They had made it to the end of the ward, breathing in the cold, clear air, before turning around. “Speaking of ways, I must tell you again that I am sorry I was unable to go with you when you inspected your properties,” Desdra said. “You should not have had to go alone, but my recovery has been slower than I’d hoped. Someday, I will visit them with you, I promise.”
He patted her hand. “I was not alone,” he said. “Remember? I had Aidric and Britt and Dirk, Stefan and Orion with me. They inspected everything right along with me. Moreover, there was no possibility that I was going to allow you to go, since you were still recovering, so it worked out for the better. And do not forget that Marston was an enormous help. I like him.”
“He likes you,” Desdra said. “I’m glad he has resumed his visits to The Feast. He used to come daily when Lord Chester was alive, but after his death, I think that, mayhap, it was a little painful for him to come. I am happy he has returned.”
Jareth nodded. “It has been interesting learning of Uncle Chester through his eyes,” he said. “He saw a different side of him than most, I suppose.”
Desdra thought on the small, white-haired man and how kind he’d always been. “I think he knew Lord Chester best,” hesaid. “There was a great deal of devotion and respect between them.”
“I sensed that,” Jareth said. “And if he and my uncle were lovers, I hope it was something that made them both very happy. I hope Marston was able to give Uncle Chester comfort in his final years.”
She smiled up at him, squeezing his arm gently. “I think so,” she said. “They were quite inseparable.”
He smiled in return, gazing into that lovely face. “We should all be so lucky as to have someone we cannot be parted from.”
She chuckled, laying her cheek on his bicep again as he kissed the top of her head. “True,” she said. “I’ve found my someone.”
“As have I.”
They continued to walk in warm silence, heading back toward the great hall of Redcliffe, hearing the noise and music emitting from the windows and doors, seeing people spill out into the night, drinking and laughing. The truth was that there had been an entire week of feasting and celebrating before the wedding mass, so tonight was the culmination of a very busy week.
And one that they were both looking forward to.
“Now,” Jareth said, “I have a question for you, Lady Bedminster.”
Desdra smiled at the use of her new title. “What is that, Lord Bedminster?”
He pointed to the manse dead ahead. “Do you think we can make our way through those people to get to our bedchamber?” he said. “Or do you think we should take a short ride back to The Feast and spend our wedding night in peace and quiet? Because that lot is not going to give us any peaceorquiet.”
He was jabbing a finger at the bright, noisy hall, and she started laughing. “I will do whatever you wish,” she said. “You decide.”
He fought off a grin. “It seems to me that we have earned the right to sleep in our own home and not be chased off by a gang of drunken fools,” he said. “But we should go in separately. If we go in together, there will be trouble.”
She could see the happy guests cavorting through the open door. “They will try to corner us,” she said. “We can go in through the kitchens and make it up the servants’ staircase. They will not see us.”
He thought that was a rather fine idea. “Good thinking,” he said. “Let us hurry, then.”
“Why? Are you anxious for something?”
He rolled his eyes. “Nothing at all,” he said drolly. “I have a wedding night every single night of my life. There is nothing special about this night.”
She laughed and he joined her. Then he put his arms around her gently, mindful of her left shoulder and arm, and kissed her lips tenderly.
“I have been waiting for this moment my entire life,” he whispered. “Do not think for one moment you are not the most important thing in the world to me, now and forever. You are the stars that shine in the night sky, the sun rising in the east. I never knew what it felt like to love someone so completely, but I do now. This night belongs to us, Desi.”
She held him tightly with her right arm and a little less tightly with her left. Jareth had helped her retrain her muscles again ever since she could start to move it, and it had been hard work, but it was paying off. He’d been so good to her during her recovery, and he’d waited very patiently until she was physically up to the task of their marriage. Therefore, he was right.
Thiswastheir night.
“Come,” she said, pulling away from him and taking his hand. “Let us go in through the kitchens.”
She practically ran to the kitchens on the west side of the manse, and he happily followed. The kitchens were working at full capacity this night as they passed through the cramped, steamy rooms. Gustave, the cook, noticed them, wondering why the bride and groom were in the kitchens, but neither Desdra nor Jareth stopped to explain.
They just kept going.
The spiral staircase that went to the upper floors was narrow and steep. Jareth, with his broad shoulders, kept getting stuck, so he laughed and struggled all the way up to the top floor where the master’s chambers were. In fact, nearly the entire top floor of Redcliffe was the master’s chamber, a complex of four chambers connected, including a smaller chamber with a hearth and an enormous iron pot used to heat bathwater. It was Desdra’s favorite room.
Without any interference, they made it.
