Diara was soaked. She was also partially covered with stringy algae. She peeled it off her arms and tossed it at Roi, hitting him in the face.
“I hope those fish eat you,” she said, pushing her wet hair out of her face. “I hope they strip your bones.”
“Shall I just stay here, then?”
“Aye!” Diara said, half teasing, half angry. “Look at me! I’m covered in slime!”
“You are still beautiful,” Roi said. “May I come out now?”
Diara was on the move, holding up her soaking skirts. She passed behind Roi as he sat there then she picked up some mud at the edge of the pond, flinging it on him from behind. It hit him in the back of the neck and the head, and immediately, he bolted to his feet.
“That is all I will take from you,” he said, turning swiftly for her. “Be prepared to defend yourself.”
With a yelp, Diara took off at a run. She was at a distinct disadvantage because her clothing was soaked and very heavy, and by the time she reached the kitchen door leading into the keep, Roi was on her. Picking her up, he slung her over one broad shoulder as he carried her through the kitchens, with her yelling and fussing all the way. The kitchen servants looked at them in shock, but Roi simply grinned.
“Send the bathtub and hot water up to our chamber immediately,” he said. “Lady de Lohr is clumsy and fell in the pond. Had I not saved her, she would have drowned.”
That brought a screech of outrage from Diara, who began slapping his behind. But she was laughing, and he was laughing, as he carried her up two flights of stairs, leaving a watery trail, until he reached their bedchamber. Once inside, he carefully set her to her feet.
She rushed him.
Roi was unprepared for Diara running at him and wrapping her hands around his throat. She was giggling as she did it, being playful about it, but when he stepped back, he ended up tripping and falling, hard, to the floor.
The giggles stopped.
“Roi!” she gasped, on top of him as he lay there. “Did you hurt yourself?”
He groaned. “I’ve broken something.”
Diara pushed herself off him. “Where is your pain?” she asked seriously. “What did you fall on?”
He continued to lie there and grunt. “Everything,” he said miserably. “Everything is broken.”
Diara ran her hand against the back of his skull, looking for bumps or blood. “My love, I cannot help you if you do not tell me where it hurts,” she said patiently. “Where is your pain?”
She was checking him all over for damage when he reached up and grabbed her, pulling her against him.
“Everywhere when I am not with you,” he said, nuzzling her ear and cheek. “Every moment I spent away from you causes me excruciating pain. Even when I am in the bailey and you are out of my sight, my thoughts are only of you.”
Diara was quickly succumbing to the man, as she had every night since their marriage, but it was still the middle of the day and Roi had ordered a bath. She knew the servants were on their way, and she didn’t want to create a spectacle for them.
“I’m covered in pond scum,” she reminded him, pushing against his chest as he tried to embrace her. “We both smell like dirty fish.”
“I do not care,” he said before finally slanting over her mouth and kissing her deeply. “I will kiss my wife no matter what she smells like.”
Diara started to chuckle. “What about me?” she said, avoiding his seeking lips. “Am I not allowed an opinion in thisdirective? What if I do not want to kiss you becauseyousmell like fish?”
“Then you had better learn to like fish, lady.”
She continued to chuckle as he tried to pull her against him. The more he would pull, the more she would push, until he finally managed to move her arms out of the way and trap her. Once he did that, he had her, for she could no longer fight him off. But his victory didn’t last for long because the door swung open and two male servants lugged in an enormous copper tub.
“By the hearth, please,” Diara said, pushing herself away from Roi by using his head for a brace. “Fill it halfway and then leave me a few buckets of hot water, please.”
Servants began moving in and out as Roi climbed up from the floor and went to a chair to remove his soaked boots. Diara supervised the servants as Roi’s major-domo showed up, helping with the water brigade. His name was Finnick, and he had originally served at Lioncross before Roi brought him over to Pembridge when he took command. Finnick was quiet, efficient, and bright, and he and Diara had come to a somewhat symbiotic relationship since she arrived. Finnick deferred to her in all things, and they were still in the process of working out what his duties would be, but so far, it had gone smoothly.
He was a man who knew his place.
“Lady Dorian and Lady Adalia have had the same mishap in the pond that their father and I have had,” she told Finnick as he passed by with an empty bucket. “Please find something they can bathe in because, between my lord and I, we are going to be using the big tub for some time.”
