"And since I couldn't go back to Sitna, you became my only friend."
"People love you wherever you go. Women fall at your feet-"
"So forgive me if I'm a little upset that my friend not only lied to me-"
"— you are handsome and clever. You do not need me, or anyone else, to hold your hand."
"— but I can no longer spend time with my friend because it's improper."
"If you cannot comprehend why I refuse to marry a pig and be forced to bear him children, then you-"
"As a woman, you talk a lot. So forgive me, Miss Sparrow, but I liked you better a lad."
"— have a lot to-"
"Enough!" Sir Gavin stepped in between them. "These walls aren't thick enough to guard this conversation. If you two cannot speak peaceably, don't speak at all."
Sparrow folded her arms, turned her head, her nose tilted up, her eyes downcast.
Achan frowned. Sparrow's cheeks were pink from yelling. "You think I'm handsome?"
Sparrow rolled her eyes. "When you shave your face, comb your hair, and wear clean clothing. You do not think all these women throw themselves at you only because you are the prince?"
Actually, that's exactly what he'd thought. Either way, why should she care what other women- He propped a hand on his hip and laughed. "Oh, I see. All this time, all the strange things you've said on my behalf. Jaira, Ressa, Yumikak, Lady Tara, Beska. You were jealous."
Sparrow shot him a withering look. "I see being prince has brought on a new level of arrogance."
"You deny it?"
"Absolutely."
"Ha." Achan grinned and scratched behind his ear. "No, no, it all makes perfect sense."
Blood flushed to Sparrow's round face. She stepped up to Achan, eyes narrowed. "You. Are an arrogant pig."
Sir Gavin seized Achan's upper arm and pulled him back a step. "I can see the only way to end this madness is to drag one of you out. Achan, let's go see about your chamber."
Achan allowed Sir Gavin to tow him to the door, watching Sparrow closely, smirking as her anger melted.
She sent one more wide-eyed plea. "You will not tell?"
He bowed low and dramatically, fighting to conceal his smile. "Your gender is safe with me, Miss Sparrow."
She strode up to Achan, stopping inches from him. She gripped his bicep in one hand and pressed her finger over his lips with the other. He straightened, tense, and exhaled as if her finger were a switch that controlled his breathing. He could only stare into her green eyes, befuddled.
Her finger trailed down his chin, tapped his chest once, then she grabbed his shirt and elbow, and pushed. He fell back. Her leg hooked perfectly behind his knee, sweeping his foot out from under him.
His body twisted as it fell. He hit the floor on his left side, cracking his elbow against the wood. A tremor shot up his arm.
Sparrow looked down, her lips pursed in a thin smile. "Do not call me miss."
Sir Eagan and Sir Caleb discovered several poisons in Achan's chambers. A tray of tarts, a bottle of wine, the water pitcher, even his bed sheets had been dusted in a powder ground from a deadly coral Sir Eagan called rosh. Lord Yarden insisted Achan move across the hall into new chambers, just to be safe.
This room was identical to his previous one, except that it looked out over the eastern side of the stronghold rather than the western side. Sparrow had moved into the servants' quarters on the northern end of Achan's room with Sir Gavin. Sir Caleb, Sir Eagan, Inko, and Kurtz were using the larger servants' quarters on the southern end. Shung would sleep on a pallet in Achan's room.
Now they occupied a small meeting room on the second floor. Everyone but Achan sat crowded around a rectangular table, going over-yet again-the evening's events, with exception of Sparrow's secret, of course.
Achan stood at the window, glaring at the torchlights on the curtain wall. He couldn't sit at the table, for he couldn't stop staring at Sparrow. And now the discussion had somehow turned into a lecture, one he felt he did not deserve. "But if controlling a man's mind is the only way to save someone, why is it wrong?"
"Because it's immoral," Sir Eagan said. "Arman didn't give you the gift to force a man's free will."
Achan spun to face Sir Eagan. "Yet it's okay to physically harm him? Bind him, lock him up. Even torture is allowed, but not controlling his mind? Making him stop hurting someone? Why would Arman give me the ability if he didn't want me to use it?"
Sir Gavin sighed out his nose. "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Achan, I'll not tell you how to use your gifts, but I will always hold you accountable."
"Gifted men have gotten accustomed to this kind of control so that they do it without even realizing they are manipulating others," Sir Eagan said. "You might think, in exasperation, that your valet go jump off a cliff for advising you to wear fancy clothes, only to find that he has done just that, subconsciously unable to disobey your command. Few men have such bloodvoicing power, but it is plain that you do. Controlling others will not make you a better man."
"We worry for you, Your Highness," Sir Caleb said, "that you'll become addicted to this control without realizing it."
"He needs proper training by someone powerful enough and young enough to keep up with him," Sir Gavin said.
Achan lowered himself onto the wooden bench, which creaked under his weight.
My, what have we been eating, Your Highness? Sparrow asked, instantly drawing his eyes to her face.
Achan closed his mind, startled he'd forgotten to keep his defenses up.
"Sorry," Sparrow said from across the table.
She wore her fake belly again and the effect confused Achan's thoughts. She so looked like a boy-yet he knew better now. You startled me. I hadn't realized I'd left myself unprotected again. How do you remember to guard so well?
Sparrow shrugged, cheeks darkening so her complexion looked like marbled opal and rose. Achan forced his eyes and mind away from Sparrow's appearance. How was he to deal with her teasing now that he knew she was a woman?
"Why cannot you be teaching him, Eagan?"
"I am quite rusty, Inko. I suggest Duchess Amal."
"A logical suggestion," Sir Gavin said. "I'll ask her when we arrive. We'll leave in two days."
Achan's attention flitted back to the men. Who was asking who what?
"And what shall we do with Polk?" Sir Caleb asked.
"He cannot bloodvoice," Sir Eagan said. "It stands to reason he has a partner who can."
"Why? If he's Esek's man, or even a greedy man seeking a fat reward, he could be working alone, eh?" Kurtz said.
Sir Gavin sighed and stroked his beard braid. "Achan and I will question him."
Achan followed Sir Gavin to the dungeons, which smelled worse than any Achan had even seen. The moisture must add more mildew than usual. The guard led them into Polk's cell. Achan stood inside the doorway and folded his arms.
Sir Gavin approached the wall where Polk sat chained and nudged his leg with the toe of his boot. "Get up."
"I'm trying to sleep."
Achan had no desire to play this game. He'd been a prisoner himself several times and knew every prisoner justified their behavior somehow. Polk would be no different.
He sighed. "Going into his mind will be much faster."
"You only think so because you have never tried," Sir Gavin said. "What you don't understand is that truth cannot be taken from any man's mind. He must give it freely. If he is able to concentrate on other things, you can only read those thoughts, not the ones you want. There is no way to force his mind to remember something you have never experienced. He must allow it."