He burst out laughing. Corisande smiled broadly, a big dimple in her right cheek, as she handed him the lamp.
“As much as I would like to continue this conversation, I am afraid that I must tend a soldier with an infected wound,” she said, holding up the growth in her hand. “That is why I came to collect the moss. But it was most agreeable speaking with you, Cole. I am glad we had the opportunity.”
His gaze lingered on her. “As am I,” he said. “And it will not be the last time.”
“I hope not.”
With a bashful smile, she turned and headed out of the stable, leaving Cole standing there with the lamp in his hand and a big grin on his face.
Nay, it wouldn’t be the last time he talked to her.
Not in the least.
CHAPTER SIX
“What is thematter with you?”
The words were mumbled. Cole thought he was the only one awake, but he was mistaken.
Cole, Addax, and Essien were all sleeping in the same chamber in the knight’s quarters of The Keld. It was the largest room in the block, with three beds crammed into it simply because all of the other chambers were full. It wasn’t that The Keld had so many knights, because the de Bourne brothers slept in the keep, but it was the simply the fact that the space was needed for the soldiers, so the knight’s quarters really wasn’t full of knights.
It was full of soldiers.
But Cole didn’t realize that until it was time to go to bed and the servant who attended the men in the knight’s quarters was apologetic and offered to kick some of the soldiers out of their smaller chambers, but Cole waved the man off. They were only going to be there for the night, so it really didn’t matter. He went to bed along with Essien and Addax in the same chamber, but he had ended up lying awake most of the night listening to their snores.
Or, so he thought.
Addax was awake, too.
“What makes you think anything is wrong?” Cole muttered softly, turning to see Addax laying on his belly, looking at him. “Why are you awake?”
Addax lifted his head. “Because you have been laying there, sighing all night,” he said. He sighed heavily a few times just for effect. “By the Gods, Cole, you sound like someone is punching you in the belly every few minutes and your breath is being expelled at an alarming rate. What is the matter with you?”
Cole looked at the man for a moment before returning his focus to the ceiling. He’d been staring at it for hours as he lay flat on his back. Staring, thinking… after a moment, he sighed heavily, realizing for the first time that he was doing it.
“You see?” Addax said. “There you go again. Are you ill?”
Cole pursed his lips wryly. “Nay,” he said. “I am not ill.”
“Are you in pain?”
“Nay.”
Addax rolled his eyes. “You will be the next time you sigh like that and do not tell me what the issue is.”
Cole grinned, lopsided. “I do not even know where to start.”
“Then thereisa problem?”
Cole didn’t say anything for a moment. “Ad, let me ask you a question.”
“Ask, my friend.”
“What do you think of Audie?”
Addax looked at him curiously. “Audie? Lady Audrie?”
“Aye. You know her nickname is Audie.”
