.” I was already calming down. I ran a hand through my wet hair and came to a halt before the fire, which was smoldering low in the hearth. It wasn’t a cold day, but the rain, which had lessened while I was speaking with the papal legate, had picked up again during the ride back from the cathedral to the castle.
    Callum added, “I do not believe he foresaw any of the events that followed, neither the mob nor the extent of your determination to prevent him from pursuing heretics in England. Fortunately for us, whatever plan he did have backfired, and now Acquasparta has nothing to show Boniface for his efforts.”
    “He doesn’t?” I said. “Why do you say that?”
    “You saved a man from a lynching,” he said. “You gave a speech too, first to your men in front of Romeyn, which before today I wouldn’t have recommended, and then to a crowd of commoners. But none but they heard it, and who among them could understand more than one word in three? It gives us breathing space.”
    I scoffed under my breath. “I would have preferred a direct challenge. I don’t want breathing space.”
    “You do, actually,” Callum said gently. “We need time to figure this out, especially after the murders.”
    He’d brought me back down to earth. A quiet knock at the door at the back of the room did the rest. Callum went to open it, revealing Lili standing on the threshold. She looked past him to me, and I held out an arm to her. She hurried forward and wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me. I kissed her temple. “I’m okay.”
    “Carew told me what happened. First with Mike and Noah and then at the Archbishop’s palace. You—” She broke off, seemingly at a loss for words.
    “I did what I had to,” I said.
    “I know that, but you could have been hurt!” Her voice went high on the last word, and I heard tears in it.
    “Nobody was going to harm me. They had no weapons—”
    “Nor did you! And you didn’t know that at the time.” She gave a very Welsh ‘ach’ at the back of her throat and pounded me on the chest with the flats of both hands. “Why do I even bother? You will do what you think is right.”
    I took both of her hands in mine and kissed them. “I have to.”
    She blew out her cheeks. “I know.”
    “If it’s any comfort, Acquasparta seemed to have been taken by surprise by the vehemence of the crowd,” Callum said. “He intended to arrest the heretic in front of David, not kill