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“Doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t.” Galen flung his hands in the air in frustration. “So what if I’m in love? That’s the worst thing that could happen to him! I’m too much of a bastard, and far too broken. I’d eat him alive and he isn’t mean enough to stop me.”

“You’re saying he doesn’t have a spine?”

Galen glared at him. “He’s got plenty of spine. He went through that horrible death trap without panicking and he worked on Earstripe for hours to keep him from dying. He’s got more guts than any ten paladins.”

“But not enough spine to stand up to you.”

“It’s not about that. It’s…dammit. Look, Piper’s kind and decent and he deserves someone who won’t hurt him on accident. And that person is not me.”

“Mmm.” Stephen leaned back against the wall, arms folded. “I suppose there’s no point in telling you that you’re a decent human being and all that?”

“Would it work on you?”

“Good god, no.” The corner of Stephen’s lip twitched up. “No, I’m entirely unworthy. I’m just lucky enough that Grace persists in not noticing that fact.”

And you’re one of the best people I know, Galen thought but didn’t say aloud, so what hope does someone like me have?

“Well.” Stephen pushed away from the wall. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you aren’t worthy of him.”

“That was the worst attempt at reverse psychology I’ve ever witnessed.”

“No, no.” Stephen held up his hands. “It wasn’t. But Galen, if you were worthy of him—if he was more of a bastard or you were less of one—would you want him?”

Yes. By all the gods, yes. Saint’s black and bloody tongue, yes. I would go to the ends of the earth. I would fight armies. I would wrap myself around him and never, ever let him go.

Galen was spared from the fact that he could not say any of this aloud by the sudden appearance of a gnole in the doorway. “Are you Tomato-man?”

He turned away gratefully and went to one knee. The gnole wasn’t one he recognized. They were smaller than Brindle or Earstripe, although from youth or build, he didn’t know.

“I suppose I am,” he said. “Can I assist you?”

The gnole dipped their head. “I have a message for Tomato-man,” they said. Galen was impressed at how well they managed the patterns of human speech, although it would have been rude to comment. Perhaps the younger generation of gnoles is growing up with human speech as well as gnole. I wonder if any human children are doing the same. That would certainly make Earstripe’s job easier.

He nodded. The gnole drew themself up and said, “Our healer says that the gnole you call Earstripe is recovered enough to see humans. Would Tomato-man like to see him?”

Galen leapt to his feet. “Yes! Most certainly! This is the best news I’ve heard all week!”

The gnole had jumped back when he moved, but smiled again. “I will take you to him.”

Thirty-Two

He should have realized that Piper would be there. Of course he is. Skull-of-Ice probably sent word to him before me. Galen came around the corner behind his guide and saw the doctor standing beside Earstripe, who was sitting on a barrel in a patch of sunlight.

Earstripe looked surprisingly normal. Galen was familiar enough with gnoles to guess that the fur covered the worst of things. The bones on his muzzle were in sharper relief than before and there was a crutch leaning against the barrel, but otherwise he did not look much different than the gnole who had set out from the city with them, a week and a lifetime ago.

Piper, though…

Is no one looking after him? He looks like he’s been dragged behind a horse. Saint’s teeth, who do I have to pummel to make sure the man is eating?

He would swear that the doctor had lost weight in the last week. The dark circles under his eyes hadn’t gone away and his skin, already pale, was ashen. The neatness of his trimmed beard could not hide the hollowness of his cheeks.

It occurred to Galen suddenly that he had six other paladins and a small army of healers, nuns, and functionaries to look after him. And Piper had…what? The dead?

I know he has friends. He’s mentioned names once or twice. Where are they? What are they doing? Why aren’t they making sure he eats?

Earstripe saw him and waved. Galen waved back, fighting for calm. Don’t go charging in. You’ve already made a hash of things. You’ll only make it worse.