“I’m not sure that does help.”

“Be charming. You can be charming, when you want to be. You charmed me.”

“Really? The way I remember it, you seduced me, fell pregnant, then talked me into a match.”

A hint of an exasperated sigh, and Savine took her hand away. “Talk him into a match, then.”

That felt like a dangerous choice of words somehow. Out in the hall, Leo heard an echoing knock on the door, felt an absurd surge of nerves. “Help me up.”

Savine dragged him out of his chair, none too gently, and he winced as he put his weight on his iron leg. He was right, he could walk. And she was right, it hurt.

“I will be in the next room,” said Savine. “If you get into difficulty.”

“What can you do?”

“I’ll think of something.” And she shut the door behind her, leaving him alone.

Leo stood, stump throbbing, blood thumping in his head. He could hear voices in the hall.

He wondered what pose to strike, but when you’ve only one leg, and that’s a poor one, and one arm, and that has to grip a crutch, you haven’t many options. So when the door clattered open and Haroon showed in Leo’s oldest friend, he was still standing lopsided in the middle of the carpet with a quivery smile on his face.

“Jurand!”

Leo hadn’t been ready for the rush of feeling. He could hardly breathe for it. He’d been stuck for months among traitors, thugs and cowards, and the sight of that familiar, trustworthy face, as handsome as ever, was like a lamp in a pitch-black room. It felt as if a part of him that died at Stoffenbeck—the best part of him, even—came suddenly to life again.

What he wanted to do more than anything was lurch into Jurand’s arms and never let go of him. He was poised to do it. Then he saw the shock on his friend’s face. His wide eyes flickered over the scars, the useless arm, the iron leg, and it dropped on Leo with the weight of the Agriont’s falling walls how ruined he was since the last time they saw each other. How broken and disfigured. How utterly crippled.

Leo turned away. Might’ve hidden his scarred face behind his left hand, if he could’ve pulled it from his jacket without help.

His words crept out in a nervous croak. “I can’t tell you… how glad I am you’re here—”

The shock had passed and Jurand’s jaw was angrily set. “I’m here because Lady Finree ordered me to come. Not because you asked me.”

That sank into the silence between them. Leo swallowed. Not long ago his pride would’ve made him stomp from the room. But his pride must’ve been in his leg, as it hardly seemed to bother him these days. “How is she?”

“Worried. Desperately worried, about you, but she doesn’t let it show. She has to put Angland back together. I don’t know what would have happened without her. She’s a great leader.”