'Hugh,' I said softly.'You can't hide forever.'I felt the beating of my heart, as if I was in the company of some horned monster, or a Veitch, perhaps.
'As you wish, Jeannie,' he said eventually and stood up and turned around.
He was filthy and highly scented, as would anybody be after a long incarceration in a dungeon, and his face was bristled with a beard I judged to be three weeks in the making.Auburn hair curled past his ears to the level of his neck, unwashed and rank with sweat, speckled with straw and dirt from the dungeon.Yet for all that, there was nothing unattractive about him.Or there was nothing that I found unattractive.What other woman thought was completely irrelevant.
I held out my hand.'Thank you for getting me out of that dungeon.'
He stepped closer, his eyes busy on my face.'Thank you for getting me out of my chains.'He took my hand.
His grip was strong, yet gentle, with a hint of unleashed force.
'Who told you that you were ugly?'I asked.
'I have always known it,' he said.
I scanned his face.Nobody could ever call him classically handsome and he was certainly no Greek God.He had a broad forehead, filthy under his matted hair, and a pug nose above a mouth that the uncharitable could have said was a trifle too large.I preferred to think it was generous.High cheekbones only accentuated a pair of the steadiest grey eyes I had ever seen.
'Somebody must have told you,' I said quietly.'In the Lethan Valley, all the boys boast of how handsome they are and how good they are at everything.Each one must be better than his neighbour at everything.'
'That is often the case,' Hugh said solemnly.'If somebody were to catch a dragon, his neighbour would produce a box to put it in.'
'You do like your dragons, don't you?'I teased him.
'The constant companions of my youth,' he said.
I nodded.I did not have to ask why he had chosen dragons as his companions; all children need friends and I somehow knew that ugly Hugh's had been in limited supply.
'You were an outsider,' I guessed.'If you were from Faladale I would know of you, so you…'
'I was not brought up in Faladale,' Hugh confirmed quickly.'I was not wanted there.Or anywhere.'He looked away.'I don't know why I said that.'
The pain in him was obvious.'There will be many women who want you now,' I said truthfully, 'and not for your lands, either.I take it you gained them by inheritance?'I did not know why I asked such questions.Nor did I know why he answered them so openly.Most men of the Lethan lied out of habit; this man was very different.
'My father and uncle died of some fever.I was next in line.I did not even know I was entitled.'Hugh lowered himself to all fours and blew life into the fire.Wisps of smoke rose.'If we are lucky, then there will be a mist to conceal the smoke.'When he looked up there was worry behind the humour in his eyes.
I knew I would not find out any more.It was time to change the subject and lighten the mood.'I rather like dragons,' I told him.
There was relief in his smile.'Have you seen many?'
'Oh, the Lethan is full of them,' I said.'We can hardly move for the things.'
'I will have to visit sometime,' Hugh told me solemnly.
'A handsome man like you would always be welcome,' I said quietly.
'If he was like me, then he would not be handsome,' Hugh's smile was obviously forced.
I held those remarkably clear eyes.'Whoever told you that you were ugly was lying,' I said softly.
Hugh said nothing.He took a flat stone from the burn and placed it on the fire with both trout on top.'This will be ready shortly.'
I did not leave the subject.'Send the liars to me,' I said, 'and I will tell them myself.'
His eyes met mine.'I rather think you would, at that,' he said.
'If I was not spoken for,' I said softly, 'I would say more.'I could not add to that; I did not understand the feelings that were building up within me.
Hugh found another water-smoothed stone in the burn, placed a trout on top and handed it over.'Not very elegant,' he said, 'fingers only.'
