Graceling (Graceling Realm #1)(56)

She snorted. She sat on the floor before him and crossed her legs. “And now will you tell me what you learned from them?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes. “What I learned. To start with, other than that fellow in the corner, they barely spoke a true word. It was a game. They wanted to trick us into paying them for false information. To get back at us, for the incident in the eating room.”

“They’re small-minded,” Katsa said.

“Very small-minded, but they’ve helped us, nonetheless. It’s Leck, Katsa, I’m sure of it. The man lied when he said Leck was not responsible. And yet – and yet there was something else very strange that I could make no sense of” He shook his head and stared into his hands, thinking. “It’s so odd, Katsa. I felt this strange… defensiveness rise in them.”

“What do you mean, defensiveness?”

“As if they all truly believed Leck’s innocence and wished to defend him to me.”

“But you just said Leck is guilty.”

“He is guilty, and these men know it. But they also believe him innocent.”

“That makes utterly no sense.”

He shook his head again. “I know. But I’m sure of what I sensed. I tell you, Katsa, when the man said that Leck was not responsible for the kidnapping, he was lying. But when he said, a moment later, ‘Leck is blameless,’ he meant it. He believed himself to be telling the truth.” Po gazed up at the dark ceiling. “Are we supposed to conclude that Leck kidnapped my grandfather, but for some innocent reason? It simply cannot be.”

Katsa couldn’t comprehend the things Po had learned, any more than she could comprehend the manner in which he’d learned them. “None of this makes sense,” she said, weakly.

He came down out of his thoughts for a moment and focused on her. “Katsa. I’m sorry. This must be overwhelming to you. I’m capable of sensing quite a lot, you see, from people who want to fool me but don’t know to guard their thoughts and feelings.”

She couldn’t understand it. She gave up trying to make sense of the king who was both guilty and innocent. She watched Po as he became distracted by his thoughts again and stared again into his hands. The merchants hadn’t known to guard their thoughts and feelings. If it was a thing that could be done, then she, at least, wanted to learn how to do it.

She felt his eyes and realized he was watching her. “You do keep some things from me,” he said.

She started, then focused on blankness for a moment.

“Or you have,” he continued, “since you’ve learned of my Grace. I mean, I’ve felt you keeping things from me –

you’re doing it now – and I can tell you it works, because my Grace shows me nothing. I’m always a bit relieved when it works, Katsa. Truly, I don’t wish to take your secrets from you.” He sat up straight, his face lit with an idea. “You know, you could always knock me unconscious. I wouldn’t stop you.”

Katsa laughed then. “I wouldn’t. I’ve promised you I won’t hit you, except in our practices.”

“But it’s self-defense, in this case.”

“It is not.”

“It is,” he insisted, and she laughed again at his earnestness.

“I’d rather strengthen my mind against you,” she said, “than knock you out every time I have a thought I don’t want you to know.”

“Yes, well, and I’d prefer that also, believe me. But I grant you permission to knock me out, if ever you need to.”

“I wish you wouldn’t. You know how impulsive I am.”

“I don’t care.”

“If you grant me permission, I’ll probably do it, Po. I’ll probably – ”

He held up his hand. “It’s an equalizer. When we fight, you hold your Grace back. I can’t hold my Grace back. So you must have the right to defend yourself.”

She didn’t like it. But she could not miss his point. And she could not miss his willingness, his dear willingness, to give over his Grace for her. “You will always have a headache,” she warned.

“Perhaps Raffin included his salve for headaches among the medicines. I should like to change my hair, now that you’ve changed yours. Blue would suit me, don’t you think?”

She was laughing again, and she swore to herself that she wouldn’t hit him; she wouldn’t, unless she were entirely desperate. And then the candle on the floor beside them dimmed and died. Their conversation had gotten entirely off track. They were leaving for Monsea early in the morning, most likely, and it was the middle of the night and everyone in the inn and the town slept. Yet here they were, sitting on the floor, laughing in the dark.

“We leave for Monsea tomorrow, then?” she said. “We’ll fall asleep on our horses.”

“I’ll fall asleep on my horse. You’ll ride as if you’ve slept for days – as if it’s a race between us to see who reaches Monsea first.”

“And what will we find when we get there? A king who’s innocent of the things of which he’s guilty?”

He rubbed his head. “I’ve always thought it strange that my mother and father have no suspicions about Leck, even knowing his story. And now these men seem to think him blameless in the kidnapping, even knowing he’s not.”