"I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"Well, get over it." Tandrin adjusted my cloak tie, and eyed my sword belt. "We should have had that polished."

"Tandrin."

"Listen." Tandrin stopped fussing with my clothes and put his hands on my shoulders. "Forget about how you're feeling. This is no time for second thoughts, little brother. This is our last chance. If you hesitate and miss the moment, you will never forgive yourself."

I nodded, too nervous and tense to actually say anything. It would be a miracle if I even remembered the line Tandrin had fed me and made me practice over and over again.

"Eppson will follow you. Don't look at the other condemned, don't think about them, just focus."

I nodded again. "The, um... the king is going to be furious."

Tandrin smiled. "Let me handle King Edarius."

He has said the exact same thing a year ago, and I had trusted him then. So I would trust him again. My job was to interrupt the execution and cause a scene. Tandrin's job was to smoothen everything out with the king.

Tandrin's smiled faded as he looked over my shoulder. From our place on a side street, we could see the gallows and half of the crowd, but not the king or the princesses. "It's time. Go."

I didn't hesitate. I turned and started to walk into the edged of the crowd. People moved out of my way. They saw my clothes, my rings and my sword and they knew I wasn't someone to ignore. As I moved through the crowd, I heard a trapdoor open and saw the woman beside Finn struggling. If she was too light, Finn certainly would be.

But Tandrin had told me not to think about the other swinging bodies, so I forced myself to think of something else. The line I had to say to the king. I repeated it in my head over and over again.

Then, when I was close enough to gallows to ensure the executioner would hear me, I called out.

"Stop."

All eyes were on me when I climbed onto the platform. I let myself look at Finn briefly, but my gaze couldn't linger. Like I had rehearsed with Tandrin, I turned to the crowd. King Edarius and the princesses had their own viewing platform off to the side and behind part of the crowd. I saw Princess Esmeranda, and knowing that this plan had been her suggestion, drew some courage.

"My King!" I bowed dramatically, but before I could rise again, I saw Finn crumple.

The line escaped me. I rushed to Finn's side, and lifted him into my arms. He seemed impossibly light and fragile. His head lolled back over my arm, so I couldn't get a good look at his face. His hair was longer than he liked it, dirty and matted. His clothes—the same clothes he had worn when I kissed him—were hardly more than rags. His wrists were ringed by filthy scrapes and scabs.

But I was relieved that aside for being neglected, he didn't look abused. There were no unexplainable bruises, no large wounds, no infected sores. Tandrin's bribed guards had at least kept him from being used as a helpless plaything to beat and torment. He would recover, physically.

One of the guards took a tentative step towards me. "My lord—"

"Don't touch him," I hissed, all decorum forgotten. I had Finn, and he was alive.

Eppson appeared beside me, and under his breath, whispered. "Let me have him. You need to finish what you started."

Reluctantly, I let Eppson take Finn from my arms. He looked so small, cradled against Eppson's chest. I had to force myself to turn around and step back to the front of the platform. It took a second for the line to come back to me.

"My King," I called again. "I request an audience to discuss the unjust sentence of the thief Finagale."

There were mumbles from the crowd, but I only had eyes for the king. Everything else faded away. The crowd, the wind tugging at my cloak, even my heartbeat. The moment seemed to draw on forever. We could have all been statues for all I knew. Then, finally, the king nodded, and the city came back to life.

I smiled, too relieved to keep up my act for a moment longer. "Eppson, let's go," I said, already walking towards him.

Guards took Finn away from me and Eppson soon after we had left the gallows. Tandrin had warned me that they would have to take him back to prison while we discussed things with the king, but I was still loath to let them take him. Eppson nearly had to force me back to our meeting place with Tandrin.

I was in a sort of happy daze for the next few hours, until we were finally called for our meeting with King Edarius. It felt very much like it had immediately after the arrest, when Tandrin and I had our private audience. Except that Lord Resul was already there, leaning against the wall behind the king with his arms crossed.

I mindlessly copied Tandrin when he stepped into the office, bowed, and sat down. Once we were settled, the king broke the silence.

"That was an extremely bold maneuver."

Tandrin nodded. "It was, your majesty. However, we had very little choice. You were refusing our requests."

The king titled his head and eyed my brother. "Are you implying that I do not have the right to refuse?"

Tandrin wasn't cowed. "Not at all, your majesty. Merely trying to hold you to the deal you made with us a year ago. You agreed that if our story was true, the thief didn't deserve to be executed."

"You provided no proof," King Edarius said. "And now you have made a spectacle in front of my people."

"It'll be hard to drag him out for another execution," Tandrin agreed. "It would look bad. I suppose you could execute him privately, but even then, surely word would get out."

"Lord Tandrin, you think you've tied my hands," the king said. "If you had proof of the boy's innocence, you could end this whole charade. But given that you don't, the crown's safety has to remain the main concern of every citizen of this kingdom."

"If we had proof?" Tandrin repeated. "It was always an impossible request, wasn't it? There is no proof. There's no document signed by the assassin that states he wasn't involved, and even if there were, it would be called a lie. The people who know him best are other petty thieves that would be ignored at best and arrested at worst. He's easy to blame. Tandrix and I did what we could, anyway. We worked with Lord Resul to prove that Meyat was involved, and that was the best we were ever going to be able to do."

Lord Resul nodded. "The young Tandrans did provide some useful information for my investigations."

I wondered how long Tandrin had known the king's request was more of a distraction than a promise. I sat up straighter. The look on my face seemed to surprise even Tandrin. "Your majesty. Is there any proof I could provide that the Goddess is real?"

