Page 7 of The Beginning (Covert Moon, #1)
If this affected him so, I felt concern for his ability to follow through on any future assignments.
A guard who couldn't maintain his proper composure during a simple escort duty would be useless in a real crisis.
Annoyance rippled through me once more. We hadn't been in the King's Guard for very long.
Only a year, barely long enough to prove ourselves worthy of the position we'd fought so hard to obtain.
It wouldn't do for Gavin to be labeled surly, or less than enthusiastic.
Such a reputation could end a career before it truly began, could see us both demoted back to regular castle guards or worse, dismissed entirely.
Other than our orders to escort her to her waiting carriage, it was of no concern of ours that a lady of this court was to be married. Our only care was to see her to where she was supposed to be, safely and without incident.
Her intended was a courtier, and he was much higher up in importance than either Gavin or I would ever be. Lord Marius held lands in the western provinces, commanded respect in the king's council, and had the ear of influential people throughout the kingdom.
We were respected members of the King's Guard, and while that was a coveted position, it didn't make one a member of the court.
Lord Marius, the man who was so apparently hateful to the lady, was someone the king favored.
Hence the hand of the Lady Annaliese in marriage—a political alliance of value and position, disguised as romance.
As always, when kings bid a thing be done, those subject to him get the duty of carrying out his bidding.
Not that I minded terribly. Today was rather…
challenging, but King Jharak was a good man and a good king.
In my year of service, I'd seen him make decisions that put the welfare of his people above his own comfort, watched him wrestle with difficult choices and always choose the path that served the greater good.
It was inevitable that his decisions were not beloved by all those involved.
For every good, there was bad. For whatever reason, today found me with this responsibility.
My unease served to make me more aware, sharpening my senses and heightening my attention to details I might otherwise have missed.
Given her tears now, and the fact that she needed an escort in the first place—I guessed that Lady Annaliese put up quite a fight in private.
However, that was not my problem, nor my concern.
The gasping from just a moment ago from the Lady Annaliese turned into hiccupping sobs, the kind that come after prolonged weeping when the body begins to rebel against the intensity of emotion.
I wanted to continue to be empathetic, but the noise was so painful to my ears that it made my temples throb.
My attention caught on something as we passed one of the hallways off this main corridor.
There was a shift of the shadows, as though someone was moving who I couldn't quite see.
The movement was subtle, barely perceptible, the kind of thing that might be dismissed as a trick of the light by someone less trained in observation.
With the crying woman beside me, my friend and fellow guard strangely unresponsive, I was doubly alert to every detail of our surroundings.
A woman shrieked. The sound was sharp, sudden, cutting through the ambient noise of the castle like a blade. Then again, another scream—high-pitched and desperate. Putting pressure on the lady's elbow, I stopped our procession, holding up a hand for us all to halt.
Gavin, on the other side of her, looked at me with something approaching relief, as if he were grateful for any interruption to our current task. "What was that, Eamonn?" he asked, reaching for his sword and stepping in front of Lady Annaliese.
Finally, he was back to being a guard, showing some sign of the training and professionalism I knew he possessed.
I took a step, my hand still cupping the lady’s elbow.
"I don't know," I replied, my voice taking on the crisp tone of command decision.
"Stay with the Lady Annaliese; I'll be right back.
" I let her go and moved toward the noise, every sense alert for signs of trouble.
If I had been with anyone other than Gavin, if my partner were another of my fellow King's Guards, I wouldn't have left.
I would have called for backup, or I would've sent the other guard to investigate while I maintained security of our primary objective.
But Gavin and I had been friends since we were young, had grown up in the same village, trained together, supported each other through the rigorous selection process for the Guard.
I trusted him with my life, had seen him prove his loyalty and courage in smaller situations over the past year.
Knowing that seeing the Lady Annaliese to her coach was our responsibility, I had no worries that he and I would succeed in our mission.
Even if we thought it rather trivial, even if this simple task was taking on major concerns with each passing moment.
I hurried down the narrow hallway that turned off the main corridor, my footsteps echoing differently in the confined space. The sooner I addressed whatever this was, the sooner we would be able to finish our assignment.