A Suitable Bodyguard, page 6
Mayor Sar gave Zelli a wide smile, then stood back up, taking her wine with her. “I’ll go attend to your things and send in some food for you. This time of day, it will be light, but it should hold you until dinner.”
“And food for Tahlen too, please,” Zelli requested with firm politeness. “He’ll need to rest soon as well.”
“I’m not leaving you here alone.” Tahlen had yet to touch his wine. Neither had Zelli, but that was because Zelli was going to start feeling his first drink any moment now.
Zelli settled in to give Tahlen an unimpressed look. Tahlen gazed back, so blank he might as well have been a wall. Zelli gave in with a huff. “Very well,” he conceded. “But you still must eat. Please. If only so your sister will not poison my apples in the future. A jest,” he turned to explain to Mayor Sar, who observed the two of them with her eyebrows raised high.
But after the mayor nodded and stepped away, Zelli released a deep breath. “I do not speak for The Tialttyrin. Why would you…?” He stopped there. “Thank you.” He stopped there too. “I don’t understand you.”
“What is there to understand?” Tahlen asked. His eyes widened slightly when Zelli lifted his chin but he didn’t look away.
Eventually, Zelli was the one to do it. His cheeks were hot and it was not from his cup of warmth, not entirely. He should try not to look at Tahlen directly, he decided, already knowing he would fail in the attempt.
He cautiously turned to consider the room and the countless people suddenly looking elsewhere except for the children standing beside their parents while their parents judged Zelli’s lack of retinue or finery.
At least they could not claim Zelli was not a Tialttyrin; Tahlen was correct again. Some of the children were taller than Zelli, and there was no telling what Zelli’s hair was doing, but he suspected enough strands had escaped that the streams of sunlight from the windows had set his hair aflame. He was unmistakably of the fae, even at a distance.
But he was not much of a display of Tialttyrin dignity or might. Zell was in well-made but comfortable clothes, had not styled his hair, and hadn’t even been graceful in front of them. He’d have to put more of an effort into his appearance for the judgments and for the rest of his travels, limited though they were.
“They’re not going to listen to me,” he murmured, sighing a little.
Tahlen answered as if that sigh had been directed at him. “You know you’re persuasive, Zelli.”
Zelli flicked Tahlen a puzzled look. “I know no such thing.”
The warmth was starting to make his vision blur and shimmer at the edges. Tahlen fairly twinkled in the inn’s sunny main room. His gaze was almost hot, perhaps with anger.
But Tahlen said, “You come in with arguments that consider nearly everything, except yourself, and you speak with conviction. If she didn’t love you so much, your grandmother would have you as The Tialttyrin after her.” Tahlen closed his eyes as if that was something to terrify even him. Zelli’s heart thudded against his ribs. Then Tahlen opened his eyes again. “But she wants to spare you that.”
Zelli shook his head, not fully believing it, although Tahlen had no reason to lie. “So she is sending me away.” He reached for his wine and had a large swallow. “I would not make a good Tialttyrin. I have no discretion.” He looked back up to Tahlen’s fiery gaze and fiercely drawn eyebrows. “But it was kind of you to say so.”
“Ah, Mizel,” Mayor Sar greeted Zelli as she came up to their table. “I expect we can get things in enough order to hold the judgments tomorrow, if that suits you.”
Zelli gave her a polite smile and raised his voice to be heard although the hushed conversations around them had stopped at her approach. “We gave you no notice and even this appearance is late by over a year. Tomorrow is more than acceptable, as this situation is our fault. The Tialttyrin is not well, though she’d hoped to be strong enough this summer to continue on. Only when it was clear that she couldn’t manage the journey was it decided that I should come in her stead.”
Tahlen said nothing.
Zelli went on, just for those at his table. “You sent word of a prisoner?” That would normally have been the sort of matter handled by the Outguard, if a village could not solve the issue themselves and no one could bring the prisoner to the Tialttyrin fortress. But they must not have seen outguards in some time. “Then I suppose even slightly rushed judgments is better than nothing. In the meantime, once we eat, I will need to rest. Our journey began early.”
