She put a hand to her mussy hair. “Like this?” she said. “I must look like I was caught in a tempest.”
“You look like an angel.”
“You are sweet to say so.”
“It is the truth.”
The cry of a bird caught her attention, and she turned her head slightly, seeing that the oilcloth had been removed from one of the windows and the sun was streaming in. But she had no intention of getting out of bed, not with Roi so warm and cozy.
“How long has the sun been up?” she asked. “Please tell me we do not have to rise right away.”
He glanced over his shoulder, at the window. “About an hour,” he said. “Oddly enough, mornings are not my favorite time of day, which is not usual for a knight. Every knight I know is up before sunrise, tending his duties.”
“But not you?”
He shifted so he was lying beside her and not on her, gathering her into his arms. “Only out of necessity,” he said.“I prefer the dark. The twilight. The moment the day turns to night.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “There is a peace to it, I suppose,” he said. “The twilight, I mean. But the dark… that is when I feel the most alive. That is when the earth is the most alive. Creatures and people and things move through the dark and there is an entire world we do not see. Twilight is the birth of that world. A rebirth of the day it was part of.”
Diara’s head was against his shoulder as she tried to picture the world that his words were painting. “That is interesting,” she said. “I’ve never thought of it that way.”
“No one does.”
Her hand was on his chest, and she patted him gently. “Only you,” she said. “That makes you unique. I think it also makes you a predator.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Don’t predators hunt at night?”
He turned his head so he was peering down at the top of her head. “You are the only prey I want to catch.”
“You have already caught me.”
He pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head, but before he could say another word, he began to hear voices from the bailey.
They were calling his name.
“God’s Bones,” Diara muttered. “Them again? Can they not leave us alone?”
Roi was torn between great irritation and great amusement. He let her go and rolled out of the bed, marching across the floor, stark naked, to the window.
“You idiots have angered my wife!” he shouted as he approached the window and subsequently hung out of it. “I amtrying to convince her not to go down to the bailey and flog every one of you, so if you are wise, you will leave us alone!”
But the usual crowd wasn’t down below—it was Curtis and a man Roi hadn’t seen at the wedding or the subsequent feast. He found himself looking down at his cousin, Daniel de Lohr, the son of Christopher’s only brother, David. David was, in fact, the Earl of Canterbury through his marriage, a title Daniel would inherit someday. He was also the liveliest and most emotional, humorous, and impulsive member of the de Lohr family. They used to call him the Prodigal Son because of his inability to stay in one place for too long until he married nearly ten years before. Then Daniel had settled down with his wife and children up in Yorkshire, which was why Roi was quite surprised to see him.
“Send her down!” Daniel called back to him. “I would like to meet this poor woman you have forced into marriage. I must tell her what she is in for with you.”
Roi beamed at the sight of his cousin. “Danny,” he said with delight. “When did you arrive?”
“Before sunrise, little prince,” Daniel said, taunting him. “Uncle Christopher’s precious little boy was still in bed, and I was told not to wake you, but it is more than an hour after sunrise and the day is wasting away. Pull yourself away from your new wife and get down here. I did not come all the way to Lioncross only to be saddled with your boring brothers for entertainment.”
Roi laughed. “I must ask my wife,” he said. “We have only just been married, you know. She may not want me to leave her anytime soon.”
Curtis chimed in, waving a big arm at him. “Come down here, you gutless knave,” he said. “The games are already being organized in honor of your wedding, and you do not want to miss them.”
Roi wagged a finger at his brother. “I told you,” he said. “No targeting my knees, buttocks, ballocks, or anything else I might need. Did you tell the others?”
