I shook my head. “It is a preference.”
He huffed. “I suppose you are entitled to your secrets, as I am mine.”
We continued up the steps and reached a landing that entered another corridor. We approached a door at the end of this long hallway, the last door before another stairwell. Other men in the Tintarian black walked by, nodding at my new husband.
“This is mine,” said Alric, his hand on the door. Before entering, he turned to me. “Either the stairwell we used or the one on your right can access this corridor. These are officer quarters for the infantrymen and myself, Perch and Thatcher. If you cross the landing on the stairwell on the right, you will find another long hallway with dormitories for officers’ families and higher level keep staff. Your friends will all be there. There is a privy on their side of the stairwell and one on this side.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled, wishing for a pocket with my hagstone, but this dress was made only to display my form, not conceal trinkets.
He hesitated, left hand still held to the door, right loose at his side. “Do you— do you expect me to carry you inside?”
Brows risen, I turned to him. “I am a bit heavy for you, husband.”
“I am thin but strong, wife,” he said, face closed and without expression.
“I do not doubt your strength,” I replied, “only your desire to exert it.”
He exhaled softly. “You were right, Edith,” he said, withdrawing his hand from the door and facing me fully.
Sconces lit us from both sides and now I could see his features without shadows. I wondered what he saw in me. I watched as he took in my abalone blossoms and white dress. And I had a desire for him to say anything like the king, the prince or the priest had. That I was a fine bride. That despite being late in my third decade, I was beautiful.
But if he could read me, I could not read him.
He continued. “You were right when you said we can learn to abide each other.”
“So a truce?” I asked.
He turned back towards his door. “Yes. Let us call a truce.”
I will still concerned about his bedding me, but I said, “Let us.”
He pushed open the door to reveal a room the size of my own in Eccleston. An unlit fireplace faced the door, two of the narrow windows on either side. To the right of that, stood a wooden wardrobe and rows of hooks from which hung different armor and weapons. To the left of the fireplace, was a large bed on the side of the room closest to the hallway and on the side with the windows, a desk with a stack of four books.
Alric shut the door behind us. “I will make room for you in the wardrobe. I know your new things will arrive soon. I will be removing some of the clothes anyway.”
“Oh. Why?”
“I will not share these quarters with you. I will return to the infantrymen barracks. But I will treat you as my lawful wife in public. I will not shame you and I hope you will not shame me.”
“I will not,” I agreed, watching as he walked towards the right wall with the armor and unlatched his shield and breastplate from himself and hung them on the wall.
“Are you—” I burst out. “Are you undressing?”
He turned to me carefully. “I have never touched a woman without her allowance. I will not do so now. I am merely taking off the heaviest parts of the Tintarian black.”
“Oh,” I sighed, a rush of air through my lips. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m nervous.”
“You have no cause to be. Have you ever been married?” he asked, placing his hands on his lean hips. “Had you a man in Eccleston?”
“Yes. No,” I stuttered, then composing myself, said, “I am from Perpatane.”
“I know. I heard you in the stream talking to the Quinn woman.”
“Oh,” I said. That seemed to be my favorite word today. I looked down to my left hand with its bandage over the ranunculus, my eyes running over the intricate fern pattern on my forearm that led to bursts of roses, lilies, mushrooms and lavender stalks under the sleeve of my dress. I looked back up at Alric. “I was married in Perpatane, but I left him. I married him at nineteen and left him at twenty-eight. And, of course, I could not marry again in Eccleston. I had no— I had no man in Eccleston.” I felt guilt at eliminating Levi so readily.
“Was he cruel?” Alric asked, pushing his undershirt sleeves up his forearms.
The sun had reached its highest point and was beaming through the windows.
