A wild animal did not have eyes like that.
Fen made himself resume his place directly of the Wild Dog, although he let his gaze fall again. Of all the fates the fae might have given him, he was here, and it was kinder than returning home might have been, no matter how it ended.
“It’s the same thing,” Fen softly explained to the Wild Dog himself. “Or near enough to it. That’s part of the point of sending a member of one family to stay with—and be surrounded by—another family. It’s a gesture of trustbecauseit’s a potential threat. But it’s also a chance to see new things, share experiences, and to help one another.”
“Toinfluenceone another,” the Dog corrected, voice hard.
Fen shrugged. He was surprised his heart was no longer racing, but supposed that death by bear, death by The Acana, or an uneasy alliance with The Geon were all more terrifying than this man. That, or Fen was too tired to think rationally.
“I didn’t know who you were when I offered to be your captive,” he admitted. “But I wouldn’t have thought the Wild Dog would be interested in an alliance of any kind. Not with an Earl’s son. A captive might suit your needs more. But if an alliance is what you desire….”
The Wild Dog did not let him finish. “I am not an Earl.”
Fen hesitated, took a breath, then began again. “You are not.” The Wild Dog was not even a lesser noble like The Geon. They all understood that Fen shouldn’t have offered him anything. “You’re on your way to it, though, are you not? That’s why you scare them.” He wondered if the others were breathing. He couldn’t hear them or anything else, not even birdsong. Only his heart.
The Wild Dog’s chest moved. He breathed too, and listened, and said nothing.
Fen entered the silence carefully, bowing his head as he would have with The Acana. “If you should accept me, I won’t influence you for The Acana or any others in the family. Although, in all honesty, I am fond of my mother and wouldn’t like to see her harmed. She’s of the Bal,” he added meekly, not sure if the Wild Dog would know of all the lesser noble families, or care to. “For her, I might speak if I can.”
“I’ma safer choice than The Geon who admires you?”
Fen didn’t know what to make of that question. “From the stories of you… from what I can believe of the stories of you, you are determined and stubborn.”Relentless, he would have said, but didn’t know if the Wild Dog would take it as an insult. “You have humiliated two Earls so far.”
“So far,” the woman echoed, worried or amused or both. Fen didn’t look at her.
“You might be out for revenge, or justice. Maybe you like tormenting Earls; I couldn’t say at this time.” Fen had perfected mild, smooth tones years ago and they had saved him from The Acana’s temper more than once. “My family thought of one use for me alive, but they would happily use my death as an excuse to confront you. The other nobles as well. There is a song about me.” He had been forced to sit through it a number of times. “They’ll make another, undoubtedly exaggerating my beauty even more than they’ve done already. They’ll use that to justify any depths of cruelty they might sink to in capturing you and being rid of you.”
“Calm about it, aren’t you?” Race asked idly. Fen didn’t look at him either.
“Allied with you, I might persuade more noble families to reason with you instead. To trade and to… to send other alliances your way, of whatever kind you might want.” Fen nearly frowned, although it was logical that at least a few would take the chance if the Dog settled, ending his rampage to reinforce the holdings in his position.
The Wild Dog said nothing. The woman at his back scoffed. “Do you meanmarriage? No noble is going to link their hand with his.”
At the question, Fen turned to the woman at last. “Once he is established, if that’s what he wants to do, yes, they will. Although whether or not he also wants that will depend on the alliances—which theywilloffer if he keeps what he has taken. I can help with that. Not the taking of things.” Fen nearly blushed. “You can see I’m no warrior. But the rest; I know how nobles speak to one another and who has the most to offer.”
“What if that’s not what I’m after?” The Wild Dog finally spoke again. “What if I’m not out to make myself an Earl?”
Fen’s heart caught in his throat, but he swallowed and made his voice stay even. “Then I don’t know what else I could offer you. I’m not charming, and am clever only for silly things. I think too much. That song is… I don’t like that song.”
“Why the Lylanth?” the Wild Dog wondered, uninterested with songs about Fen’s face and probably Fen’s face itself. “Why not go to the Bal?”
“The Bal ultimately answer to The Acana, though they pretend otherwise. The Lylanth are too far away to be in his shadow.” Fen had been trying not to think of exactly how far away when he’d started running. “My cousin is there and might have aided me.”
“The higher nobles are all points on the same web,” the woman sighed. “Yet fight each other anyway.”
“Yes,” the Wild Dog agreed, staring hard at Fen. “One more reason we can’t leave him here.”
There was another sigh.
Fen startled, blinking before studying each of them in turn, not sure when they had decided that. But they must have, because the other two did not argue, and Race produced a small length of thin rope. He stepped closer and had Fen’s knife in less than a moment, which he then used to cut the string on the small pouch also hanging from Fen’s belt.
“A few coins and one hunk of bread,” he said in disbelief after examining the contents. “Were you going to eat coins, flower?”
“I’m sure the flower has a name,” the woman pointed out, already slipping away. She made almost no noise as she moved.
Fen’s name was mentioned more than once in the song The Geon loved so much, so Race, at least, must already know it. Nonetheless, Fen opened his mouth to respond as the woman had implicitly requested, only to shut it and swallow hard as the Wild Dog took both of his hands and held them between them, tugging Fen even closer to him. He shoved Fen’s sleeves out of the way, then looped the rope around each of his wrists before knotting it to leave Fen’s hands trapped together, the rest of the rope dangling free.
The warm impression his touch left behind made Fen look up.
