The Ascension by Kailin Gow Page B

pragmatic about this?” Gem ignored that.
    “If you try to hurt me, or hurt Rio, I wil .” Gem saw Devon look round to where Rio stil trudged along, guarded by his men.
    “Ah, the werewolf.” He sounded like he had only just remembered Rio’s presence. Gem wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. “I am sorry that he cannot be unchained. I trust to your probity , but not to his. I wil not risk the safety of my warriors.”
    “And yet you’re talking about “battles to come”,” Gem said. “Won’t there be casualties in those, on both sides? Wouldn’t temperance be a better option?”
    “I believe I told you before that I was not a king.”
    “What does that mean?” Gem demanded, sharply enough that the horse skittered sideways for a step. Devon soothed it with expert skil , before returning his attention to her.
    “It means that to disobey the orders of my aunt would be treason.”
    “Even for you.”
    “You think that queens do not kil their families?”
    Gem knew the answer to that one. In the middle ages of her own world, royalty had often barely hesitated.
    “This war could see your men kil ed,” she pointed out. “It could see you kil ed.”
    “I do have some prowess with a blade.” Devon scanned her face careful y. “Besides, why would you care? You have only just met us, milady, would you care? You have only just met us, milady, and I suspect that wishing one’s captors wel is not a common thing. Surely you would want to see me kil ed.”
    Gem shook her head. She would never want that. She abhorred just the thought of al the kil ing that a war would bring.
    “I would rather that the war did not happen, and that no one got kil ed. After al , your men have family who wil grieve if they die, don’t they? People who cherish them?”
    Devon’s eyes widened a little. Gem suspected that he stil did not believe that she could care about whether his men died or not. He shook his head, though.
    “No. I chose those who march with me precisely because they have no one, as I have no one. We are knights. Hard men to whom our skil s mean almost as much as our loyalty. The cloying touch of love would weaken us.”
    “Do you truly believe that?” Gem asked. She knew something of knights by now, and what Devon said was largely true in practice. Even so, most of them liked to think that they fol owed a more romantic ideal, the sort of thing that had eventual y come to be included in the various codes of chivalry.
    Gem tried to marshal her thoughts into some sort of cogent argument. “If you do believe it, then I am surprised. A knight like you should be strengthened by the thoughts of those he fights for, not weakened by them. Do knights here not carry tokens of ladies to fuel their passion for the fray?”
    Devon was silent for a while as the group kept marching. He seemed to be considering something. Or at least, he seemed to be considering Gem.
    “Some do,” he final y admitted. He smiled a surprisingly winsome smile. “Though since I am of royal blood, I must admit I find it hard to find women of suitable status.”
    “Like a queen, perhaps?” Gem said softly.
    “Exactly. Of course, it might solve one or two of your problems too, milady. I have watched you, and though your advisors might not have mentioned it, sooner or later you wil need to pick one of the men around you to marry. You are of an age to do so.”
    Technical y, maybe, Gem thought, but no. No Technical y, maybe, Gem thought, but no. No way.
    “Hang on a minute,” she said. “A minute ago you were saying that you didn’t need anyone, and now you want to yoke us together in marriage? And I’m your prisoner. It’s cal ed capturing people, not speed-dating.”
    The last term seemed to puzzle Devon, but he shook his head.
    “Nothing like that, I assure you, milady. I have admired you long enough from afar that I am content to do so now.”
    Though it didn’t feel quite so afar to Gem, given that he was pressed up behind her on