Vesper Brynn's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Vesper had proof James loved her. She did not have proof the court could stomach him. So she made a test. The king held a knights' competition each year, open to any man who could ride. She entered James under a borrowed name and told no one but Dara. If the court cheered a stranger, she would learn how blind their eyes could be. Dara found her at the edge of the field before the joust. Her best friend stood with soot on her arms and a borrowed lance in her fist. She did not soften anything, ever. That was why Vesper trusted her. "He's shaking," Vesper said. "This was a mistake." "It wasn't." Dara pushed the lance into James's hands. "You fixed a gate. A lance is heavier. Hold it the same." "If they learn who I am," James said, "they'll throw me out." "Then win before they look too close," Dara said. She slapped the horse's flank. Vesper climbed to the stands. She sat below her father, King Aldric, who watched the field with his wife's old habit of silence. He had buried his queen years ago and never grieved aloud. He ruled, and he ruled alone. Vesper had learned her court's rules from him. James rode badly at first. He gripped too hard and lost his seat. The crowd laughed. Then he found the rhythm she had seen in his hands on iron. He struck once, clean, and unhorsed the champion from the eastern hills. The stands went quiet, then roared. They cheered him. A stranger in borrowed armor. Vesper's chest opened. The court could cheer a nobody. Her test had worked. Then her father stood. "That one," King Aldric said. "Bring him to me." Guards rode out and took James's reins. They walked him to the royal stand. Vesper could not breathe. She had meant to measure the crowd, not hand James to the king. James pulled off his helm. His face was plain to everyone now. Aldric studied him the way he studied a ledger. "Your name," the king said. James looked at Vesper first. One glance, held too long. Then he looked away. Aldric saw it. Vesper watched her father see it. His eyes moved from James to her and back, and something settled in his face. "You're the one who fixed my hall doors," Aldric said. "Yes," James said. The king said nothing else. He sat down. He did not throw James out. He did not praise him. He only looked at his daughter with a knowing she had spent weeks hiding. Vesper had her answer. The court could love a stranger. But the moment James had a name and a face, the moment her father caught one look between them, the test was over. Her secret was not a secret anymore. The king knew. And now she would have to answer to him, not to the crowd.