She was still looking at the pirates, still focused on the distant fires. “If I had wanted to escape, I could have,” she said. “I would have been long gone by now. But I did not go. I could not.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Why not?” he finally asked.
Astria tried to think of a clever reply, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t even sure why she’d told him she couldn’t leave, but she had. Of course he wondered why. Now, she had to explain herself. Fed, bathed, and somewhat rested, she was feeling much more like herself, and she knew what a precarious position she was in. With every second that passed, it weighed on her more and more. And perhaps Payne’s declaration of being her ally was weighing on her most of all.
She wondered if he really meant it.
“Because you told me that your trust was only given once,” she said. “You have been, more than anyone I’ve met since the start of my captivity, the kindest person I’ve come into contact with. Even after I struck you, you still showed kindness when you did not have to. I could not run because I knew that if you caught me, it would mean the end for me. No more kindness, no more baths or food. Your mother once threatened to bind my arms and legs and throw me overboard. If she were to do it, there would be no one left to save me.”
Payne considered that for a moment. Then he moved forward, finding another stump to sit on. Out in the livery yard, there were plenty of them by the wood pile.
“And ye want me tae save you from my mother?” he asked.
She looked at him. “You’ve no reason to,” she said honestly. “I have not been very gracious to you, but I want to thank you for the bath and the food and the clothing. I very much appreciate it.”
“Ye’re welcome.”
“What happens now?”
He shrugged, glancing off toward the pirate encampment because there was some shouting going on as men sat around a great bonfire and drank.
“I am not entirely certain,” he said. “My mother wishes for us tae marry, but I dunna know if she’s made plans beyond that.”
She watched his profile, the moonlight giving him a ghostly appearance. “I cannot imagine that you want a wife,” she said. “If you did, you would already have one at your age.”
He frowned and looked at her. “Just how old do ye think I am?”
“Old enough.”
He frowned a split second longer before breaking into a grin. “There’s not been time tae take a wife,” he said. “Being a Blackchurch trainer keeps me very busy and keeps me rooted tae Devon.”
“If you take me for a wife as your mother wishes, then what?” she said. “You are now the Earl of Lismore. Will you take me back to Scotland with you?”
He shook his head. “’Tis too soon tae speak of that,” he said. Then he eyed her. “But I told ye once that ye belonged tae me. Ye seem tae have accepted that.”
“And you said you might auction me off and buy a prize stallion.”
“I lied.”
She did let a smile break through, then, however small. “I am relieved.”
He chuckled. “I thought ye might be,” he said. “There’s nothing like an uncertain future tae make everything seem grim.”
“That is true.”
A silence settled between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Simply a silence in the cold night air as the distant sounds of drunken men wafted upon the breeze. Payne listened for a fewmoments, wondering if those drunk pirates were going to stick to their encampment or wander through the village, but his thoughts soon returned to Astria.
He had a few things on his mind.
“I asked ye once where ye would go if ye escaped,” he said. “Ye told me back tae Tarragona. After we marry, do ye want me tae return ye home? Or back tae Lisbon instead?”
She looked at him. “I’ve not lived in Lisbon for many years,” she said. “I was born at Sintra Palace, but it belongs to my nephew now.”
“Then ye would return tae Tarragona?”
“You would not take me with you back to Lismore, to Achanduin Castle?”
“Ye’ve been there?”
