Astin pushed his empty bowl aside and rose. ‘I’m about to head there now.’
Harlan followed him out of the mess hall and into the morning fog. ‘Now I have the fun job of telling Blake that people were slaughtered at the dinner her sister attended last night.’
‘Shame I’m too busy to bear witness.’
‘Warden tells me Queen Fayre requested Kendra and Lyndal remain here under your protection.’
‘More fun news to pass on to your wife.’ He tugged the hood of his cloak up. ‘Did your father also tell you it was the king’s idea? I saved his arse last night, and then five minutes later he’s pretending he doesn’t need me.’
‘Probably wants you out of the way so he can conduct his shifty business with your stepfather.’
It was meant as a joke, but the thought had crossed Astin’s mind.
‘Just make sure that bruised ego of yours doesn’t interfere with your new responsibilities,’ Harlan said.
Astin stopped walking. ‘Bruised ego? Are you drunk?’
Harlan stopped a few paces ahead and turned. ‘I know you. You don’t handle rejection well.’
‘One can’t reject something that’s not on offer.’
Harlan laughed. ‘Admit it. It kills you that she doesn’t swoon when you walk into a room like other women.’
‘I’ll admit it bothers me that she gets up and leaves.’
‘Because you normally walk in and say something like “What happened to your hair?”’
‘A joke.’
‘And what about the time she was nice enough to cook you dinner and you asked if she dropped the pork into the salt bag?’
‘Another joke.’
‘It was quail, by the way.’
‘I know it was quail. That’s why it was funny.’ He threw his hands up. ‘Eda laughed.’
Harlan exhaled. ‘That’syour comedic gauge? I once saw that girl use a decapitated chicken as a puppet.’
The youngest Suttone sister was not without her quirks.
‘The point is,’ Astin finished, ‘Lyndal’s hair is always immaculate, and she’s a solid cook. I make jokes because we all know they’re jokes.’
Before Harlan could reply, the warden called to him from ten feet away. ‘Is there a reason you are out here with Wright instead of doing your job, Fletcher?’
Both men turned. Then Harlan looked back at Astin, waiting for his response.
‘There’s a guard patrolling the west corridor, sir,’ Astin called. ‘The ladies know not to leave their room without an escort.’
Shapur’s scowl deepened. ‘Is that why the Suttone girl is wandering around the castle by herself at present?’
Astin’s blood heated a few degrees. ‘Perhaps I wasn’t clear last night when I gavevery specific instructions. I’ll go there now.’
Harlan looked down at the ground in an attempt to hide his growing smile.
‘Perhaps a clearer conversation is in order,’ Shapur replied before walking off.
‘Yes, sir,’ Astin called to his back.
