“I wish we didn’t have to go back,” Liana said. “I wish we could be like Gaby and Baudoin and live in a simple hut somewhere and—”
Rogan snorted. “They were ready enough to give up their simple hut. That meal must have cost them a year’s wages.”
“Half a year,” Liana said in the tone of someone who spends a great deal of time with account books. “But they’re in love,” she said dreamily. “I could see it in Gaby’s eyes.” She looked up at Rogan. “It must be how I look at you.”
Rogan was looking ahead at the walls of Moray Castle. It had been too easy for them to leave this morning. What if the Howards were to dress as vegetable sellers and beg entry? He’d have to tighten vigilance.
“Did you hear what I said?” Liana asked.
Perhaps he should require a badge to be worn by the peasants who were allowed to enter. Of course a badge could be stolen, but—
“Rogan!” Liana had stopped walking and, clutching his hand, she made him halt too.
“What is it?”
“Were you listening to me?” she asked.
“Heard every word you said,” he answered. Perhaps something besides a badge. Maybe a—
“What did I say?”
Rogan looked at her blankly. “Say about what?”
She tightened her lips. “I was telling you that I love you.”
Perhaps a password, changed daily. Or maybe the safest thing would be just to designate certain peasants to enter, with no new faces allowed in, ever.
To Rogan’s consternation, his wife dropped his hand and marched ahead of him, and from the way she walked, she looked to be angry. “Now what?” he muttered. He’d done everything she wanted of him today and yet she still wasn’t pleased.
He caught up with her. “Something wrong?”
“Oh, so you noticed me,” she said haughtily. “I hope I wasn’t disturbing you by telling you that I love you.”
“No,” he said honestly. “I was just thinking about something else.”
“Don’t let my declarations of love interrupt,” she said nastily. “I’m sure a hundred women have sworn they love you. All of the Days. But then you even had Months once. And of course Jeanne Howard probably told you every day.”
Rogan was beginning to see through her cloud of illogic. This was another one of those woman things and not serious at all. “She wasn’t a Howard when she was married to me.”
“I see. But you don’t deny that she told you repeatedly that she loved you. You’ve probably heard it so many times it means nothing coming from me.”
Rogan thought for a moment. “I don’t remember any woman telling me she loved me.”
“Oh,” Liana said, and slipped her hand back into his. They walked in silence for a few minutes. “Do you love me?” she asked softly.
He squeezed her hand. “I have a few times. And tonight I’ll—”
“Not that kind of love. I mean, inside of you. Like how you loved your mother.”
“My mother died when I was born.”
She frowned. “Severn’s mother, then.”
“She died when Severn was born, when I was two. I don’t remember her.”
“Zared’s mother?” Liana asked softly.
“I don’t think I felt much of anything for her. She was scared of us all. Used to cry a lot.”