King Edarius furrowed his brow. "Proof of her work is in everything."

"We see proof in everything because we chose to believe it is there," I said. "And that is enough for us. The absence of physical proof doesn't make us doubt her existence. As surely as I know that the Goddess is real, I know that Finn doesn't deserve to die. His biggest crime is breaking into the castle. Which he did to save your life." I held up my left hand so my Champion ring could be seen by everyone in room. "I was rewarded for my part in stopping the assassination attempt. He was arrested and condemned."

King Edarius looked over his shoulder. Lord Resul took that as permission to step forward. He lay his hands on the king's desk and leaned forward. "Your conviction is admirable. What if you're wrong?"

I thought back to what Tandrin had told me a week earlier. "I'm asking that Finn's sentence be reduced to petty theft, and I am offering to buy him and keep him for the duration of his life sentence. As my slave in West Draulin, his actions will be my responsibility. I know I'm not wrong, Lord Resul. But if I am, I will be at fault if he assists the Associates."

Lord Resul's eyes darted to Tandrin so quickly he probably didn't even realize he had done it. It wouldn't have surprised me if he heard Tandrin's voice behind my words. The mind of a king.

"And if that comes to pass, you expect New Teltar and the Island Lords will happily allow you to be arrested for conspiring against the king?" Lord Resul asked.

"New Teltar and the Island Lords will follow Lord West Draulin," I said.

Beside me, Tandrin nodded firmly. Whether he held the title or our father still did, the Island lords would follow Lord West Draulin. "We will allow Tandrix to be arrested if there is just cause," Tandrin said.

Resul looked at me for a long time. It made me a little uneasy, but I stared back.

When he finally moved, it was to nod sharply. "My king, it is my suggestion that you grant Lord Tandrix his request. The boy will be far away, and relatively harmless to the crown. If the Tandrans wish to absorb the threat he might become, I believe you should let them."

The king looked at his spymaster, then back at us. He wasn't happy. But I thought the talk had gone fairly well. When the king turned, he addressed Tandrin. "My daughter suggested this. You preyed on her kind heart."

"Princess Esmeranda is more than capable of thinking for herself," Tandrin said.

The king nodded. "She certainly is." Then, knowing he was beaten, he sighed. "Yes, I'll lessen the thief's sentence. But there is still plenty to discuss. Including, Lord Tandrin, your favourable position by my daughter's side."

We had won. Overwhelming relief made it hard to concentrate on the rest of the conversation. Luckily, they didn't need me much. Tandrin negotiated Finn's price, and discussed the details of taking him to West Draulin. Mostly they talked about politics, and about the stress having us in Zianna had done to the court. It all sounded petty and pointless to me. Tandrin handled it all effortlessly.

Let Tandrin handle King Edarius, I thought. And if Resul looked like he wanted to say more to me, it would have to wait. I just thought about Finn.

The next morning, I waited in the prison courtyard. Guards gave me odd looks as they walked around me, but I didn't pay them any mind. I arrived when it was still dark, having not gone to sleep the night before, and watched as the sky slowly brightened. At any moment, guards were going to bring Finn out to me.

When Lord Resul appeared beside me, I found that I wasn't even surprised. The talk had gone long into the night, and he had never been given the chance to say whatever I had seen on his mind. There wasn't a chance after the talk, either, because I had rushed off to pack whatever I needed to take home with me. I was leaving for West Draulin as soon as I could. I had to get Finn away from these people.

Lord Resul didn't bother with small talk. "Your thief will live."

"As he should," I said, without looking away from the doors that led into the prison.

"I could have refused your request," he said. "The king would have listened to me. But while I still think there's a significant risk that he is an Associate, I think you're more prepared to take care of the threat. If it comes to it."

"Why's that?" I asked, finally glancing sideways at him. "Loyalty?"

Resul smiled, obviously pleased that I had remembered our talk. "Surround yourself with loyal men, and you will be untouchable. There are loyal men in the castle. Many knights and guards are loyal to the crown. To the king. But..." he paused musingly, and for a moment his eyes tracked a bird as it fluttered across the courtyard. "But not necessarily loyal to Edarius. There's a difference between loyalty to a title and loyalty to a man. Good luck, Lord Tandrix. Goddess willing, you are right about your thief." He clapped me on the shoulder and walked away.

I nearly called after him, but movement at the doors drew my attention. Two guards stepped into the early morning light, with Finn walking between them. It took all of my willpower to stay where I was and let them walk across the courtyard to meet me.

They had let him bathe. It was probably the guards' idea, an attempt to impress me. His long hair was still wet, and without thinking I reached to brush it away from his eyes. Just like I had wanted to do in the rain a year ago. Then in an attempt to disguise my action, I dropped my hand to his shoulder.

Finn looked up at me. In that one look, I saw what I hadn't been able to see while he was unconscious in my arms. His intact personality. His quick mind. He was still Finn.

It suddenly didn't matter to me what he thought about the kiss, or if he returned any the feelings I had been struggling to understand. The thoughts that had been plaguing me for months vanished. All that mattered was that I had him, and I would take care of him for as long as I could.

***

That's the end of 'For a Year'! I hope you enjoyed this little trip into what Tannix was up to while Finn was in jail. Please let me know what you thought of Tannix's point of view! I really enjoyed writing it, and I'll probably do some bonus short stories from his POV in the future. 

Up next chronologically, if you haven't read it already, is Greatest Thief 2, 'An Aimless War'. If you have read it, book 3 'A Country Falls' is in progress!

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