“Well...” I gulped. “You have very clearly stated why are you angry, but?—”
“Oh,” he interjected, his speech still measured but dripping with disdain, “believe me, I could wring both our necks.”
We walked for nearly an hour without speaking. Every time I looked over at him, he was so composed and withdrawn, I would almost wonder if I had imagined his fury. When he finally spoke again, he surprised me.
“I am sorry. I have not earned your trust. That is likely why you did not tell me. And so I will continue to earn it, and I can do that with my protection.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t understand. All this time you’ve mentioned trust and earning mine. Why do you pursue my trust?”
He glanced at me and then away. “If a man wants to bed a woman, the least he can do is try and earn her trust.”
Before I could speak, he undid his horse’s ties, swung up on the sleek roan, and guided her back on the road, farther ahead of our wagon.
64
NOW: TENT
That night after we finished our dinners, we went in groups down to the river and rinsed off, the same division of men and women. Fox had stumbled on a cluster of pig-belly mushrooms and we had gleefully picked them, piling them into our aprons.
“Oh, we’ll eat good tomorrow night,” Jade had sung out when the two of us returned from the river. “Those will make a fine stew. Should we invite the scouts to have some with us? In thanks of their checking on us.”
“That’s a nice idea,” Tessa said lightly and pursed her lips.
Ilsit rolled her eyes and then, in a deliberately tinny voice, said, “Should we invite the scouts so that we can thank them with stew, and thanking them is my only aim but then I can sneak off into the night and swive Keir after dinner?”
Jade was cleaning a tin cup to replace it in the crate we kept our cups and plates in. I had brought back a bucket of river water to make suds with for cleaning our dishes. She waited for Ilsit to finish speaking and then swatted her on the arm with the damp rag.
“Ow,” Ilsit whined.
“I don’t even sound like that,” Jade said dryly. “If you’re going to make jokes at my expense, you could at least do a half-decent imitation of me.”
She uses the same voice for everyone, Fox added.
“Evening,” said Reed, stepping out of the growing dark into the light of our campfire.
“Evening, scout,” said Ilsit. “What brings you by?”
He nodded down at me. “Robbie, collect your bedroll and anything you want for sleep. You’re in my tent tonight.”
None of us spoke, and then Ilsit said, “Well, that’s a bit forward, friend.”
“Bold as brass, we say in Eccleston,” Tessa agreed.
Reed gave both women a polite nod.
“I’m sleeping with you?” I asked him, mouth like a dead fish.
“As we agreed this afternoon?” he said, canting his head to one side as if trying to remind me. The slant of his brow was pronounced, as if he was trying to get me to understand something he could not say aloud.
Stammering, I stated, “Oh—oh yes!” like an idiot agreeing to an extra helping of their meal. I stood from the crate I had been sitting on and reached into the back of the wagon to gather the quilt I used as a bedroll. Then I followed Reed as he began walking towards the back of the caravan. Over my shoulder, I called out a high-pitched “Good night!” to my family, all of whom were staring at me.
Behind me I heard Ilsit explode in gales of unchecked cackling, which just unleashed Tessa’s bellow, Jade’s giggling, and Fox’s wheezing.
“Where is your tent?” I asked, hurrying, a bit out of breath.
“Oh, it’s not my tent,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
