The Silent Shield (Kingfountain #5)(90)

“I have given this enough deliberation and careful thought. But it is my heart that persuades me I’d be a fool to reject your terms. I am ready to kneel before your king. I will swear homage and fealty to the Master of the Ring Table and the King of the Hollow Crown. You are a treasure worth more than crowns or rubies or palaces. Say that you will have me, and we will go this instant and declare peace. Will you be mine, Tryneowy Kiskaddon?”

She felt the warmth emanating from him, the tickle of his breath on her skin. Her feelings were as confusing as they were complex. She still loved Fallon. She always had. But in this man, in Gahalatine, she felt no trickery or deceit. What he truly lacked was discernment—and that was something she felt she could help him with. With it, she knew he could become a truly great man. She wished her parents could have been there to help her make her choice, but even though she believed this was what her mother’s vision had bespoken, it was ultimately her decision to make.

“I will have you,” she answered, feeling in her heart that it was the advice her mother would have given her.

He took her fingers in his hand and brought them to his lips for a kiss. “Then I will cherish you and protect you all the days of my life,” he whispered huskily. He kissed her fingertips again.

Then he rose and helped her stand. She gave him one of her crooked smiles, feeling self-conscious at the way he was gazing at her with undisguised admiration. She didn’t feel worthy of it.

“You are sixteen, are you not?” he asked her, but she could see he already knew the answer.

“I am, my lord,” she answered with a small dip of her chin.

“Finding your father is my highest priority,” he said. “We will do all that we can. I will enlist Sunilik’s aid. He is responsible for my estates and manors. But your mother is living. I had expected her to be defending Kingfountain, but she was not there. Is she in Ploemeur?”

Trynne shook her head. “No. The Fountain called her away on a journey. She boarded a ship and seeks the Deep Fathoms. She is not here.”

A troubled look surfaced on his face. “Indeed?”

“Yes,” Trynne answered.

His look became more troubled.

“What is it?” Trynne asked.

Gahalatine sighed, looking down. “It is one of the customs of the East Kingdoms,” he said, his brow furrowing. “A law, to be precise. It was done to protect women from being forced to marry against their will or from marrying too young. If a woman has no parents, her husband cannot consummate the marriage until she is eighteen. There are unscrupulous men who would do otherwise.”

Trynne wrinkled her brow. “In this kingdom, a woman can be married at sixteen or seventeen. There are no such laws. And my parents are both alive, I hope. They are just not here.”

Gahalatine nodded. “I understand the laws are different in Kingfountain. But I cannot overlook the customs and traditions of my people. I would bring dishonor on myself if I broke the law when it suited me.” He smiled and sighed dejectedly. “If I had to wait a year or two for you, it would not change my answer. It will give me an even stronger motivation to find your father quickly,” he said, raising his eyebrows meaningfully.

Trynne blushed. “I will have you, Gahalatine. I give you my promise.”

He nodded and took her hands and kissed them again. “Until that time, we will be as brother and sister. I would not besmirch your honor for all the world.”

“I know you would not,” Trynne replied. It was obvious the law frustrated him, but it did not hinder his resolve to do the honorable thing. She felt acutely the relief that although she had to marry someone she didn’t love—not yet—at least he was a man worthy of admiration.

He offered her his hand. “I think your king will be anxious to hear from us.”

Trynne could hardly believe what she was hearing. She felt like the sunlight beaming through the curtain of the tent. Would the conflict end at last? With Gahalatine’s help, would she be able to find her father? To save him and Drew and Genevieve? Would she herself be able to save the kingdom?

She was so exhausted, she only nodded. But she reached out and squeezed Gahalatine’s hand. He looked so tender and mournful in that moment, she lifted herself onto the tips of her toes and grazed his cheek with a kiss.



Trynne was amazed at how much the world had transformed since she had arrived with her army. The mountain Helvellyn was sheathed in heavy banks of snow with only a few gray crags visible. The roofs of the town were nearly buried under the drifts. The snow was falling in a continuous plume, threatening to bury the entire world in winter, and the air was so cold it burned her nose to breathe it. She saw Gahalatine’s warriors patrolling the battlement walls, carrying torches and shoveling the paths.

The Wizr Albion brought them back to the great hall with the Tay al-Ard. The smell of blood and death hung in the hall and the place was full of commotion. Gahalatine’s surgeons were hard at work tending to the wounded soldiers who had fought for Trynne and the king.

Her heart filled with grief at the destruction, especially the loss of Captain Staeli.

The crowd parted as she and Gahalatine started to walk, arm in arm, across the slabs of paving stone. She gazed through the crowd, and looking at those prostrate and receiving care, she finally spotted him on the floor by one of the support columns. She’d expected a body, cold and stiff, but he was breathing. They were slow, shallow gulps, but where there was breath there was hope. Haley knelt by him with tears in her eyes. Trynne, awestruck, released Gahalatine’s hand and rushed over to where he lay.