51
The King
Samuel Law kept a respectable distance from the prince. He held back at the edge of the field, close enough to intervene if trouble struck, far enough to respect the man’s innate need for privacy.
This was how he’d always approached their short relationship. He had great respect for Darrick, and he supposed that feeling to be mutual. Within that respect was knowing when to give counsel, and when to hold one’s tongue.
Darrick stepped through the sea of Saleen corpses with a deliberate slowness. He seemed to take the time to regard each of their faces, committing them to memory. He knelt to run his hands over the fur of the familiars who had died with them, their fates tragically and intrinsically linked.
It was hard to know what their future king was thinking, but he could
