Graceling (Graceling Realm #1)(14)
Author: Kristin Cashore

“Grandfather,” he said suddenly. He jumped up and turned to the bed.

Informed that his grandfather had awoken, Katsa thought wryly, by the eyes in the back of his head.

“You speak of your castle, boy,” the old man said.

“Grandfather, how are you feeling?”

Katsa ate her apple and listened to them talk. Her head was ful of the things Po had said. She hadn’t known there were sights in the world so beautiful a person would want to spend an age staring at them.

Po turned to her then, and a torch on the wall caught the gleam of his eyes. She focused on breathing. “I have a weakness for beautiful sights,”

he said. “My brothers tease me.”

“Your brothers are the foolish ones,” Tealiff said, “for not seeing the strength in beautiful things. Come here, child,”

he said to Katsa. “Let me see your eyes, for they make me stronger.”

And his kindness brought a smile to her face, though his words were nonsense. She went to sit beside Grandfather Tealiff, and he and Po told her more about Po’s castle and Po’s brothers and Ror’s city in the sky CHAPTER ELEVEN “How far is Giddon’s estate from Randa City?” Po asked her late one morning. They sat on the floor of their practice room, drinking water and resting. It had been a good session. Po had returned the day before from a visit to Nander, and Katsa thought the time apart had been good for them. They came together again with a new sharpness.

“It’s near,” Katsa said. “In the west. A day’s journey, perhaps.”

“Have you seen it?”

“Yes. It’s large and very grand. He doesn’t get home often, but he stillmanages to keep it well .”

“I’m sure he does.”

Giddon had come to their practice today. He’d been the only visitor, and he hadn’t stayed long. She didn’t know why he came, when it always seemed to put him in a bad humor.

Katsa lay on her back and looked up at the high ceiling. The light poured into the room from the great, east-facing windows. The days were beginning to shorten. The air would crispen soon, and the castle would smel of wood burning in the fireplaces. The leaves would crackle under her horse’s hooves when she went riding.

It had been such a quiet couple of weeks. She would like a Council task – she’d like to get out of the city and stretch her legs. She wondered if Oll had any news about Grandfather Tealiff yet. Maybe she could go to Wester herself and poke around for information.

“How will you answer Giddon when he asks you to marry him?” Po asked. “Wil you accept?”

Katsa sat up, and stared at him. “That’s an absurd question.”

“Absurd – why?” His face was clear of its usual smiles. She didn’t think he was teasing her.

“Why in the Middluns would Giddon ask me to marry him?”

His eyes narrowed. “Katsa. You’re not serious.”

She looked at him blankly, and now he did begin to smile. “Katsa, don’t you know Giddon’s in love with you?”

Katsa snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. Giddon lives to criticize me.”

Po shook his head, and his laugh began to rumble from his chest. “Katsa, how can you be so blind? He’s completely smitten. Don’t you see how jealous he is? Don’t you remember how he reacted when I scratched your face?”

An unpleasant feeling began to gather in her stomach. “I don’t see what that has to do with it. And besides, how would you know? I don’t believe Lord Giddon confides in you.”

He laughed. “No,” he said. “No, he certainly doesn’t. Giddon trusts me about as much as he trusts Murgon. I imagine he thinks any man who fights you as I do is no better than an Opportunist and no worse than a thug.”

“You’re deceived,” Katsa said. “Giddon feels nothing for me.”

“I can’t make you see it, Katsa, if you’re determined not to see it.” Po stretched onto his back and yawned. “Al the same, I might think up a response if I were you. Just in case he were to propose.” He laughed again. “I’ll have to ice my shoulder, as usual. I’d say you won again today, Katsa.”

She jumped to her feet. “Are we done here?”

“I suppose so. Are you hungry?”

She waved him off and marched to the door. She left him lying on his back in the light of the windows and ran to find Raffin.

———

Katsa burst into Raffin’s workrooms. Raffin and Bann sat at a table, huddled together over a book.

“Are you alone?” Katsa asked.

They looked up, surprised. “Yes – ”

“Is Giddon in love with me?”

Raffin blinked, and Bann’s eyes widened.

“He’s never spoken to me about it,” Raffin said. “But yes, I think anyone who knows him would say he’s in love with you.”

Katsa slapped her hand to her forehead. “Of all the fool – how can he – ” She paced to the table. She turned and paced back to the door.

“Has he said something to you?” Raffin asked.

“No. Po told me.” She spun toward Raffin. “And why did you never tell me?”

