“He wants to know when your mother is leaving.”
Payne had been expecting a message of that sort, just not so soon. He could see that St. Sebastian, a truly likable man, was uneasy asking it. He held up a hand to relax the man’s nerves.
“Very soon, I’m sure,” he said. “I married the Portuguese princess this morning and that was the only reason my mother came tae Blackchurch, so I’m certain she’ll leave immediately. Tell yer father not tae worry.”
St. Sebastian looked surprised. “Youmarriedher?” he said. “My God, Payne, that was very fast… wasn’t it?”
Payne couldn’t disagree. “It was,” he said. “But it is done and Bloody Maude has no more reason tae remain here, so I’ll make sure she leaves.”
St. Sebastian nodded, but he eyed Payne hesitantly. “Are congratulations in order?” he said. “I do not wish to congratulate you on something that is not to your liking.”
Payne gave him a lopsided smile. “Dunna worry yerself,” he said. “I’ll take yer congratulations and be grateful for it. I suppose time will tell if this is tae my liking or not, but for now, let’s simply say that I’m not unhappy.”
“Good,” St. Sebastian said. “And I mean that sincerely. You are well liked, Payne. No one wants you to be unhappy in this mess of your mother’s doing.”
Payne chuckled. “It is not quite a mess—yet,” he said. “Ask me again in a week and we’ll see what I say.”
“I hope it does not come to that.”
“As do I.”
Several feet away, the swordplay exercise was beginning and the sound of metal against metal rang out. St. Sebastian waved Payne off, heading back the way he had come with a message for his father. Payne returned to the swords and, selecting one, headed over to the group.
Though Payne and Fox and Kristian were fully fledged trainers, they took a secondary role in the instruction, since it was Sinclair’s class. They were there to show techniques and to let the recruits test what they were learning, and that went on most of the afternoon. Only when the sun began to wane did Sinclair dismiss the recruits, who headed off to the large dormitory on the east side of the Blackchurch property.
The trainers headed home.
Payne couldn’t help but feel some anticipation for the night ahead. It was natural that he did. But he was trying very hard not to feel excitement, mostly because he didn’t want to be disappointed. He had no idea how this was all going to go, so he kept his expectations low. Astria looked at this moment between them as a duty, so he would too.
Or at least try to.
It was growing dark by the time he entered the village. He could see Fox far up ahead, entering his cottage where his wife and children were waiting. He’d lost track of Sinclair, but surely the man was already home by now. He caught sight of his own cottage, near the edge of the village, the windows in the front facing west. None of the cottages had precious glass in the windows, only shutters, which could be closed against the night. As he approached his home, he could see light emitting from the closed shutters.
I always thought my wife would make a nice, warm home for me.
He paused before opening the door, feeling stupid that he’d even said that to her. Somehow, it made him feel vulnerable because if she didn’t want the same thing, or was incapable of creating the same thing, then he was in for a big disappointment. It had been a nice dream, anyway.
Taking a deep breath for courage, he opened the door and stepped in.
*
It had beena hell of a day.
Asteria felt as ifshe’dbeen a trainer today, teaching an exhausting class much like her husband was, because that was how weary she felt. Weary down to her very bones.
It hadn’t been easy.
For someone who had been trained as a chatelaine, and every noblewoman was, the knowledge she had was mostly theoretical. A princess of the royal house of Portugal was not expected to scrub floors or know how to prepare a meal or even wash linens herself. The theory was that she knewhowthose things were done so she could direct the servants. She knew howto manage a household budget, what were appropriate cleaning products, how puddings were made, how livestock should be housed, and things of that nature. Therefore, she wasn’t a complete novice when it came to a household. But she was, indeed, a novice when it came to actually applying that theory.
That was where the exhaustion came in.
Her new friends, Athdara and Elisiana, had left their children with another Blackchurch wife, a lovely and very pregnant woman named Gisele. With Gisele managing the pack of wild animals, as Payne had called them, Athdara and Elisiana were freed up to help Astria with Payne’s cottage, from top to bottom.
And what a cottage it was.
It was unfortunate that he hadn’t been kidding when he had told Astria how slovenly his cottage was. It was actually quite depressing. The three women stood in the open doorway, looking over the large common room that faced the town square, and attached to that was a chamber used for a kitchen. There was a big hearth and a table and nothing else. The whole thing looked as if it had been abandoned for years, as if nobody lived there, because there wasn’t a scrap of food or rubbish, or any other signs that the place was inhabited.
Until one went upstairs.