Tahlen again did not comment on Zelli’s evasions.
“A way to clean up would also be welcome,” Zelli added.
Mayor Sar was the most helpful of innkeepers. “There’s a small hot house for bathing not far down the road, or we can bring some basins of heated water to your room. There’s also the cold-water bath in the back of the inn.”
Zelli hid a shudder. “To my room, if you don’t mind. But rest first… for me, at least.” He glanced to Tahlen in question. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay put,” Zelli said in answer to Tahlen’s unhappy silence. “You need sleep too. You can’t protect me if you’re tired, can you?”
“Persuasive,” Tahlen exhaled it. “With daggers drawn.”
“He worries,” Zelli explained to Mayor Sar.
She looked at Tahlen, both eyebrows raised, then to Zelli. “Things are getting more frightening than most would like, but you will be safe in my inn for the time being.” She glanced to Tahlen again, quirking a smile. “Best do what The Tialttyrin says.” She bowed her head. “I’ll go finish seeing to it.”
Zelli thanked her, then fiddled with the fruit and nuts before finally eating some. “You do need to rest,” he said to Tahlen, not sorry.
“Yes. But you didn’t need to make it plain, especially when you have only one guard.”
Zelli dropped a handful of nuts back onto the plate. “Oh.” He nodded slowly. “I will think more like that in the future. But, Tahlen,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “if we are at the point where our people are murdering us in our beds, all is lost anyway.”
Tahlen leaned in. “Is that supposed to make me less right or you less dead?”
Zelli crossed his arms and turned his head. He nearly jumped to find three children next to their table. Tahlen had undoubtedly noticed them already.
The oldest child might have been around ten years old, the youngest possibly six or seven, but Zelli knew children only from the village around the fortress and he was hardly allowed to be familiar with any of them.
The oldest would overtake Zelli’s height within the year, Zelli guessed, but smiled for the children anyway.
“Hello,” he said pleasantly. “Did you have a question?”
The middle one said, to the others, not to Zelli. “Not supposed to bother the fae.”
Zelli nodded. “That is true. But it isn’t always obvious what annoys them. And I am not totally of the fae, so I can take some bothering.”
“We’re not supposed to annoy nobles either,” the oldest volunteered.
Zelli glanced around for any aggrieved parents, but they must not have noticed their children sneaking off.
As a child who had often snuck away—though not as often as he would have liked—Zelli faced the children with a wider smile. “Now, if you were talking with a true fae, you’d be wise to offer them a sweet. So, how about I give you some of my treats, and you keep some for yourselves and leave some wherever you leave offerings here?”
He swept dried fruit and nuts into his palm and then waited until several little hands were underneath his to distribute them. “You have to be careful when you ask things of the fae. That is the most important part. Promise me you’ll remember?”
Some alarmed parents were starting to move forward at last.
Zelli smiled for them too, and again, wider, for the children, who nodded to answer him but looked already distracted and forgetful with their hands full of sweets. He let the parents call their children back and then had to fight not to sag in his chair.
“You’re staring,” he mumbled to Tahlen, who, of course, said nothing. “I’m never sure how to act with children,” he added in explanation, in case he’d done something wrong.
Tahlen gazed at him for a moment more, then gently pushed the plate with the remaining fruit and nuts toward Zelli. He moved not an inch until Zelli ate some.
Zelli’s room was about the size of his personal bathing room at home, and consisted of a high bed with steps thoughtfully provided on one side, a small fireplace, and table and mirror, with space for a pitcher of fresh water and a cup.
He didn’t know where Tahlen’s room was, though Tahlen had walked Zelli to his and stayed until Zelli had locked the door as promised. Zelli, full of soup and warm bread and wine, feeling his long night, had stripped off his boots and several of his layers and then collapsed on the bed.
He’d woken to Tahlen’s polite knock on his door and Tahlen informing him he was going to request the hot water now, if Zelli wanted to be cleaned and dressed to come downstairs to dinner. The sky outside was dark. Hopefully, Tahlen had slept as long and as well, even if he hadn’t had wine to help.
