"Shung, help me."
Shung and Achan each grabbed an arm and hoisted Sparrow-kicking and screaming-out of the crack. They set him on his feet before the bed. The boy stood trembling, slouched, chin down. A leather belt hung around his neck. Polk's belt. His arms were bound behind him and his tunic hung open to reveal the padded undergarment, sliced down the belly and sprouting wisps of shorn wool.
Boot steps slapped stone in the corridor, growing nearer.
Achan could only stare at the fake belly Sparrow wore, his mind filled with questions but completely choked.
Sir Gavin ran inside and slid to a stop.
Achan finally managed to utter, "I don't understand."
"Shung does." Shung's bushy eyebrows cocked like two caterpillars. "The little fox is a vixen."
34
Achan's breath caught. Sparrow was a her? "I thought Polk…"
Sparrow's bottom lip protruded again. "He put me in the sideboard then went to kill you." Her voice cracked, morphing back into that keening whine.
"No, now…don't do that. Don't cry." A girl. A woman. All this time? "Blazes! Why?"
"Achan." Sir Gavin crossed to Sparrow's side. "We saw no reason to tell you."
"You knew. This is the big secret. Why Sparrow sneaks off in the woods, bathes in your room, cleans his teeth. Her teeth." Achan linked his fingers and set his hands on his head. What was he supposed to do with this information?
"Shung, bring Polk in and close the door." Sir Gavin loosed the belt from Sparrow's throat, removed his boot knife and cut the bonds on her wrists. She immediately hugged herself and burrowed her face against Sir Gavin's chest, weeping. The old knight wrapped an arm around her and patted her ear. "There now, child. He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"Me?" Achan's veins smoldered. Sir Gavin, I don't understand what this is all about.
Sir Gavin cocked an eyebrow at the door. Polk, Achan. I'm asking her if Polk violated her.
A chill turned the heat in Achan's veins to ice.
Shung dragged Polk into the room by his ankles and kicked the door shut.
"My mouth," Sparrow said. "The belt."
Sir Gavin took hold of Sparrow's ears and tipped her head back, eyes fixed on her face. "Aye, I see you'll have some bruises there. Anything else?"
"Throat."
As Sir Gavin examined Sparrow's neck, Achan stewed, wedged between overwhelming sympathy for this petrified creature and consuming disgust for her blubbering.
This was why the little fox had been acting so odd. Ever blushing. Sitting so small. The portly stomach and gangly limbs. Achan had discovered Vrell Sparrow's secret at last. That's why he'd been such an odd duck.
But what of it? Why go so far to conceal her gender? He supposed it was a horrible world for a stray woman. He had been treated badly, but the stories he knew of young stray girls-pretty ones, especially…
It made some sense, he supposed. The Kingsguards had come to take her to Master Hadar. A boy would have been safer traveling with men, especially a man like Khai Mageia.
Sparrow's voice pulled him from his mental tirade. "Achan saved me."
He studied Sparrow's face. Knowing now that he looked on a girl-an awkward thought as she wore trousers and that ridiculous fake belly-he could see Sparrow was a pretty little thing. Round face with porcelain skin and those ever-blushing cheeks, wide eyes, a small mouth that always seemed to be frowning slightly, likely due to all the worrisome thoughts under that mess of black hair.
Again, Sparrow spoke, pulling Achan out from the fog in his mind. "Polk said he was going to kill you. He poisoned your goblet in Tsaftown and slipped us all aleh tonight in the clove wine. Someone should sweep your room for poison."
Achan blinked. Poison? But before he could formulate a reply, Sir Gavin spoke.
"A blessing that I abhor clove wine, but the rest of our men are likely silenced. I'll go tell Caleb and Eagan to search Achan's chambers right away. Achan, you find Kurtz and Inko and ask them to take Polk to the dungeon. I'd like Shung to stay outside Vrell's room until we get this sorted out." Sir Gavin patted Sparrow's ear once more and stepped toward the door.
"Wait just a moment, Sir Gavin." Achan wasn't done with this. "I don't know why you deceived me. But tomorrow, Miss Sparrow will get herself a dress and come clean to everyone."
Sparrow's cheeks darkened. "You think you can tell me what to do because you are the Crown Prince?"
His gaze flitted from her eyes to the red welts across her cheeks. "No. Because I saved your hide."
Sparrow turned her head away, jaw set.
Sir Gavin shook his head. "That's unwise, Achan. We must keep Vrell's secret a while longer. Shung, I ask the same of you. 'Tis improper for an unmarried woman to travel alone with one man, let alone hundreds. Let's see her safely to Carmine-where she can start a new life. You tell everyone she's a woman, you bring her a whole host of trouble."
Achan shrugged. "I'll tell the men she's to be left alone."
"Ah, then it looks like you're claiming her as your own and that isn't proper. It'd also ruin both your reputations if it came out you'd been traveling together all this time."
Again Achan was making decisions without considering the repercussions. He should consult Sir Eagan on this matter. "But I don't feel comfortable with this." He gestured to that strange belly. "I'm afraid I'll be the one to bungle it."
Sparrow's green eyes met his. She straightened. "If you don't mind my asking, Your Highness, how did you find out?"
"Uh… I've been seeking the traitor. Shadowing people. I suspected Polk had sour motives." Achan scratched the back of his neck. "I'm truly glad you weren't the traitor, Sparrow."
A shaky breath blew past her lips. "How could you even consider that?
"In my experience, a man who-someone who lies once, lies about other things. What was I supposed to think?"
Sparrow's glare could freeze the waterfall overhead. Achan didn't care. Let her stew about this for a while.
"Achan, allow Vrell to play her role a bit longer," Sir Gavin said. "She'll stay away from you so you won't have to worry about a slip of the tongue."
Achan squeezed his hand into a fist. Sparrow was his friend. He didn't want her to stay away from him, and he didn't want her to go off and start a new life. He couldn't say that, though. Sir Caleb would have his hide for misleading a woman's heart. Still…
"She will not stay away. She'll come back to our chambers where she should've been all along. I realize you were trying to help, Sir Gavin, but by putting her out of our presence, you endangered her life. She'll take Sir Eagan and Kurtz's room. They can bunk with me or you."
"Do not blame Sir Gavin." Sparrow's raspy voice caught. "He is the only one who has looked out for me."
Achan clenched his teeth. "If you would have told me, I'd have done the same."
"Do you have any idea how hard this has been?" Sparrow asked. "For eight months I have been alone. I have kept my secret without a soul discovering it. Even Macoun Hadar could not pry it from me. But you…" She scowled at him as if he were some beast of Barth.
"I had a job to do," Achan said. "I'm sorry if your life has been hard, Miss Sparrow, but-"
"Oh, do not start with the sad tales of Achan Cham, the prince raised as a stray."
"— but I had thought we were friends."
"What happened to you was rotten, but it is all better now. You have nice clothes, handfuls of servants."