Torn by Kate Hill Page B

down his back.
    Mage shrugged. “I am sorry.”
    “No he’s not.” Warrant glanced at the red head. “Mage’s area of expertise isn’t training guards, it’s aggravation.”
    “Clam up, the both of you.” Rain tore a piece of bread with his teeth. “You’re boring the woman…and me.”
    As she ate, Honey Wine couldn’t help smiling at the playful banter of the Knights. Though none of them were blood-related, she noticed they were much like brothers. She wondered how many of them, like Torn, had been raised in the Order.
    “Where’s Torn?” she asked.
    “Speaking with Mahir,” Rain said. “They’ve been in his study all morning, so I guess they’ll be finishing up soon. In the meantime, we can go to the field and then riding, if you’d like.”
    “In that case, I’ll go back to my room and change into trousers.” Honey Wine stood, and the Knights also rose. She felt a little uncomfortable, not accustomed to the Knights’ formal manners, which surfaced sporadically. One moment they were bowing over her hand, and the next they were gulping food like starving dogs. Most of them weren’t at all like Torn. He was so reserved and reflective, as if his mind was always churning. She wondered if some of that churning revolved around her?
    Her room was close to the stairway, and as she paused to open her door, she heard angry conversation from the corridor above. She tried not to listen, but when she heard Torn’s voice, she ventured partway up the steps. She’d never heard him raise his voice in anger, even through the worst tortures of Alva’s prison.
    “I will not continue with this lie any longer, Mahir!”
    “This attitude is unreasonable and unacceptable.” Mahir’s deep voice was tinted with his own repressed fury.
    “What you propose is unacceptable.”
    “What good would it do to tell her, Torn? Don’t you see it doesn’t really matter now? It was one deception, and keeping it quiet will both serve our Order and protect her feelings.”
    “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. It goes against everything we stand for!”
    “We stand to protect the weak!” Mahir snapped. “And we must do anything to ensure their safety.”
    “Don’t stand there and tell me what I have to do! I’ve done it! Do you have any idea what it was like in that prison?”
    “I don’t deny you’ve suffered,” Mahir’s voice softened, his anger fading, “but I still say telling will not help her or us.”
    “I killed Redly,” Torn continued, paying no attention to his foster father’s words. “One of my own men. One of us. I trained him, and I killed him.”
    “You acted on instinct. You can’t blame yourself for that.”
    “If it hadn’t been for Honey Wine, I’d be dead or worse. I’d have ended up like Redly.”
    “You know that I’m forever in her debt for what she did for you, but don’t you understand that if you tell her, she might be hurt and angry. Like it or not, Torn, we still need her help.”
    “She’ll give it.”
    “You can’t be sure –”
    “I’m sure! You don’t know her like I do. In spite of all she’s endured, all she’s seen, her heart is true. She was imprisoned for speaking against the Entertainment. Do you honestly think she’ll deny us the information required to end it forever?”
    End the Entertainment? Honey Wine’s thoughts raced. How? What was the lie Torn spoke of? What was he keeping from her?
    “I’m telling her, Mahir. I owe her that.”
    “Torn, you’ve always been a reasonable man. Think this through.”
    “I’ve had months to think this through! The only thing that stopped me from telling her weeks ago was my loyalty to this Order.”
    “You’re endangering our duty if you tell her.”
    Drawing a deep breath, Honey Wine decided it was time to find out for herself the topic of their discussion. She knocked on the door.
    “Enter,” Mahir called.
    She stepped inside and said, “Tell me what?”
    “Honey Wine,” Torn said.
    For a moment