Zelli had washed up and shaken some travel dust out of his clothes before dressing again in one of his under layers, since he wanted his finer clothing for tomorrow. He fought with his hair, unpacking his hair oil to get the mess into braids that would fall down his back. He got out some of his jewelry as well, leaving the rowan tree at the hollow of his throat, but affixing a silver ear cuff to each ear, then debating whether or not to attach a chain to those and putting cuffs in his nose.
Wearing delicate chains across his face always made him anxious that he would reach up to fix his hair and snag one, so were perhaps best left for the judgments. He had nothing in gold and no real gemstones unless he used something from the family collection, which he never had. The cuffs were bands at the top and bottom of his ears, with links running between them along the shell.
Tahlen had visibly paused in the hall by his door when Zelli had come out, but hadn’t said anything, so Zelli had assumed he looked presentable enough and followed Tahlen out to the main room for their dinner and more staring from the villagers.
Zelli wore jewelry so rarely, he’d sort of hoped Tahlen might comment. Since Zelli’s hopes had likely been all over his face for Tahlen to see, he kept his head down while he ate and whenever he looked toward Tahlen, he made sure to hide behind his cup.
A mistake which he was aware of making even while making it. But it did make the candlelight sparkle and the room warm, and it let him breathe, a little, even though people still did not approach him and Tahlen focused on his food without uttering a word.
Zelli had never had a night out. This one was disappointing.
“What sort of story will this be to tell my intended?” he wondered mournfully after a while, keeping his attention on the dark-haired person across the room who was either eyeing him or eyeing Tahlen. Probably Tahlen.
Tahlen seemed very still. Zelli determinedly did not look at him.
“Maybe they will live around the capital and they’ll think me regrettably unsophisticated.” He had another sip. “This is my only night out, possibly ever, and all I did was eat potatoes and have a cup more of wine than I should.”
“More than a cup,” Tahlen observed. There was a sentiment beneath the words, probably something about how Zelli could not do his duty with his head full of wine.
Zelli still would not look at him. “I am as close to as stylish as I will ever be, unless my intended wants to give me jewels.” He could not imagine it. Tahlen was so unmoving, so silent. Zelli had another sip. “No one will even talk to me. It’s… I am a Tialttyrin. I am fae and strange looking. So they will not speak. But I could never get a stare like you are getting. I am not one to be admired.”
He hadn’t meant to use that word. He glanced to Tahlen.
“I’m sorry.” Zelli put the cup down so he could gesture safely. “You didn’t take an oath to listen to my whining.”
“I think most would whine in your place, although you consented to the idea of the alliance readily enough.”
Tahlen did not have to say things like that. Zelli almost wished he wouldn’t. It was confusing.
“You’re confusing,” Zelli informed him in case Tahlen did not know that. He turned back so he could keep watching the one watching Tahlen. Yes, definitely watching Tahlen. “Are you angry, Tahly—Tahlen?” Zelli corrected himself, shooting Tahlen another glance. He had once, only once, called Tahlen that out loud when Tahlen had been new to their family guard and Zelli had followed him around like an infatuated puppy. Tahlen had turned to face him and then Grandmother had beckoned Zelli away and given him a scolding he had not forgotten.
Zelli sat up. “That was overly familiar. I apologize.”
“You can call me that if you want.” The permission did not sound reluctant. Neither did it sound enthusiastic.
The terrible feeling was back in Zelli’s chest. He gave a small shake of his head. “Your sister calls you Lolo.”
This at least made Tahlen sigh. “Because as a child, she used to call me Tahlo, and over time, it became just Lolo.”
“Really?” Zelli held the scrap of knowledge close. “That’s adorable. I don’t have any siblings, of course. And the cousins near my age are all farther away. Some in the capital, where my parent is. I won’t call you Tahly, or Lolo. I am sorry, truly.”
“You don’t need to keep apologizing,” Tahlen said quietly.
