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Royce had been silent for a few minutes, but Hadrian knew sometimes it was best not to prompt him when he was preparing to say something.
“You know I’m going to marry Gwen,” Royce said eventually.
“Finally,” Hadrian agreed.
“Well, Gwen said I needed a ‘Best Man’.” Royce said, sounding a little unsure what that was. Hadrian waited, fighting to keep the smile from off his face, “And I wondered whether you could, maybe?”
Hadrian launched himself at Royce and pulled him into a strong-armed embrace from which he could not escape. Royce let it happen with an unusual amount of equanimity, “Of course, buddy,” he said.
“You’ll have to do a speech. Gwen was clear on that.”
“I know,” Hadrian said, sounding as excited as a five-year-old on their birthday.
“I’m going to regret this.”
“I know. It’s going to be brilliant.”
…
Despite Modina offering some of her finest rooms, Royce and Gwen had decided to have the ceremony in the Rose and Thorn, surrounded by the people they knew. They far preferred it that way, not least because plenty of the people they knew had outstanding sentences hanging over them, and it would put Modina in an awkward position if she let known criminals into the palace. (Royce and Hadrian were officially not criminals, of course.)
The best dressed in the room was, of course, Albert, in his normal foppish noble finery. Gwen looked dazzling in a dress Arista had given her and they had at least managed to get Royce out of his usual black cloak. Arista herself was wearing a simple dress, although simple for a princess was not the same as most people’s definition of the word.
Myron took the ceremony and enjoyed himself immensely until they came to Hadrian’s speech. He had written it and rewritten it, painfully aware that words were not his forte. He just wanted to say something special for Royce and Gwen. He cleared his throat and stood up.
“When me and Royce met we hated each other. Really hated each other. In fact we spent a lot of time wanting to kill each other. We never got round to it because everybody else was trying to kill us and we sort of had to band together. We almost died except for the fact that Gwen, for whatever reason known only to herself, decided to save us. I woke up from an arrow wound to find that Royce had gone and fallen in love with Gwen. Seemed reasonable, I mean, she’s Gwen!” The crowd cheered in approval, “Without a doubt the kindest, bravest, loveliest woman around, excepting one, of course,” he said, winking at Arista, “and the best businessperson in Medford, to boot. Well, I was stupid, young and naïve and Royce was … more Royce then, but we’d done a job together, almost died together and figured we worked well together so we decided to stick together and see how things worked out. But we weren’t Riyria then. Riyria is-”
“elvish for two!” someone called out.
Hadrian laughed, “Yes, we’ve only repeated it a hundred times. But it means something more than that. It means a bond, a team, it means we’re stronger together than apart. And it took a while, but we are Riyria,” Hadrian shuffled awkwardly and then laughed, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, but sometimes you’re so stupid. I spent so long dreaming of having what you had with Gwen and all the time you were denying that you deserved her and so it took you this long to marry her,” he turned to Gwen. “He needs looking after. He’ll deny it. He’s still got this lone wolf thing going on, but he needs looking after. Look after him for me, will you?”
Hadrian sat down and turned to Royce, “Ready to kill me yet?”
“Not quite.”
“Must not have quite so terrible as I thought then.”
“It was good, Hadrian. It was good.”
…
Unfortunately, it turned out that when the former princess of Melengar, now Cenzar of the New Empire and the newly established Teshlor Knight married, it required a bit of ceremony. It also involved inviting quite a lot of Very Important People. Hadrian made sure to invite all his old friends from Hintindar just to balance things out. And, of course, however ‘proper’ the wedding should be, there was one point he would not budge from.
…
“Royce,” Hadrian said, “you know I need a best man.”
“Yes.”
“Well, will you be my best man?”
There was silence and Hadrian began to worry, until Royce said, “Why would you want me?”
“You’re my best friend, you dolt.”
Royce stared at him, “I thought you might want someone like Mauvin. Who’s nice. To say nice things.”
Hadrian laughed, “You idiot,” and then said, very quietly almost as if the words were too dangerous to say, “You’re my brother. Why wouldn’t I want you?”
Royce looked at the floor, shoulders quivering almost imperceptibly. Hadrian waited. Royce had never had a family, he knew what the words meant, “I can’t do a good speech,” he said eventually.
“Well that just means it’s going to annoy a lot of important people and that’s always worth something,” said Hadrian. “Now get writing.”
…
Royce stood up, “When I first met Hadrian I thought he would get himself killed before I would get a chance to kill him. He hasn’t managed to get himself killed yet, but it’s not for lack of trying. He’s naïve, pathetically honest and sincere, completely unable to resist any sob story and he’s the only man I know who can do a perfect imitation of a Labrador puppy. He’s also cleverer than he appears, and does happen to know how to use those swords he carries around, which is just as well, because the amount of times he’s lost them and I’ve had to collect them is just unbelievable.” Royce clenched his fists tightly, “He’s also the man who, when I was just a rat, when I was just surviving, a thing who had fed nothing but mud by life, taught me how to … live. He made me a person. A person who could love, love honestly, who could marry Gwen. There are so many people that he’s saved, a thousand acts of kindness, and I always derided him for it because I never acknowledged that I am one. I never believed there was such a thing as a good man, well he is.” Royce turned shakily to Arista, “You’ve got a lot on your hands, he’ll rush headlong into danger, every time,” he smiled, “you deserve each other, really. You’ll be fine.”
Royce sat and was pulled into a tight hug by Hadrian. He waited. “Are you going to let me go?” Royce asked.
“No.” Hadrian replied, sounding a little watery.
“OK,” said Royce replied and hugged back. He supposed he deserved it.