Geri considered that question carefully. “Alberich, my friend, it is also my duty to tell you things that are true. You are doing as much as any other Herald; someone has to be helping to keep the peace here in Haven, and you are doing that. You still serve as Selenay’s bodyguard, and thus free someone else to go South. And in case you were wondering if you should offer your military expertise—no.”

“No?” That surprised him. “But—my training—”

“One of the things that is true is that you are not a great general. Not yet, anyway. Valdemar has great generals, and it doesn’t need you in that capacity.” Geri gave him a look shaded with pity and understanding.

“Ah.” He felt deflated. But—well—

:We have the Lord Marshal, with decades more experience than you. Perhaps you have the advantage of training at the Academy, but we have the Collegium, which is, dare I say, just as good. It isn’t only Heralds who are taught here. Occasionally, among the Blues, there is a young military genius from the Guard, and the Lord Marshal was one of those.:

Ah. Geri was right, then. He stared down at his cup. “So—”

“So other than doing what you are doing—you should be getting yourself prepared for the day when the King and the Heir and everyone else that can hold a blade goes down to the battlefields of the South to hold off that last big push that you know is coming.” Something about the tone of Geri’s voice made him look up—because it was odd. Very odd. It didn’t exactly sound like Geri.

Geri stared off into space, his face blank, his eyes looking—elsewhere. And Alberich felt an unaccountable chill on the back of his neck. There was something going on here, something he didn’t recognize. “You are Selenay’s bodyguard, Alberich, and when the day of that final battle dawns, she is going to need you more than she ever has before—because the last, the very last thing she will think about is her own safety, so it is the first, indeed, the only thing that you must be concerned about. That is what you must be readying yourself for. Nothing else, nothing less. If need be, you must save her from herself on that day, so that you save her for her Kingdom.”

Alberich had never believed those stories about how “the hair on the back of someone’s neck stood up” when something very, very uncanny happened. Now he did—because he could feel that exact sensation. Geri continued to stare off into space, with that peculiarly blank expression on his face, but something glinting in his eyes. And Alberich had the distinct impression that whatever was speaking, it wasn’t Geri. Which left—what? Here in Vkandis’ own temple, it couldn’t be anything inimical… but it sounded almost as if this was a prophecy.