And then Damen saw what else lay among the overturned platters that littered the floor. It was bright against the tiles, like a scattering of stars. It was what Laurent had been holding in his right hand when Damen entered. The blue sapphires of Nicaise’s earring.
The doors behind him opened, and Damen knew without turning around that the sound had summoned the soldiers into the room. He didn’t take his eyes off Laurent.
‘Arrest me,’ said Damen. ‘I have raised hands to the Prince.’
The soldiers hesitated. It was the just response to his actions but he was—or had been—their Captain. He had to say again, ‘Do it.’
The darker-haired soldier stepped forward and Damen felt the grip take him. Laurent set his jaw.
‘No,’ said Laurent. And then, ‘It was provoked.’
Another hesitation. It was clear that the two soldiers did not know what to make of what they had walked into. The air of violence was heavy in the room, where their Prince stood in front of a ruined table, with blood welling from his lip.
‘I said let him go.’
It was a direct order from their Prince, and this time it was obeyed. Damen felt the hands release him. Laurent’s gaze followed the soldiers out as they bowed, then left, the doors closing behind them. Then Laurent transferred his gaze to Damen.
‘Now get out,’ Laurent said.
Damen pressed his eyes closed briefly. He felt raw with thoughts of his father. Laurent’s words pushed at the inside of his eyelids.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You can’t go to Charcy. I need to convince you of that.’
Laurent’s laugh was a strange, breathless sound. ‘Didn’t you hear anything that I just said to you?’
‘Yes,’ said Damen. ‘You tried to hurt me, and you have. I wish you would see that what you have just done to me is what your uncle is doing to you.’
He saw Laurent receive that like a man at the very ends of his endurance being given another hit. ‘Why,’ said Laurent, ‘do you—do you always—’ He stopped himself. The rise and fall of his chest was shallow.
‘I came with you to stop a war,’ said Damen. ‘I came because you were the only thing standing between Akielos and your uncle. It’s you who’ve lost sight of that. You need to fight your uncle on your own terms, not on his.’
‘I can’t.’ It was a raw admission. ‘I can’t think.’ The words were torn out of him. Wide-eyed in the silence, Laurent said them again in a different voice, his blue eyes dark with the exposure of the truth. ‘I can’t think.’
‘I know,’ said Damen.
He said it softly. There was more than one admission in Laurent’s words. He knew that too.
He knelt, and scooped up the glimmer of Nicaise’s earring from the floor.
It had been a delicate thing, and well made, a handful of sapphires. Rising, he set it down on the table.
After a time, he moved back from the place where Laurent leant, fingers curled around the table edge. He drew a breath, made to take another step back.
‘Don’t go,’ said Laurent, quietly.
‘I’m just clearing my head. I already told my escort I wouldn’t need them until morning,’ said Damen.
And there
was another awful silence, as Damen realised what Laurent was asking him.
‘No. I don’t mean—forever—just—’ Laurent broke off. ‘Three days.’ Laurent said it as though producing from the depths the answer to a painstakingly weighed question. ‘I can do this alone. I know I can. It’s only that right now I can’t seem to . . . think, and I can’t . . . trust anyone else to stand up to me when I’m . . . like this. If you could give me three days, I—’ He forcibly cut himself off.
‘I’ll stay,’ said Damen. ‘You know I’ll stay for as long as you—’
‘Don’t,’ said Laurent. ‘Don’t lie to me. Not you.’
‘I’ll stay,’ said Damen. ‘Three days. After that, I ride south.’