I will say however, if there is one single sequence in the entirety of Tamora Pierce’s oeuvre I wish I got the chance to experience reading for the first time once again, it’s the part of Lady Knight stretching from Wyldon ordering Kel to bury her dead and then ride for Fort Mastiff right through to Kel ready to tear her hair out at the river.
Perfect, PERFECT payoff sequence. I’ve been known to just pick up the book and read just that section, followed by skipping ahead to Kel falling to her knees at Wyldon and Raoul’s feet as they cross back out of Scanra.
'Please say what the Haven men just told me isn't true.' Lord Raoul's voice was a rumble in his chest. 'Please tell me Kel did not go haring off on her own.'
'I can't tell you that, Goldenlake, because she cursed well did,' snapped Wyldon, upset enough to break the leash on his own contained temper. 'Eighteen combat veterans can't keep their eye on one green knight!'
…
Raoul spoke again, his voice ominously soft. 'I thought you knew her. Did you believe she would let them take her people? And yet you left her, just told her to bury the dead and report here … I’d've wrapped her in chains and brought her back over her horse. This is the girl who risked having to repeat all four years as a page to find her maid’.
…
‘I know I erred,’ Wyldon said through numb lips. ‘You're not saying anything I don't know.'
Raoul shook his head. 'If she dies, Mithros forgive you. I never will,' he informed the other man. He walked out of Wyldon's office.
