The people around him didn’t scream, but there were audible gasps and a few whispered pleas for the fae to be merciful.
“Mizel of the Tialttyrin.” As he introduced himself, Zelli watched Kear. Kear wasn’t as good as some guards at making his expression hard to read, but he did well enough. Other than his stillness, Zelli might not have known he was shocked. Zelli couldn’t tell if Kear was also horrified, but assumed he was.
“The Mountain Wolf of the Tialttyrin!” someone shouted from behind him.
Zelli did not even breathe. He turned around, scanning the crowd for the speaker. It had to have been Fy, because no one else would know that silly title or be so bold as to use it, but Zelli didn’t see him.
“Mizel the Mountain Wolf!” The shout came again in a different voice.
Zelli searched the crowd, trying not to notice the startled faces or how a few seemed to recognize him but didn’t come closer. But if the former Lyralinah guards were out there, they were well-hidden. Helpless to stop their nonsense, Zelli turned back toward Kear.
“Mountain Wolf?” Kear repeated, staring, then dropped his shoulders as though he were perfectly at ease. The people with him weren’t; there were tense, frowning faces and hands near sword hilts. “You demand a lot, and I don’t see that you’re in any position to do so, though I am willing to listen. I’m even looking forward to it. I’ve never talked with a wolf before.”
“I’ve already warned you,” Grandmother said almost wearily. “You think I am a silly old relic in a decrepit fortress telling tales of the fae, but remember that I warned you.”
Kear was openly irritated, or perhaps wary now that Zelli was there looking the way he did. “Warned me of what?”
“If you promise me the guards you seek will go free, and that the valley will remain a place of peace, I will consider an alliance with you,” Zelli offered again. “If you want to rule this valley, if you want to wait out your sister’s violence and carve a land for yourself here like an Earl of old and grow your power as they did, you will need a Tialttyrin.”
Kear’s hand twitched toward a weapon before he forced it down.
“Thatiswhat you want, isn’t it?” Zelli asked politely. “I’m the only Tialttyrin who might do. I know the people and the fields and the traditions. And, despite some inconveniences, I am favored by the fae.”
If theyweremeant as inconveniences. But Zelli didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“I’m also the one closest to your age.” Whether or not they would share a bed, that seemed relevant. “I don’t know about taking the crown from Tye, but we can certainly discuss it. I might be able to help. A Canamorra seemed to think I had interesting thoughts in that direction.”
“A Canamorra?” Kear demanded, wary now. “Who…whatare you?”
An unhappy stirring went through the line of Tialttyrin guards.
“You’re smarter than Tye, I think,” Zelli continued. “Maybe more inclined to reason? You assumed we would be like some of the other families because we stay out of palace matters. But we stay out of the palace because if the fae wanted us there, they would lead us there. Perhaps you are here to do that, I don’t know. It would depend on the fae’s opinion of you. Have you asked them to give you a crown?”
Zelli tipped his head up, frowning for the glimpse of light in the distance. Lightning. A storm on the way.
It would get here quickly, judging from the wind tearing up from the river and stirring the branches of the rowan trees on either side of Kear’s people. He wondered if Grandmother had noticed it, then knew it was so. She’d caught on before Zelli had.
“Oh.” Zelli shivered, cold all over. “I would have been willing to try despite my other feelings and it might have been all right. I’m persuasive, they tell me, and I only bite a little. But I think youhaveasked the fae. And I think they do not like you. At least, they wouldn’t like you here,” he added. And probably not in the capital, either, although he didn’t say that. “They don’t trust you with their valley.” He paused to add delicately, “Neither do I. I’m sorry.”
“I did warn you,” said Grandmother.
Then there was noise.
So much noise, sudden and overwhelming. Shouts and a clang of metal, snorting and feet stamping from the horses. A scream.
It was only when Tahlen and Starfall pushed in front of Grandmother that Zelli realized what had happened. Kear had lost patience and chosen more direct action; removing The Tialttyrin and seizing the fortress in the resulting chaos.
“Grandmother!” Zelli foolishly joined the shouting though he’d never be heard above the din, and stared in astonishment at Cousin Ona charging forward as though she were several decades younger.
“For the Tialttyrin!” A series of cries and howls made him jump. They came from the Tialttyrin guards and then from behind them, from even behind Zelli. “For the Mountain Wolf!”
Zelli turned, because thathadto be Fy, but saw Vint instead, who rose from nowhere to grab Zelli by his cloak and yank him to the side.
“Get to safety, Tialttyrin!” Vint gave Zelli an order he had no right to, then darted forward into the fighting.A battle, Zelli thought, voice shrill in his own mind, although surely this scene was too small for be called that. Zelli caught movement, people and horses surrounding Grandmother, others twisting to look at Zelli, eyes wide with alarm.
He was supposed to stay back, Zelli remembered at last. There were villagers with more sense than him—and others with less, storming forward without even weapons in their hands. Without even armor.
Zelli managed a halting step, nearly tripping over something or someone behind him, then he looked up, over the heads of the Tialttyrin guards reaching for him to the sky of menacing gray. Warm rain hit his face before the wind changed direction.
