“Calamity?”
I was pulled out of my trance. “What?”
“I said are you going to be at the dinghy races tonight at the southern harbor?”
“Oh . . . um. I don’t know.”
“Well, if you decide to go, catch up with me, all right? I gotta get back to help with the horses after the parade.”
I barely made a noise of acknowledgment as he kissed my cheek and headed off. Because my mind was still reeling, still stuck in a Titan’s gaze.
It took me a few minutes to process seeing him, to realize the thing that sent an unknown feeling through me.
He was riding my horse.
Gallant.
I was walking the streets, trying to keep myself from rushing to the palace to see Gallant, when I saw a little boy. He had a bandage around his head, a long stick under his arm he was using as a crutch, and a monkey standing beside him with his hand cupped to accept coin.
Some amusement rose in me when I saw Henry swiftly switch his crutch to the other side.
He saw me heading toward him, and with a look of exasperation, leaned against the wall but held onto his stick. Tash pinned me with distasteful eyes.
“My goodness. What on Alyria happened to you?”
Henry frowned, but then seeming to come up with a story, said, “Fell down the library stairs.”
“The library, huh? Didn’t think you knew how to read.”
Tash snorted like that was a ridiculous assumption.
I crossed my arms. “Have you gotten much coin for the spectacle you’re putting on?”
His eyes lit up. “Wanna see? I even got Titan coin! It’s worth twice as much as the silvers most folk use here.” His hand disappeared in his pocket before pulling out, what was indeed, Titan coin.
My heart thumped. “Where did you get that?”
“Well, from a Titan. Who do you think?” he said with too much sass for a seven-year-old. I suddenly thought I needed to apologize to my grandmother.
“What did he look like?” I asked.
Henry frowned in thought, stashing his coin in his pocket. “He was tall.”
I sighed, impatience curling in my chest. “Other than that, Henry. They’re all tall.”
“Had dark hair. Longer than the others,” he said absently, fiddling with his stick. “He didn’t believe my act, but he still gave me coin. Think I’m gonna be a Titan when I’m eight,” he said, sounding determined.
First Weston steals my horse? Then he makes my Henry aspire to be a Titan?
“You can’t just be a Titan,” I said.
“Whaddya mean?”
“You have to be born there. Besides you’re too old.”
“I’m only seven!” he said, outraged.
“Did he say anything to you?”