There was a flurry of movement to her left and she saw Fallon emerge from behind a changing screen, fastening a belt and scabbard around his waist. He had a rushed and agitated air about him. When he saw her standing there, he gave her a glance and hurried to a massive desk full of scrolls and papers and things. He picked up a signet ring from a gold plate and twisted it onto his littlest finger.

She had not seen him in months, and the changes in him immediately struck her. He was bigger, his shoulders broader, his gait and posture more robust. He was even more impossibly handsome than she had remembered. Fallon had always been tall, but now he seemed to fill the room with his presence. Grabbing a towel from the desk, he mopped his neck and brow.

“I was training in the yard,” he said, by way of excuse. His voice was wary, with none of the warmth or friendliness that they had once shared. There was no humor in his eyes, no mischievous grin just for her. “I needed a moment to make myself more presentable for the palace. I’m assuming you came to bring me there. Have we been attacked by Gahalatine?”

Their estrangement pained her deeply, but they could not undo what had happened. She could only hope time would heal them both.

“No, it’s not that,” Trynne said, trying to find her way through the dangerous waters between them.

He rifled through some of the papers on the desk, picked up several, and stuffed them into his pocket. It did nothing to hide the pain in his eyes. “Then why did you come?”

She wondered at all the correspondence on his desk. It would appear he was still dealing in secrets. His obsession with the Espion was one of the chief reasons she had difficulty trusting him.

“I did come to bring you to the palace,” she said. “There is news, just not the tidings you were expecting. We did receive word that Gahalatine’s fleet is on the way. Part of it was sighted by a Genevese merchant.”

Fallon nodded in a way that implied he already knew of it. “What news, then?” he asked. “If you can tell me.” The way he said it reminded her of another wall between them. The last time he’d asked her to share a secret with him, it had not been hers to tell.

Trynne licked her lips, feeling the discomfort of the moment yawn between them. Stroud stood in the doorway behind them, a silent observer, but Fallon gave him a dismissive nod, and the door quietly shut, leaving them alone together.

“I am sorry it has come to this, Fallon,” she said. “I am sorry to have lost your friendship. I never wanted that.”