I scrambled after him. “I did most of the work for you!”
Viggo sauntered across the room, hopped over the counter, and crouched before the bottles stacked there. “Ahh, mead, my old friend. I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
“It didn’t take that long,” I murmured.
“I could feel the hair on my face growing.” He selected a bottle and went hunting for clean tankards. “I had half a mind to run to my quarters for a shave.”
I fell into a booth with a snort. “Why do you fear facial hair so?”
Viggo found what he was looking for and came to join me. “I don’t fear it. I simply can’t grow it properly.”
“Poor Viggo,” I said with a laugh.
He tugged the cap off of the bottle. “Don’t pity me. I’ve heard beards itch like mad. I’m glad I don’t have to bother with one.”
“But the beard and mustache make Torvald look so… prestigious, and Bryn looks quite grown up with his goatee.”
Viggo poured the mead and settled in beside me. “Well, good for them. I still don’t want either.”
I laughed again before drinking. We brushed shoulders. He choked on his mead and settled his tankard over the table, bending forward slightly to cough.
“Are you all right?”
“Fine,” he croaked. He coughed some more, wiped a forearm across his mouth.
“Is it strange for you too?” I asked, face warm. “Touching?”
He turned slightly to give me a relieved smile. “It is. I know it shouldn’t be. Nothing’s changed between us, but…”
“Everything’s changed,” I said softly.
Viggo nodded.
I lowered my tankard onto the table and reached for his hand. It was thick, sturdy, with a fine patch of blond hair on the back. He stiffened in surprise but I hardly noticed. I ran my fingers over his palm, in awe at the realization that this was acceptable now when it would have been considered ‘improper’ just days ago. I lifted his arm up and over my head. It settled comfortably over my shoulders. He didn’t relax until I’d taken my tankard again and leaned into his side.
“Should we check on the king and queen before retiring?” Viggo asked after a time.
I shook my head. “Gabor and Lennart are patrolling the house tonight. Besides, a bell was built into the balcony connected to their room. If an assassin sneaks in and attacks them, they can ring the bell and everyone on the hill will come running.”
“I pity them,” Viggo murmured.
“I don’t,” I said with a snort. “They’re on their honeymoon.”
Viggo wrinkled his nose. “Yes, I’m sure honeymooning at home with guards pressing their ears against the windows is every newlywed’s dream.”
“I suppose that would make things slightly less romantic,” I said, lips quirking in amusement, “but what were they supposed to do? Traveling during the Quest for Resources is hardly safe. The king and queen are wise to wait for a real honeymoon.”
“I’m glad I was born into an average family. Being important is so stressful and invasive,” Viggo said.
“Do our lives seem stress free and private to you?” I asked.
Viggo cracked a smile. “No, I suppose not, but we have it better than they do.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
He looked down at his tankard, suddenly somber. “My sister is having a baby.”
“The sister who is married to the baker or the sister still living at home?” I dared ask.
“Fallon is fifteen. If she were pregnant, I would be out hunting down the bastard who dared to bed her. It’s Bara who’s with child.”
“Well, then, that’s wonderful news. Why do you seem so forlorn?”
Viggo shifted in his seat. “I’m not forlorn. It’s just… Now that Bara is going to be a parent, she’s convinced I should be a parent and is wondering why I haven’t married and begun procreating yet.”
I made a sound at the back of my throat, half exasperated, half incredulous. “Honestly, Viggo, you’re only twenty-four. You have plenty of time for marriage and children.”
Viggo nodded uncomfortably. “Yes, yes, you’re right. I shouldn’t let my sister’s words affect me. But now that we’re on the subject…” He carefully rotated his tankard and watched his drink spin, ears pink. “Do you ever think about it? Marriage and children and whatnot?”
“I was engaged once,” I found myself admitting.
He released the tankard, which settled onto the table top with a clap. “What?”
“In Kenshore, before General Halvar and his barbarians attacked, I was promised to Kustaav. He was a retired soldier.”
Viggo’s face scrunched up in disgust. “How old was he?”
“Thirty. He only retired because he was injured in battle, and after he recovered from that he returned to school. He was kind and smart. It was a good match.”
Viggo took back the arm that had been around me as if it had been burned. “Why am I only learning this now?”
“Because it didn’t seem important.”
“Did you love him?” Viggo demanded.
“No,” I said, a little hurt by his tone. “In fact, I thought he was too proper and reserved. I found his lack of affection stifling. I almost slept with the stable boy because I thought that would be the only way to experience some passion before I was married. Kustaav joined the other men in defending our town and was killed before I could apologize to him.”
Viggo flinched. “Asta, I’m—”
“If I speak well of him, it’s only because I regret the way I treated him when he was alive and I wish to honor him now that he’s gone.”
“I’m sorry,” he muttered down at his tankard.
I nodded, accepting his apology. We drank in silence.
“It shouldn’t have bothered me,” he said softly. “I had feelings for another girl, when I was younger. You and I didn’t know each other then.” He rolled his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It was the thought of me marrying someone else that upset you,” I said. “I understand.”
He exhaled. “I’m glad. So, I heard something interesting from the last servant girl I interrogated.”
“Oh?” I said, eager for a change in topic.
“I don’t know how it relates to the dead counselors or the Holgarian warriors plotting against the king, but it’s definitely worth sharing.”
“All right, you’ve piqued my curiosity,” I said, placing my empty tankard on the table.
Viggo grinned. “Lady Helka is entertaining guards in her quarters.”
“No!”
“Yes. See? I told you it was interesting.”
“Are you sure? She claims to have only ever loved one man and that was King Tatsuo.”
“Unfortunately, one doesn’t need to be in love to have suitors. Once I’d finished questioning that servant girl, I interrogated the other servants who work on Lady Helka’s floor in the jade building,” Viggo said. “Five others confirmed seeing guards being invited into Lady Helka’s rooms at odd hours of the night.”
“She’s always seems so… composed and proper. I can’t imagine her sharing her bed with many different men. And she has small children!” I said, suddenly queasy. “No wonder Princess Evie and Prince Haskell like to draw so much attention to themselves. How else can they get the attention of their wayward mother?”
“It’s the talk of her floor. Apparently, this has been going on for months.”
I shook my head, still unable to fully believe. “What happened?”