Bloodguard

chapter 29

Maeve

Before Leith can stop me, I leap the fence and run down the alleyway, throwing my hood back and untying my cloak as I go, letting it fall to the cobblestone street.

Vitor said he wasn’t participating in the parade. And yet here he is. On my grandmother’s throne. Wearing my colors!

Uni and Neh-Neh see me first, and there is some commotion as they shoulder their way across the street, cutting through the last of Vitor’s procession until they reach me.

“What are you doing?” Leith hisses as he catches up.

His legs are far from mended. Running as he did is not good.

“I need to do this,” I tell him. “Alone.”

He flinches but doesn’t argue. “I’ll escort you.”

I want to kiss him. To go up on my toes and show him—show everyone—that he matters to me.

But that would make him a target. And the arena will be hard enough without Soro’s enmity. So while I’m so grateful that Leith would risk himself for me, I cannot let him go through with it.

“This isn’t your fight, Leith. I need to make my presence known. Not just in the castle or the council but to all of Arrow.”

Leith grimaces but ultimately nods. It isn’t because of my title. Leith simply respects that I must make my own choices.

He turns to Uni. “Can you accompany her?”

Uni shares a look with his wife. Neh-Neh’s mouth trembles, and then she nods encouragingly and holds her hands out for the baby. They will not abandon me, though there is risk to themselves if they stand beside me.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Is your father at the castle?” Leith asks, his gaze darting around. “Jakeb, I mean.”

“No, he’s at the manor.”

Many of the Middling and Commoners assembled are taking notice. Rather than follow toward the castle, they’re staring at us. Pointing at us.

I hear whispers of “Bloodguard.”

It won’t be long before they all recognize Leith.

“Can you go to Father?” I clasp Leith’s hands. “Tell him to meet me at the castle to accompany me home.”

Leith nods, and with one long look at Uni, he takes off in the opposite direction, away from the crowd. The moment he clears the heavier throngs, he breaks into a run.

I know how much that must hurt him.

“What can we do, Princess?” Uni asks.

I see so many familiar faces. Stasia, the seleno fairy, and Gabi, the guapilla who works at her tavern, eye me expectantly. There are others, too, who I’ve known or treated.

“Tell us,” Uni says.

“Sing. Please sing,” I say. “The Anthem of Arrow.”

I take Uni’s hand and Stasia’s, and we step into the now-empty path of the parade.

The rest of the friends and townsfolk, the merchants and off-duty guards, the faces known to me and those who simply sense my sincerity—they fall in line behind us.

The crowd grows.

The crowd sings.

I walk onward. Though we are last and the parade has progressed ahead, our numbers expand. The onlookers pause, and when they see me, people from all classes of Arrow fall into line and join me.

What begins as a handful of friends merges into dozens, then hundreds of bodies, large and small, young and old.

We are not the color of any one house, but many.

My heart has never been more full.

We continue up the streets, more and more citizens of Arrow joining along. As we turn onto the main road, I see the lanterns lining the bridge, the purple haze of magic in the sky as Aisling and other mages from Damella join Soro on the parapet walls. And there, at the gates to the castle, is Vitor.

He sits upon my grandmother’s throne.

I have never seen the huge seat moved from its place in the palace, let alone lifted and carried along like some mobile stage for the monarchy.

Vitor arches a brow.

He instructs his guards to lower the throne, and he leaps to the ground.

I don’t pause.

I lead my people along the street to the bridgeway. The crowd parts, creating a gap for me to walk through as the other assembled persons and houses turn to see what’s happening.

The singing quiets.

Vitor reaches me, and his expression is indecipherable.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you in the procession, Lord Regent,” I say.

“Nor I you.”

He told me he would remain in the castle to coordinate the night-sky display. There was no mention of him parading himself on a throne through Arrow’s city streets.

Vitor takes my hand and lifts it. He escorts me forward, all the way up to the gates, until we’re standing in front of Arrow’s seat of power.

I turn and address the people before he can. “Tonight, we celebrate. We commemorate the day Queen Avianna defeated the great phoenix!”

The crowd cheers.

“I am Princess Maeve, granddaughter of Avianna of Iamond, ninth ruler of the Iamond Royal Line. My house is the house of the people!”

Raucous cheers go up.

“Well played, child.” Vitor grins at me.

He lifts our joined hands toward the sky, and the cheers grow louder.

As if we’d choreographed this from the start, the hired wizard and supporting mages send up sparks and spectacles of color. The crowds gaze up.

I focus on Vitor.

“You spoke of purpose, Uncle,” I say in a low voice so only he can hear. “This is mine.”

He reflects on that for a long moment, then says angrily, “I also spoke of fear and need. And you did not heed my warning.” I only smile back at him.

You don’t scare me anymore.