“How did he get in here?” Regal suddenly demander with a savage glare at me.
“My prince, he had a token from the King himself, he claimed. He said the King had promised always to see him if he but showed that pin-”
“What rot! You believed such nonsense-”
“Prince Regal, you know it is true. You were witness whey King Shrewd first gave it to me.” I spoke quietly but clearly Within me, Verity was silent, waiting and watching, and learning much. At my expense, I thought bitterly, and then strove to call back the thought.
Moving calmly and unthreateningly, I pulled one wrist free of a bulldog’s grip. I turned back the collar of my jerkin and drew the pin out. I held it up for all to see.
“I recall no such thing,” Regal snapped, but Shrew sat up.
“Come closer, boy,” he instructed me. Now I shrugged clear of my guards and tugged my clothing straight. Then bore the pin up to the King’s bedside. Deliberately, King Shrewd reached out. He took the pin away from me. My hear sank inside me.
“Father, this is-” Regal began annoyedly, but Shrews interrupted him.
“Regal. You were there. You do recall it, or you should.’ The King’s dark eyes were bright and alert as I remembered them, but also plain were the lines of pain about those eyes and the corner of his mouth. King Shrewd fought for this lucidity He held the pin up and looked at Regal with a shadow of his old calculating glance. “I gave the boy this pin. And my word in exchange for his.”
“Then I suggest you take them back again, pin and word both. You will never get well with this type of disruption going on in your rooms.” Again, that edge of command in Regal’s voice. I waited, silent.