Zelli could feel Tahlen staring but avoided his eyes. He reached for his wine again. He was rather surprised Tahlen hadn’t stopped him from drinking too much, since Tahlen seemed to give orders when it pleased him to.
“You have an admirer,” Zelli remarked without indicating the person he meant. “No one will approach me even to discuss their problems. I despair for my intended. This is a sign. I would not even make a good spouse for a wine merchant. I’m not approachable and this is as beautiful as I will ever be. And that’s not much.”
“Zelli.” Tahlen broke into Zelli’s melancholy thoughts and Zelli turned to him in surprise. Tahlen’s voice was hard. “What do you expect me to say to this?”
“Expect?” Zelli regarded him in tipsy astonishment. “I don’t expect you to say anything, Tahlen. I already know how you think of me, and it’s… it’s not well, is it?”
Tahlen’s wonderful mouth was open, his lips just parted. Zelli stared at them for as long as he dared, then returned to his probably obvious study of Tahlen’s admirer, who was… heading toward them.
“Tahlen!” the woman called out. Woman, unless she was like the true bards or anyone else who claimed a between status like Zelli’s parent.
Tahlen jerked his head up to follow the sound, then relaxed to see her. Zelli could not think of another, better word for it. His brow smoothed and his shoulders eased down, if only a little. When he glanced to Zelli, the tension returned.
Zelli lowered his head to stare at the table and said nothing when Tahlen stood to greet this person and got enveloped in a hug. Zelli did not think he should have more wine but did anyway.
“Strange times without yearly visits from the nosiest of the Tialttyrin,” the woman said, bold as anything with Zelli right there. Zelli almost liked her for it, but she still had her arms around Tahlen, who was still allowing it. “Thought we’d see you last year at least.”
“The Tialttyrin hasn’t been well,” Tahlen explained politely, possibly irritated on Grandmother’s behalf. Or possibly he was irritated that he hadn’t been here last year so he could repeat whatever he had done with this person the first time.
“If only we all got a rest like that when we didn’t feel well,” the woman added.
Zelli looked up.
She met his gaze as if expecting that.
Zelli, because he could, raised his eyebrows and looked away again as if bored.
Tahlen’s friend made a small noise in her throat as though that had surprised her. She was welcome to try being ruder; Zelli had a long memory.
She wore her hair short, which didn’t necessarily mean she was a guard of some kind, but often did. It could have meant a fieldworker or something as well, someone with a difficult job who wasn’t interested in fussing with their hair no matter what the fashion. Zelli had considered chopping his hair off once or twice, but the family would be in an uproar if he did.
She had skin touched by the sun but lightly, and freckles across her nose that, unlike Zelli’s, were striking, especially with her eyes, which were a startling golden brown. Maybe she had some fae in her bloodline. The fae did like this valley.
She did not reach even Tahlen’s shoulder, which she gently punched when Tahlen spoke to her, suggesting something Zelli didn’t catch. She shivered when Tahlen’s breath hit her neck and then smiled, pleased and warm.
Zelli found himself wondering if she and Tahlen had flirted the first time they’d met, before they had obviously gone to bed together. He’d always wanted to try flirting. It took some practice to do well, from what he understood. But as with so many things, there was no one for him to practice on.
Much like being the sort of Tialttyrin that people might want to talk to. In the village around the fortress, they knew Zelli, and fae or not, were used to him. They had grown up with him there. These people who did not know him found him… odd, perhaps disappointing, perhaps terrifying. Zelli ran his tongue over the points of his teeth, resolving to keep them hidden from now on when he smiled at strangers.
“Surely, you can’t be expected to do your duty all the time,” Tahlen’s friend’s coaxing voice pulled Zelli from what he had been trying hard to focus on. “I only want to talk for a moment.”
Talk. Zelli barely held back his scoff.
“I won’t leave Zelli here alone,” Tahlen said, mindful of his duty.
That was quite enough.
Zelli put his cup down and got to his feet. “Actually, Zelli is tired and thinks he might go to bed.” He watched Tahlen’s eyes narrow and chose not to acknowledge it. “You’ll be free to spend the evening with….”
