“But you need strength,” I protested. Guiltily, I knew he had taken time with me that he should have taken for food and sleep.
“I know. But I have no time. Eating takes energy. Odd to realize that. I have none extra to give to that just now.” His eyes were questing afar now, staring through the sheeting rain that was just beginning to slacken.
“I’d give you my strength, Verity. If I could.”
He looked at me oddly. “Are you sure? Very sure?”
I could not understand the intensity of his question, but I knew the answer. “Of course I would.” And more quietly: “I am a king’s man.” “And of my own blood,” he affirmed. He sighed. For a moment he looked sickened. He looked again at the food, and again out the window. “There is just time,” he whispered. “And it might be enough. Damnation to you, Father. Must you always win? Come here, then, boy.”
There was an intensity to his words that frightened me, but I obeyed. When I stood by his chair, he reached out a hand. He placed it on my shoulder, as if he needed assistance to rise.
I looked up at him from the floor. There was a pillow under my head, and the blanket I had brought up earlier had been tossed over me. Verity stood, leaning out the window. He was shaking with effort, and the Skill he exerted was like battering waves I could almost feel. “Onto the rocks,” he said with deep satisfaction, and whirled from the window. He grinned at me, an old fierce grin, that faded slowly as he looked down on me.
“Like a calf to the slaughter,” he said ruefully. “I should have known that you didn’t know what you were talking about.”
“What happened to me?” I managed to ask. My teeth chattered against each other, and my whole body shook as with a chill. I felt I would rattle my bones out of their joints.
“You offered me your strength. I took it.” He poured a cup of the tea, then knelt to hold it to my mouth. “Go slowly. I was in a hurry. Did I say earlier that Chivalry was a bull with his Skill? What must I say about myself then?”
He had his old bluff heartiness and good nature back. This was a Verity I had not seen for months. I managed a mouthful of the tea and felt the elfbark sting my mouth and throat. My shivering eased. Verity took a casual gulp from the mug.
“In the old days,” he said conversationally, “a king would draw on his coterie. Half a dozen men or more, and all in tune with one another, able to pool strength and offer it as needed. That was their true purpose. To provide strength to their king, or to their own key man. I don’t think Galen quite grasps that. His coterie is a thing he has fashioned. They are like horses and bullocks and donkeys, all harnessed together. Not a true coterie at all. They lack the singleness of mind.”
“You drew strength from me?”
“Yes. Believe me, boy, I would not have, except that I had a sudden need, and I thought you knew what you offered. You yourself named yourself as a king’s man, the old term. And as close as we are in blood, I knew I could tap you.” He set the mug down on the tray with a thump. Disgust deepened his voice. “Shrewd. He sets things in motion, wheels turning, pendulums swaying. It is no accident you are the one to bring me my meals, boy. He was making you available to me.” He took a swift turn about the room, then stopped, standing over me. “It will not happen again.”
“It was not so bad,” I said faintly.
“No? Why don’t you try to stand, then? Or even sit up? You’re just one boy, alone, not a coterie. Had I not realized your ignorance and drawn back, I could have killed you. Your heart and breath would just have stopped. I’ll not drain you like this, not for anyone. Here.” He stooped, and without effort, lifted me and placed me in his chair. “Sit here a bit. And eat. I don’t need it now. And when you are better, go to Shrewd for me. Say that I say you are a distraction. I wish a kitchen boy to bring my meals, from now on.