“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you can’t see through all that mud.”

Karigan blushed, even more acutely aware of how she must look.

Lord Amberhill placed his hand on his hip, pushing his frock coat aside as if to display the tightness of his breeches.

Karigan’s blush intensified. “Excuse me,” she said. When she started to walk away, he pivoted and stood once more in her path.

“What? No friendly words for one who saw you through a bad night in the Teligmar Hills?”

“I’d forgotten,” Karigan replied, though it was untrue.

Amberhill placed his hand over his heart. “I am wounded you should forget. After all, without me, your hand would no longer be attached to your wrist.”

It was not a memory Karigan was fond of recalling, her hand on the chopping block, Immerez standing over her with hatchet at the ready to take from her what she had once taken from him. Yes, Amberhill rescued her, but she’d already thanked him for it. Perhaps he expected her to fawn at his feet and tell him how wonderful he was. He may be accustomed to that from other women, but he wasn’t going to get it from her.

“Good day, my lord,” she said with finality. This time she feinted right, then left to evade him, and hurried away.

“What?” he called after her. “Are you going to just vanish again? You are the vanishing lady, aren’t you?”

Karigan gritted her teeth and kept walking without a backward glance. If only she could vanish in plain daylight! She strode for a servants entrance, ignoring the complaints of sore muscles. It wouldn’t do to travel the public sections of the castle looking like this.

She sighed, amazed to think that King Zachary and Lord Amberhill were related. They couldn’t have been more different.

When she reached the Rider wing, desiring nothing more than a hot bath, she found at her door a pile of papers. More work. She began to wonder if she’d been called to the messenger service just to keep its ledgers balanced.

Someone moving about down at the other end of the corridor caught her attention. It was Elgin, and he was pacing. He saw her and strode over to her.

“Hello, Rider,” he said. “You’ve some good moves on the practice field.”

“You were there?”

Elgin nodded. “Your captain, too. She was most pleased.”

“Really?” Karigan smiled, delighted to hear of her captain’s approval.

“The look on that fellow’s face when you knocked the sword from his hand!” Elgin laughed, and Karigan’s own smile broadened.

“He made up for it after,” she replied, thinking of the bruises she’d have to show for it all.

“You did well when it counted, what with the king watching, too.”

So he had watched her! Pleasure flowed through her. Elgin gave her an odd look and she realized something must have shown on her face. She cleared her throat and changed the subject. “Something wrong? You were pacing.”

“Oh.” He scratched his head. “I’m due to take the young ones out to Gresia for arms practice, but ...”

“But?”

“Ty’s still in the common room with ’em. Making ’em bow and scrape.”

Karigan raised an eyebrow and felt dried mud crack. “Bow and scrape?”

Elgin grumbled something under his breath, then said, “Too much etiquette.”

“Ah,” Karigan replied, remembering her own sessions on the subject with Ty.

Elgin motioned for her to follow. She obliged, her bath and paperwork temporarily forgotten. They stopped at the doorway to the common room. Ty stood at the hearth, and the new Riders faced him in rows. They’d moved the big table out of the way against the wall, along with all the chairs.

“Once again,” Ty told his students. He placed his hand on his thigh, and bowed at the waist. “Thank you, my lady.”

The young Riders imitated him, bowing, and saying in unison, “Thank you, my lady.”

Karigan could not see their faces, but by their fidgeting, she could tell they’d had enough.

“My pleasure, my lord,” Ty said, bowing again.

This time when he bowed, a spitwad flew through the air and caught in his hair. He appeared not to perceive it, and this time, as the Riders attempted to imitate him, there was muffled laughter.

“Attend,” Ty said, straightening. The spitwad did not fall from his hair, and he remained oblivious to it. “We’ll do this once more.”

When he bowed again, spitwad and all, Karigan had to duck away from the door and cover her mouth to mute helpless giggles. “Rider Perfect” with a spitwad in his hair!

Elgin followed her with a rumbling sigh. “See what I mean? Too much etiquette. I need to speak with Mara about the training, but she’s as hard to get a moment with as Red.”

Karigan wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “Well, etiquette is important.”

“That’s about what Red said, but I’d think after what happened to Osric, and what may be coming with this Second Empire, a little more emphasis on arms training wouldn’t hurt. They’ve gotta learn to survive.”

On that sobering note, Elgin paced back toward the common room, leaving Karigan to ponder the pile of paperwork in front of her door. Elgin was right, of course, but learning to placate an angry noble with proper deference had probably saved a Rider or two in the past.

She shrugged, then scooped up the papers.A letter dropped out of them, and when she retrieved it from the floor, she discovered it was from Alton. Her bath, she thought, could wait a few minutes more.