“Kat.” He sat back from his book. “I thought you knew. I don’t see how you could not. He makes himself your escort every time the king’s business takes you away from the city. He always sits beside you at dinner.”

“Randa decides where we sit at dinner.”

“Wel , and Randa probably knows Giddon hopes to marry you,” Raffin said.

Katsa paced to the table again, clutching her hair. “Oh, this is dreadful. Whatever shal I do?”

“If he asks you to marry him, you’l say no. You’l tell him it’s nothing to do with him. You’l tell him you’re determined not to marry, that you don’t wish children; whatever you need to say so he understands it’s nothing to do with him.”

“I wouldn’t marry Giddon to save my life,” Katsa said. “Not even to save yours.”

“Wel .” Raffin’s eyes were ful of laughter. “I’d leave that part out.”

Katsa sighed and walked again to the door.

“You’re not the most perceptive person I’ve ever known, Kat,” Raffin said, “if you don’t mind my saying so. Your capacity for missing the obvious is astonishing.”

She threw her arms into the air. She turned to go. She turned back to him suddenly, at a shocking thought. “You’re not in love with me, are you?”

He stared at her for a moment, speechless. Then he burst into laughter. Bann laughed, too, though he tried valiantly to hide it behind his hand.

Katsa was too relieved to be offended.

“Al right, all right,” she said, “I suppose I deserve that.”

“My dear Katsa,” Raffin said, “Giddon is so very handsome, are you sure you won’t reconsider?”

Raffin and Bann clutched their stomachs and guffawed. Katsa waved their nonsense away. They were hopeless. She turned to go.

“Council meeting tonight,” Raffin said to her back.

She raised her hand to show she’d heard. She closed the door on their laughter.

———

“There’s very little happening in the seven kingdoms,” Oll said. “We’ve cal ed this meeting only because we have some information about Prince Tealiff we can’t make any sense of. We’re hoping you’l have some ideas.”

Bann had joined them for this meeting, because the grandfather was well enough now to be left alone on occasion.

Katsa had taken advantage of Bann’s broad chest and shoulders, and seated him between herself and Giddon. Giddon could not possibly see her; but just in case, she’d positioned Raffin between them as well . Oll and Po were across from her. Po sat back in his chair, his eyes glimmering in the corner of her vision no matter which way she looked.

“Lord Davit gave us true information,” Oll said. “Neither Nander nor Estil knows anything of the kidnapping.

Neither was involved. But now we’re almost certain that King Birn of Wester is also innocent.”

“Could it be Murgon, then?” Giddon asked.

“But with what motive?” Katsa asked.

“He has no motive,” Raffin said. “But then, he has no less motive than anyone else. It’s what we keep coming up against. There is no motive for anyone to have done this. Even Po – Prince Greening – has been able to come up with none.”

Po nodded. “My grandfather’s only importance is to his family.”

“And if someone had it in mind to provoke the Lienid royal family,” Oll said, “wouldn’t they reveal themselves eventual y? Otherwise, the power play becomes pointless.”

“Has Tealiff said anything more?” Giddon asked.

“He’s said they blindfolded him,” Po said, “and drugged him. He’s said he was on a boat for a long time, and their land travel was shorter in comparison, which suggests his captors took him east by boat from Lienid, possibly to one of the southern Sunderan ports. And then up through the forests to Murgon City. He’s said that when he heard them speak, he believed their accents to be southern.”

“It does suggest Sunder, and Murgon,” Giddon said.

But it didn’t make sense. None of the kings had reason, but Murgon even less. Murgon worked for others, and his sole motivation was money.

Everyone at the table, everyone in the Council, knew that.

“Po,” Katsa said. “Your grandfather had no argument with your father, or any of your brothers? Your mother?”

“None,” Po said. “I’m sure of it.”

“I don’t see how you can be so sure,” Giddon said.

Po’s eyes flashed to him. “You’l have to take my word, Lord Giddon. Neither my father nor my brothers nor my mother nor anyone else at the Lienid court was involved in the kidnapping.”

“Po’s word is good enough for the Council,” Raffin said. “And if it wasn’t Birn, Drowden, Thigpen, Randa, or Ror, that leaves Murgon.”

Po raised his eyebrows. “Have none of you considered the King of Monsea?”

“A king with a reputation for kindness to injured animals and lost children,” Giddon said, “come out of his isolation to kidnap his wife’s aging father? A bit unlikely, don’t you think?”

“We’ve made inquiries and uncovered nothing,” Oll said. “King Leck is a peace-loving man. Either it’s Murgon, or one of the kings is keeping a secret even from his own spies.”