Zared sat down on a window seat and looked out over the lovely rolling English countryside. "He will not agree to leave me here," she whispered. So I will have to return with my brother, and I will have to leave this beautiful place and my beautiful husband, she thought. I must return to a place of hatred and talk of war.
It was nearly sundown when Tearle returned to the room they shared. She jumped up at once and went to him, but she did not get close enough to touch him. "When do I leave?"
"Early tomorrow," he said, stretching. "Those men of your brother's can eat. I do not wonder that your brother wants his title and lands back. It must cost much to feed men such as those."
"Do you jest about what is life and death to the Peregrines?"
He smiled at her. "I try to make a jest of everything. Have you not learned that yet? I am of the firm belief that laughter makes one live longer. Tell me, has that brother of yours ever so much as smiled?"
"Liana can make him smile," she said impatiently, then turned away. "So we have one last night together."
Tearle sat on the edge of the bed and began to unlace his tall boots. "Do you not plan to sleep with me when we are at your brother's house?"
It took Zared a moment to realize what he was saying, then she went to him. "You cannot go with us."
He smiled at her in a teasing way. "You can stand the place, but I cannot. Does this mean that you are more of a man than I am?"
She went on her knees in front of him. "Do not make a joke of this. My brother will kill you. If not directly, then there will be a falling stone, a blade that slips, an ax—"
"I did think of those things. I mentioned such to your brother." He paused in his undressing. "If he did not fear for the lives of those he loves, he would have killed me today. At least he would have taken great pleasure in the attempt. I have never seen such hatred in a man."
"He will kill you if given half a chance. You cannot think to go anywhere with him."
He put his hand under her chin. "I am not so fragile or so dumb and trusting as you seem to believe, nor is your brother as powerful as you think. Do you know that when I was a child I thought my brother Oliver was the strongest, bravest—"
"Oliver Howard is fat and weak and—" She broke off, knowing where he was heading. "You cannot think that I do not see my brother as he is. Rogan is neither fat nor weak."
He leaned toward her. "Nor am I."
She sat back on her heels. Why did each man think he was invincible? "What have you and my brother arranged?" She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "What have you talked my brother into?"
"Ah, at last you admit that there is something that I can best your brother in."
"Tell me," she repeated.
"He has agreed to what I have always planned to do. I am going with you to your home. Your brother will not believe that I want his sister for any purpose other than as some hostage of war. I told him that I wanted you only for your body, but even that did not make him laugh."
Zared grimaced. No, that would not make Rogan laugh. "Why would you want to do this? Why would you want to leave all this finery for my brother's poor place?"
He was silent so long that she looked up at him, and the tenderness in his eyes made her look away. She knew that he was going so that he could be near her. Rogan was so stubborn, so hardheaded that he would not believe any words that she spoke if she told him that she was with a Howard because she wanted to be. Rogan would always think that she had been forced. And he would do what he considered necessary to get her back. Zared had to go with her brother.
"You do not have to go with me," she whispered. "Perhaps I can return to you… later."
"Ha!" Tearle said. "I think your brother is worse than you had described him. The man does not listen to reason. Do you know that I offered to give him this place if he would stop this war of his? I offered him half of the Howard estates upon my brother's death."
"He would refuse. All of what the Howards own belongs to the Peregrines."
He smiled at her. "He wanted you more than he wanted the
estates." At Zared's look of astonishment Tearle nodded. " 'Tis true. He said that he had lost too many of his family, and he could bear to lose no more. He would not trade you for all the riches in the world."
Zared looked away to hide her smile. It made her feel good that her brother loved her that much. She looked back at her husband. "You see that I must go with him."
"I understand that perfectly. I also know that I will not let you go either. Who will warm my bed at night if you are gone?"
She turned away. "You will find women. Men always do."
"Not women who chase me up trees and draw swords on me. Not a woman I find as entertaining as you."