“What you do in that tower is not a lesser task. If folk could but understand how you burn yourself for them …”
“As you understand only too well. We’ve grown close this summer, boy. Closer than I’d ever have thought possible. Closer than any man has been to me since your father died.”
Closer even than you might suspect, my prince. But I did not utter those words. “We have.”
“I’ve a favor to ask you. Two, actually.”
“You know that I won’t refuse you.”
“Never say that so easily. The first is that you look after my lady. She has grown wiser in Buckkeep ways, but she is still far too trusting. Keep her safe until I return.”
“That is always yours without asking, my prince.”
“And the other.” He took a breath, sighed it out. “I wish to try to stay here as well. In your mind. For as long as I can.”
“My prince.” I hesitated. He was right. This was not a thing I wished to grant him. But I had already said I would. I knew that for the sake of the kingdom, it was a wise thing to do. But for myself? Already I had felt the boundaries of my self eroding before Verity’s strong presence. We were not talking about a contact of hours now, or days, but of weeks and likely months. I wondered if this was what happened to coterie members, if eventually they ceased having separate lives. “What of your coterie?” I asked quietly.
“What of them?” he retorted. “I leave them in place, in the watchtowers and on my ships for now. Whatever messages they must send, they can send to Serene. In my absence, she will take them to Shrewd. If there is anything they feel I must know, they can Skill me.” He paused. “There will be other sorts of information that I would seek through you. Things I would prefer kept private.”