“Ha! You thought that whenever I
did win, it was because I’d cheated, I’d used my imaginative
powers.”
“It was.”
She smiled. “If it pleases you to think so.” Dodge shifted the hash around on his plate. “Besides bringing me close to you, the purpose of some of those games was to improve my combat skills so that I’d be able to protect you whenever the need arose, as befitted a palace guardsman. Funny then that now it’s you who are trying to protect me.” He looked at her. She paused, her glass of winglefruit juice held at her lips. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I survived for thirteen years in your absence with wrath and vengeance in my heart—it might even have been these that kept me alive. I’d rather not be governed by these passions, but you can’t hope to rid me of them by putting yourself between me and The Cat.” Alyss said nothing and stared at the fire crystals in the hearth. “You think I was too quick to blame Redd for the Glass Eyes’ attack?” Dodge asked. “Yes.”
“Well, it’s been confirmed that The Glass Eyes were manufactured in Boarderland. Maybe I did rush to judgment. If so, it was a mistake and I admit it. I’m trying my best not to let revenge dictate my actions, Alyss, but…I don’t know. I can’t promise what’s going to happen if I see The Cat again. I only know that if I am to conquer these vengeful feelings, I have to be the one to do it, not you or anybody else.” “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, it’s just…everybody knows I was angry after our parents were murdered. But there was also…something else. I came to believe that I’d spend my life alone.” “Dodge, I’m—”
“There was nothing to pity in this,” he said quickly. “It was just the way things were. But when I found out you were alive…” he shook his head, “…you have no idea what living under Redd’s rule can do to you, Alyss. It was unbearable.”
“We have all borne things we never imagined.” “Most of life is unbearable. It’s unbearable but we bear it. That’s what I believe. But right now, Alyss, here with you, I don’t feel it.”
She’d been trying not to cry almost since she’d stepped into Dodge’s rooms, but she could no longer stop herself. “Maybe one day,” she said, “when Homburg Molly is safe and things are peaceful enough that the queendom can run itself, we’ll take a trip to together. Somewhere quiet. There’s no reason we can’t do that, is there?”
Dodge didn’t say what he knew to be true: The queendom would never run itself. There would always be some emergency that required the queen’s attention. There always had been. And he knew that Alyss knew it.
“You’re the queen and can do you as you wish,” he said. From his inside coat pocket, he removed his
“It was.”
She smiled. “If it pleases you to think so.” Dodge shifted the hash around on his plate. “Besides bringing me close to you, the purpose of some of those games was to improve my combat skills so that I’d be able to protect you whenever the need arose, as befitted a palace guardsman. Funny then that now it’s you who are trying to protect me.” He looked at her. She paused, her glass of winglefruit juice held at her lips. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I survived for thirteen years in your absence with wrath and vengeance in my heart—it might even have been these that kept me alive. I’d rather not be governed by these passions, but you can’t hope to rid me of them by putting yourself between me and The Cat.” Alyss said nothing and stared at the fire crystals in the hearth. “You think I was too quick to blame Redd for the Glass Eyes’ attack?” Dodge asked. “Yes.”
“Well, it’s been confirmed that The Glass Eyes were manufactured in Boarderland. Maybe I did rush to judgment. If so, it was a mistake and I admit it. I’m trying my best not to let revenge dictate my actions, Alyss, but…I don’t know. I can’t promise what’s going to happen if I see The Cat again. I only know that if I am to conquer these vengeful feelings, I have to be the one to do it, not you or anybody else.” “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, it’s just…everybody knows I was angry after our parents were murdered. But there was also…something else. I came to believe that I’d spend my life alone.” “Dodge, I’m—”
“There was nothing to pity in this,” he said quickly. “It was just the way things were. But when I found out you were alive…” he shook his head, “…you have no idea what living under Redd’s rule can do to you, Alyss. It was unbearable.”
“We have all borne things we never imagined.” “Most of life is unbearable. It’s unbearable but we bear it. That’s what I believe. But right now, Alyss, here with you, I don’t feel it.”
She’d been trying not to cry almost since she’d stepped into Dodge’s rooms, but she could no longer stop herself. “Maybe one day,” she said, “when Homburg Molly is safe and things are peaceful enough that the queendom can run itself, we’ll take a trip to together. Somewhere quiet. There’s no reason we can’t do that, is there?”
Dodge didn’t say what he knew to be true: The queendom would never run itself. There would always be some emergency that required the queen’s attention. There always had been. And he knew that Alyss knew it.
“You’re the queen and can do you as you wish,” he said. From his inside coat pocket, he removed his