The king’s need for us.
None of it matters more than the woman I just made love to, who is holding me as if she would never let go.
And now we won’t have to part. Our joining solves the problem of me having to leave her, though it creates many others.
I lift my head finally, confirming it with Aedre.
“You will come with me to d’Almerita.”
Her lips part, and I can feel myself stir again, still inside her.
“Come with you?” She seems genuinely confused.
“Aye. We will marry. And you will come with me.”
I don’t like the look she gives me.
“You think . . . I want to leave Murwood End because I gave you my virginity? That I’d abandon my father, my whole life?”
I definitely did not expect her anger.
“You think,” I counter, “that I would take it today and leave you tomorrow? I never expected this, us, but we have no choice now, Aedre.”
What manner of man does she think I am? I’ve taken her outside of marriage, but to do so and then simply leave her?
“You did not expect me at all? You knew nothing of me and Kipp when you first came here?”
I’m unsure what made her think of that now, but when asked that way, I would not lie to her.
“I knew there was a woman. And I thought perhaps . . .”
Her eyes narrow, fire blazing from them.
“You knew.”
“Aedre, I did not. It was a possibility, of course, but had little to do with why we met so often. Surely you know that. As you know you are a lady. An unmarried lady, and I’ve just taken your virginity.”
“So Kipp was right. And you did not take my virginity, Vanni. I gave it to you. There is a difference.”
Perhaps, but there is no difference in the outcome.
“You will marry me, Aedre. I am not leaving here without you.”
I don’t much care for the look she gives me as her hands push against my chest.
“Then it seems as if Murwood End has gained a new resident, because I am not leaving.”
Chapter Thirty Vanni
“There’s been a . . . complication,” I admit to Thomas as we sit at a table in the inn.
Aedre ran off before I could stop her—her reaction a clear sign that I did not express myself well. Although I still very much plan to press my suit, it’s clear she needs time to process everything. To cool down. So I watched her walk away—an experience I didn’t care for—and then headed into the great hall of the inn for an ale. Thomas found me there and joined me.
From the look on his face, he’s not surprised by my words.
“Aye, I suspected so,” he replies. “You left us at the docks.”
With good reason, but I don’t offer an explanation. “Was it truly someone from the Royal Court of Edingham?”
The serving girl brings Thomas an ale, and he thanks her. I drink from my mug, missing wine more than I would have expected. The bitter ale of the north is a poor substitute, though passable, I suppose.
“If you’d stayed long enough, you might have seen your old friend Stokerton.”
“You saw him with your own eyes?” I ask in disbelief. I’d heard the rumor but had not believed it true.
Thomas raises his mug to me. “I saw the queen’s second with my own eyes.”
In that case, I don’t doubt him. The man is difficult to miss. There’s always a trail of women following him, hoping for a glimpse or even a wink.
I’ve met Erik Stokerton on numerous occasions and have come away with two incontrovertible truths:
He is as deadly as he is good-looking.
He is madly in love with his queen.
All know it, and he does not aim to hide the fact. It was rumored she once carried his babe, but naught came of that particular rumor. Though there are others . . .
“What is he doing here in Murwood?”
For a brief moment, fear blinds my thinking. Could he know about Aldwine somehow? Is he here to persuade him to their cause?
Impossible. If Edingham knew of Aldwine, they’d have exploited him long ago.
“We need to speak to him,” I say.
Thomas smiles. “Done. He will be joining us tomorrow midday, in this very spot.”
We are enemies, aye. But neither side wishes for a full-out war. The queen’s Curia would not dare to attack us without provocation. And I plan to give them none.
“How many travel with him?”
He lifts his eyebrows. “If you’d stayed longer, perhaps you would already know.”
I know without asking that he saw me leave with Aedre.
“Thomas—”
“Explain to another. I more than anyone understand what it is to love a woman. You’ll draw no judgment from me.”
He thinks I’m in love with Aedre.
Am I not?
Although I didn’t intend to take things so far, part of me is glad for it. I didn’t want to be parted from her, and now I won’t have to be. Because whatever she thinks, we will marry. I will not leave Murwood End without her.
“Tomorrow midday?” The timing of our meeting just occurs to me.
“Aye. He suggested it himself. I also learned he is to be a guest of Lord Bailor.” Thomas shrugs. “I suppose that’s where the queen’s men can be found this eve.”
He drinks, unconcerned.
Lord Bailor did not make such an offer to us when we arrived. I watch my friend, wondering how he could be so oblivious.
“A guest of Lord Bailor?”
“Aye.”
“Why didn’t he offer us the same courtesy?”
“Maybe he would have if you were as good-looking as Stokerton.”
Laughing at his own joke, Thomas does not seem bothered by my concern. So I lean forward, lower my voice, and enlighten him. “The queen’s commander is here, in Murwood End, as a guest of the highest-ranking noble in town. Weeks after our failed attack.”
He blinks.
God save me from him.
“And now I know why Galfrid thought so long and hard about naming you Knight Commander,” I quip.
Thomas isn’t bothered by my words. He’s openly admitted he can be quite difficult
