She looked around at the bare room and shrugged. “And you’ve plenty of time to tell it. Unless you have another pressing engagement?”
He scowled at her sarcasm and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Oskar jumped to his feet, pulled a dagger from his boot, and strode to the door, keeping the dagger concealed behind his back. He opened the door carefully, then relaxed and pulled the door wide, allowing Alan to come bustling in carrying a tray. A mouth-watering smell wafted from it.
“Supper is served, my lord, my lady,” he said, carrying the tray over to the table. It contained two large plates of meat,vegetables and gravy, along with a platter piled high with little round flat breads and too large ceramic tankards of beer.
“Thank you,” Lily said, giving the man a smile. “That smells delicious.”
The innkeeper grinned, showing several missing teeth. “My wife’s own recipe. She’s the best cook in these parts, if I do say so myself.” He glanced at Oskar and his smile faltered. “Well, I’ll leave ye to yer meal. Shout if ye need anything.”
With that, he hurried to the door, which Oskar closed firmly behind him. He tucked his dagger back into his boot and came over to the table, taking a seat opposite Lily. He speared a piece of meat with his knife and chewed it before nodding approvingly.
“Not bad.”
Unable to restrain her growling stomach any longer, Lily tucked into the meal. Much to her surprise, she found it well-cooked and tasty. The strong, gamey taste of the venison was a little overpowering at first but she soon got used to it. The mashed swede and cabbage mix was delicious and the gravy topped it all off nicely.
For a few minutes there was silence in the room as they both ate and with the warmth from the fire and the cozy light from the flickering flames Lily could almost convince herself that this was some cozy log cabin up in the mountains and she was enjoying a freshly cooked meal with a friend. Almost.
She mopped up the last of the gravy with a piece of flat bread and sat back with her ale cup in one hand. “Ah, that was good,” she said, stretching her feet out towards the fire. “I can almost forgive you for bringing us here with food like that.”
Oskar wrapped his hands around his own cup. “Aye, Mildred is a fine cook. It’s said she used to serve in the great houses until she was forced to flee with her husband when he found himself on the wrong side of the law.”
“So now she lives out here in the middle of nowhere? The things we do for love, eh?”
“Aye,” he agreed. “It makes fools of us all.”
They sat in silence for a moment, the crackle of the fire filling the space between them. Lily could hear the distant laughter and chatter of the villagers who’d arrived in the common room, but inside this room, it felt like a world of its own.
Lily cleared her throat. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“What question was that?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t play coy with me. You know what question: how do you know these people?”
He didn’t answer. A faint commotion sounded through the thin walls. Shouting and arguing emanated from the bar, followed by the unmistakable sounds of breaking furniture and a scuffle. Lily instinctively tensed, her eyes darting towards the source of the disturbance.
Oskar, on the other hand, remained unperturbed. He glanced in the direction of the noise. “Just a normal evening,” he said casually, a hint of amusement in his voice. “This place can get rowdy at times.”
“Rowdy? It sounds like a war zone out there!”
Oskar shrugged. “Fights are common in these parts. The villagers have a passion for revelry and strong spirits that often leads to brawls. But dinna worry, it will soon die down.”
Lily hoped he was right. “Your friends have an odd way of entertaining themselves.”
“They’re not my friends, lass.”
“Oh? Then what are they?”
He pressed his lips together. “Ye dinna give up, do ye?”
She smiled sweetly at him. “Oh, so you’ve noticed?”
He sighed, pushing his platter away and leaning back in his seat. “Fine. Have it yer way. I do know these people and they know me. In my former life I had dealings with them.”
“Your former life?”
“I wasnae always a member of the Order of the Osprey.”
Lily studied Oskar’s face as he spoke those words, and in that moment, she saw a flicker of vulnerability that she hadn’t expected. The light from the fire danced in his eyes, casting shadows that accentuated the weariness etched upon his features. It was as if a mask had slipped, just for an instant.
