The Ostler's Boy (The Ostler's Boy Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I couldn't stop my foot from tapping, excessively, as I watched Elías load his things into the carriage. He would be back soon, I reminded myself. And Willoughby... He would do his best to keep me safe. It wasn't like I was scared to be without Elías. He had only ever been by my side since I could remember. But he was the commander, and loyal. There was no one else to assign a task of this magnitude.

This was fine.

"Do not let her out of your sight," he told the younger knight. "She will try to evade you. You must always be expecting it. No matter what she tells you. She's wiley. Don't make me regret my decision to leave you behind."

"Never," Willoughby said.

Elías glanced at me, addressing me with basically the same instruction. "Do not evade Ser Willoughby. He's too trusting, and there is a special place in Hell for people who abuse the good natured. If you end up dead in the country, it will be no one's fault but you own. Still, I'll never forgive myself."

"Well that's comforting," I told him. "You'll be happy to know I won't be leaving the grounds while Wil... while we wait for Mr. Evergreen to get well." I smiled, covering the slip.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Elías with everything... It was that...I did. But in the few hours of sleep I'd had between yesterday's discovery and this morning's departure, I found a few unanswered questions. Elías was headed home, to assemble a team of soldiers to help eradicate the bandits in Chalke. Based on the whole idea that one of the bodies recovered from the cottage was in fact the footman as I'd suspected.

And Elías, self-proclaimed to have never forgotten a face, agreed that it was him. He identified him as such. That meant our entire staff would be called into question.

And that meant, either he was a liar because he did on occasion forget faces. Quite prominent ones at that, or. He was a liar because he knew who my swordsman was, and for whatever reason, chose not to tell me.

And that was a thread I couldn't bring myself to pull.

With Cyrus unconscious, and Elías leaving, I felt it was better to stand in the blaze alone. There would be no clarity, not until all else around us slowed. And the longer I allowed myself to try and rationalize the possible betrayal, the further convinced I was, I didn't want to know. Not really.

My mentor, my guide, my rock- I did not want to have to understand why he would do this. He knew that Willem was my deepest wound, but as I revisited every interaction between the two of them, I only emphasized the reality of its coming rupture.

'Ole son' he'd called him at the farmhouse. Not a far cry from 'Ólason.'

But then that raised the question... WHY WAS WILLEM CALLING HIMSELF CYRUS EVERGREEN?

And why did my knight tell me he couldn't find the boy?

In the meantime, I would cherish the fleeting moments I might have left with 'Cyrus.' He would either wake up a different man, or not at all. And I would say goodbye to Ser Elías, and wish him well on his travels, because I would do, and had done anything for that man.