Jordan nodded, tucking her in tightly. “He’s in the young men’s wing.”
The young men’s wing was a section of the east wing, the ground level, where unmarried, visiting men were housed if they were anything more than a knight. The door leading into the keep could be bolted from the outside, meaning no unmarried young man could wander into the keep where there were unmarried young ladies. Usually, knights were kept to the aptly named knights’ quarters in the outer ward, but Herringthorpe had warranted enough respect and honor that Jordan had put him in the house.
Exactly three stories below Annaleigh’s bed.
She rolled onto her side as Jordan fussed with the coverlet at the bottom of the mattress, watching the flicker of the taper next to her bed and thinking on War. Truthfully, she couldn’t stop thinking of him and she wasn’t quite sure why. Something about the man had her attention, but it was more than that. She felt an odd kinship with him because she shared something with him that she’d never shared with anyone– an event in battle, a moment where she helped save his life. Until today, she’d put that moment out of her mind because she’d been certain the knight she’d helped in the thicket had not survived.
But he had.
Oddly, she felt responsible for him in some fashion.
“Did ye meet Herringthorpe?” she asked.
Jordan grunted as she tugged on an uncooperative coverlet corner. “Aye,” she said. “A very big man.”
“Did ye speak with him?”
Jordan tucked the corner in. “Aye,” she said. Then, she looked up at Annaleigh. “Did ye?”
“Aye,” Annaleigh said. “I’m not ashamed tae admit that I find the man handsome. Do ye?”
Up until this moment, the chatter from Annaleigh had been meaningless. But now, Jordan was starting to pay attention to it. The lass found War Herringthorpe handsome, did she?
That was a good sign.
“I suppose,” Jordan said, trying not to display her joy that Annaleigh was actually showing interest in a man. “Did ye have a proper conversation with him, then?”
Annaleigh shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “William introduced us and he needed direction tae the garderobe, so we spoke a little when I showed him where it was. But nothing much beyond that.”
It was true, most of it. She had the intention of showing him where the garderobe was and they did speak, but there wasmuch more to it. Much more that she couldn’t tell her cousin. While she was keeping secrets, she had no idea that Jordan had planned for her to meet War, hoping there might be some kind of attraction.
It seemed they both had secrets from each other.
“He’s an important man,” Jordan said, going to the head of the bed and laying her hand on Annaleigh’s forehead in a maternal gesture. “William says that he’s a Blackchurch-trained knight who is the king’s favored warrior right now. That means wealth and prestige. It means he has a bright future ahead of him.”
Annaleigh didn’t need any help when it came to her interest in War because she had quite enough of it without Jordan telling her how great the man was.
“What’s a Blackchurch?” she asked.
Jordan smiled faintly. “It’s where the best knights in the world train,” she said. “William says the Lords of Exmoor are in charge and they only take the best warriors tae train them. They teach them things that normal knights never learn.”
“Like what?”
“Ye’ll have tae ask Sir Warwick.”
With that, she winked at her and blew the taper out, leaving the chamber and quietly shutting the door. Annaleigh lay there, watching the low flames flickering in the hearth, thinking on Blackchurch now where it pertained to War. Was the man so great that he went to a special training guild?
That only served to feed her increasing interest.
Sounds of the great hall were still floating upon the night air. She could hear the laughter and buzz of distant conversation.
Perhaps War was still there.
Like a siren’s call, the mere thought propelled her out of bed.
*
“I thought you’dgone to bed.”
