I grinned. “Next, teach me to sword fight and then I can really fight your enemies for you.”
His eyes went really wide. “Ye want tae sword fight forme,yer husband,Torin?”
“Maybe, I could, with training.”
“Och nae, ye canna, Princess. What are ye thinkin’?”
I moved my chair around and put my feet up on his knees, leaning back comfortably enjoying the full stomach and my coffee.
“Are you going to say I can’t because I am a princess? Because Max gets to sword fight and he’s a prince, I don’t get why princes can but not princesses.”
His face screwed up. “Tis not because ye are a princess, but that is reason enough. Ye canna expect tae battle! Ye are tae order men tae battle for ye, but the main reason is because… as I hae told ye before and ye seem senseless about it, yer arms are wee.”
He grinned.
Dude jumped in Torin’s lap and settled down to sleep.
I said, “Dude, are you taking Torin’s side in this? He just called my arms wee.”
“They are, ye canna get the cat tae deny what is true. The hilt of m’sword is near the size of yer upper arm.” He held his hand up as if he was holding the hilt of a sword and eyed it to my arm. “Ye canna swing it if tis as large as ye. How tall are ye?”
“Five foot seven inches, tall for a girl.”
He chuckled. “Ye are thelengthof a broadsword!”
“You sir, are exaggerating. We should work out, you’ll see.”
He looked askance. “What does this mean?”
I said, “We will go exercise, I have a gym, want to go to a gym?”
“Tae workout, what dost ye mean — tae train in battle? Ye want tae train in battle with me?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.” I jokingly said, “We can do some aerobics, I’ll show you a stair-master.”
“I daena ken any of these words. But I dost need tae keep up m’trainin’ so I daena turn soft.” He patted his stomach. “I can already feel the food sittin’ in m’middle.”
“You’ve only been here for twelve hours!”
“Aye, but it has been a verra comfortable twelve hours, except the beginning. Twas thorny when I first arrived. I thought I had lost ye, but I was verra glad that ye were alive.”
“I was very glad you were alive too.”
He was petting Dude, then he rested his hand on my ankle. I loved this position, my feet on his thigh, like he belonged to me. His hand casually on my ankle, like I belonged to him.
I asked, “How do you train by the way?”
“Ye mean tae battle? I hae been training since I was a lad.”
“How?”
“In the morn, with the cock’s crow, Max meets me tae run the perimeter of the grounds, he is faster, usually. Then we practice with our swords, after that the other lads will join us in sparrin’ and wrestlin’.”
I nodded, “That’s a good workout.”
He grinned. “Then we work. I am usually put tae work with the loads, but I prefer tae chop wood, though I will go wherever I am needed, and then in the?—”
“There’s more?”
