Free Kingslayer by Honor Raconteur Page B

and a dozen lethal pins in the other.
    It didn’t really matter, anyway. Darius believed in being neat and presentable and if the clothes allowed him to do that, then he approved. More importantly, if he dawdled too long, Bohme would start eating without him.
    He stepped back into the main room. Like yesterday, Bohme had placed the breakfast tray on the low table in the center of the room and had already sat on one of the plush pillows. This time, to Darius’s inner relief, two trays had been sent. Bohme’s kitchen friend’s work?
    Regardless, it meant Darius could actually get enough to eat this morning. He settled comfortably on his own cushion across the table and happily dug into the food. In between bites, he said, “This morning I’ll be meeting with my staff and laying out more plans. Go ahead and sleep while they’re here.”
    Bohme had his mouth full of bread but he nodded in acceptance.
    A swift knock came at the door.
    As Bohme still had a mouth full of food, Darius called out, “Who is it?”
    “Sego, sir.”
    Sego? Already? Did the man not sleep at all? “Enter!”
    He did so without ceremony, a stack of scrolls tucked under one arm. He looked a little surprised to see them eating breakfast together, but Darius could guess why. No lead general in court would normally “sink” to eating with a mere bodyguard. Sego, being raised in this court, no doubt had been influenced to think in class distinctions. But Darius didn’t share that view and never would.
    Hoping to break a little more past that courteous wall Sego kept up around him, Darius waved him to an empty cushion. “Have bread with us, Sego.”
    Sego stopped for a moment, head snapping around to stare at Darius in open surprise. In Arape, inviting a man to eat bread was an offer of friendship. He’d heard that doing so in Niotan meant basically the same thing, but apparently it meant more. At least,judging from Sego’s reaction, it meant more.
    Darius didn’t try to retract the offer. He needed every ally he could get and Sego was a good man. They could be friends if the other man would just drop his guard a little.
    There were several polite ways to dodge the invitation, but Sego didn’t try any of them. He simply swallowed hard and nodded. “I’d be honored.”
    Darius smiled and picked up the bread basket between Bohme’s tray and his, doling out a small handroll to each of them before passing the bread down the table toward Sego. He pretended not to notice how carefully Sego eased down to the cushion. The man’s leg apparently didn’t bend well and he had to arrange it to where it lay flat out and off to the side.
    When bread was broken between friends, especially the first time, it was not polite to discuss business. Sego didn’t even put the scrolls on the table, but set them aside on the floor. Darius nodded in approval and offered soft butter and cheese as well.
    They ate bread in companionable silence for a few moments. Darius stole a look from the corner of his eye at Sego. The man looked thoughtful. He kept staring at the bread in his hands as if it held the answers to all of the world’s mysteries.
    “You….” the word seemed loud in the silence of the morning and Darius’s head jerked up to stare at his aide. Sego met his eyes as he spoke. “You really intend to live here, then?”
    He makes it sound like I have another choice. Darius’s head canted to the side in confusion. “Of course. I swore to Tresea herself. Where else can I be?”
    “That’s not what I meant. I’ve watched you for days now go from one end of the palace to the other and every word out of your mouth has been about war. You didn’t seem to think of anything else. Even your clothes were just a necessity, and not something you invested in.” Sego seemed to struggle for a moment to find the right words. “I did not think that you wanted to really live here.”
    Ahhh. He understood now. “I have every intention of living out the rest of my