61
NOW: SCREWING
Reed had nodded, adjusted himself in his breeches, and then put a perfunctory hand on my elbow and steered me back to the field of wagons and tents. We spoke little along the road between town and camp, and though there was still a tension between us, it was not entirely awkward.
The following day, the campground was packed up and the several thousand of us, both soldier and pilgrim, made for the road. It took a long time for the wagons to be lined back in formation on the road, the rows of them unfolding one by one until their original order was restored.
Jade and Fox volunteered to walk, Jade chattering away about nothing in particular but clearly happy from her evening spent with Keir. Ilsit was sleeping off a hangover in the wagon, both of the goats nestled near her, one of them nibbling at her sleeve.
I sat next to Tessa in the driver’s seat, Daisy nestled in my lap. I was toying with the idea of confiding in her about Bertram and Gerard when she asked me a question that decided it for me. I could not burden her with my own fears.
“Gods, but I cannot stop thinking of Adelaide,” Tessa confessed. “Do you think she is in danger? Do you think we can get her away from a husband? I mean, we’ve talked about it, but it’s one thing to say we’ll fetch her in Skow and then take her to Eccleston. It’s another to actually do it.”
We spent a long morning discussing the ins and outs of it, saying the next time we were able to get a spare moment with Thane, we should impress upon him again the chance that Adelaide was in an unhappy marriage.
Halfway through the day, Reed brought his horse up alongside our wagon and nodded at the two of us. “Do you fare well today?”
“We do. No sore head for you, my friend?” Tessa asked him.
“Sorer than I like, but manageable. And yourself, madam?”
“I’m an Ecclestonian. We’ve stomachs made of iron.”
“I’ve no doubt. And you, madam midwife?” There was a smirk on his lips.
I shrugged. “I feel fine. Perfectlywell, satisfied even.” It may have been the sun, but I could have sworn there was the faintest flush on his cheeks. And I noticed, as always when he was battling his interest in me, his jaw ticked.
Reed looked ahead down the road, then turned back to me and held up his right hand, the back of it facing out. There were angry red scratches on it, likely from the rough surface of the tavern’s stone brick wall. “I am happy to hear it then, that you arewelland satisfied.” Then he spurred his horse and sped ahead of us and the wagons around us.
“The hell was that?” Tessa asked.
“We should return to talking of Adelaide.”
“We’ve discussed it to death, and the more we say the more I sicken with anxiousness. Explain what nasty thing you’ve done to the Vyggian’s hand.”
So I did.
When Tessa caught her breath from laughing, she said, “So, he is willing to pleasure you endlessly, but he won’t rut you properly.”
“I think that’s what he meant.”
“Excellent then. It’s no work for you. Enjoy yourself.”
“I mean he’s a bit young for me.”
Her brow creasing, she said, “Robbie, you don’t have to marry him. You can just... screw and let that be it. It’s a perfectly normal thing. It doesn’t have to be like Keir and Jade.”
“Keir and Jade?”
“She’s going to end up wifed to him. I can see it.”
“But how?”
Tessa flicked the reins and guided the four horses in their yokes to better align themselves in our row. “Look, I’ve told you there’s plenty of folk like me and your sister and Ilsit in Eccleston? There’s plenty of Jades too. Evangeline told me once this is all over, she and Keir and Dermid intend to head to Eccleston to find work. They’re going to collect their due from Thane and leave. They can’t stand the idea of staying in Perpatane. I’ve been meaning to talk to them about aiding us with Adelaide. But—and I confess this is underhanded—I think I’ll have Jade tell Keir about it. Then they’ll absolutely help us. Anyway, Keir and Jade could live as man and wife in my home country. The city-state and its territories? It is not Sheridan, Robbie. It’s freer. There’s no religion. There’s some narrow-minded people, but it’s nothing like what you know. So don’t trouble yourself over Jade. It belittles her, you know.”
I was duly chastened. “It’s not my concern.”
“It’s not,” Tessa said, but she was not unkind. “What I am tellingyouis, ask yourself when is the last time you simply did something because you wanted to? All of your life, you have been reacting instead of acting. And that’s no fault of yours. But why not take something offered to you like this? Why not have something without planning or purpose? What would keep you from it?”
