Bastial Steel by B. T. Narro

note when they want a message delivered, just letting you know for next time.” Her tone was a little past polite, on the verge of annoyed even. He wondered if this was just her nature or if it was him specifically who brought out her harsher side.
    “Would you like me to write one for you?”
    “No.”
    She left.
    Cleve originally planned to tell his scheme involving Kasko to Jessend, but as he waited for her while riding Nulya, he figured it would be better to surprise her. She seemed like she might like surprises. And he didn’t need her to be involved for the plan to work.
    When she arrived, Jessend greeted him with a hug. “Gerace gave me the impression you had something to tell me?”
    “I decided to leave it as a surprise.”
    She seemed to be holding in an excited squeal. “When will I find out what it is?”
    “Hopefully within the next few days.”
    Jessend started to pet Nulya. “And how is he treating you?” she asked the horse. Nulya whinnied.
    Cleve rode until the sun began to set. By then, Lisanda had joined Jessend as they sat and talked with Silvie by the stables.
    At one point, Silvie started singing to them. Cleve was too far to hear anything besides the faint tones of a faraway melody, so he paid no attention.
    But after a few circles around the range, Cleve noticed Lisanda sitting with her head in her hands. Jessend had her arm around her sister’s shoulders. Silvie had stopped singing and now was leaning awkwardly over the weeping princess.
    Jessend helped Lisanda up and started to lead her toward the doors of the palace. Cleve noticed the shaking of Lisanda’s shoulders as the level of her weeping increased.
    He rode up to Silvie, who looked ghostly, as if she’d just witnessed a catastrophe.
    “What happened?” Cleve asked.
    “I’m not sure. I was just singing, and halfway through the song she put her head in her hands. I didn’t realize she was weeping until it got so loud that I heard it over the sound of my voice.”
    “What were you singing?”
    “ Come Home .” A tear rolled from Silvie’s unblinking eye. “It’s a song about a man making a choice to leave home to fight the desmarls. He doesn’t come back when he says he will, and his wife is singing for him to return, begging for him to stop this fight for everyone else and start his fight for her, for them.”
    Cleve didn’t understand. But it was Jessend’s first betrothed who was killed by the desmarls, not Lisanda’s. Why was she the one crying?
    “Can you tell them I’m sorry?” Silvie was nearly pleading, her guilt palpable.
    “I will.” Cleve handed Nulya off and went inside the palace.
    He tried Lisanda’s room, knocking and waiting for an answer.
    “Who is it?” Jessend asked.
    “It’s Cleve.”
    Jessend cracked open the door. “You should come back later.” She started to shut the door.
    “Silvie wanted me to apologize for her.”
    “He can come in,” Lisanda said from inside.
    Jessend pulled open the door, showing Cleve a solemn invitation by making just enough space for him to come through. She shut the door behind him and locked it.
    Lisanda was hunched over her crossed legs, huddled on her massive bed. Her room was unlike Jessend’s. There were no weapons on the walls, replaced instead by brightly colored paintings. In fact, everything seemed to be vividly colored in the room, making Cleve realize how dark Jessend’s room really was in contrast.
    “Should I say something to Silvie?” Cleve asked hesitantly. He dearly hoped they wouldn’t ask him to scold her. He wouldn’t even know how.
    “We’re not upset with her,” Lisanda answered. “She didn’t know what she was singing was so painful.”
    Cleve showed his confusion with a glance to Jessend. “Silvie told me about the song,” he said. “Does she not know about your first betrothal?”
    Jessend shook her head. “Silvie is still new here. She’s only been the stable master for a few weeks.”
    A few weeks? Cleve almost