“They usually are.”
Geoffrey watched me with an expression I couldn’t entirely decipher. Something careful. Interested.
“You’ll need to learn to ride properly eventually,” he added. “Actual horses. Not decorative park horses.”
“Is that an offer?”
“It’s practicality. If you’re going to remain useful to this family, you need mobility.”
I glanced sideways at him. “You’re going to regret laughing at me.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” He turned toward the castle before I could answer.
I was almost certain he was smiling.
* * *
Over the following days our conversations began stretching beyond strategy and survival.
We spent mornings reviewing political developments and household accounts in the great hall. Evenings were less structured. Geoffrey would find me walking the castle walls after supper, and we’d talk until the torches burned low and the guards began pretending not to notice we were still there.
“Tell me about Boston,” he said one evening as we stood overlooking the Thames. “The city you came from.”
“It’s a port city,” I said. “Much larger than Thames Castle. Millions of people.”
Geoffrey looked openly skeptical.
“Millions?”
“Yes. There are buildings taller than anything I can reasonably explain to you. Transportation that moves without horses, devices you can use to talk to people in other countries. Flying carriages. Electricity.”
“Magic.”
“Science,” I corrected automatically. “Just science advanced far enough to appear impossible.”
“And women are educated there.”
I squinted at him. “Yes.”
“Wealthy women?” He tilted his head to watch me.
“All women.”
He went quiet at that.
“That seems impossible.”
“What seems impossible to me is a world where women can be imprisoned at male discretion,” I pointed out. “Perspective matters.”
“But you’ve adapted to it.”
“Because the alternative is probably execution,” I said dryly. “That isn’t acceptance. It’s survival.”
Something shifted briefly across his expression then. Not offense exactly. Thoughtfulness.
“You’re planning to return,” he said after a moment.
The question caught me unexpectedly off guard.
