Page 53

“Why did you not tell me you were traveling to Murwood End?” he asks.

“I might ask the same.”

His eye twitches.

I take a deep breath. “Why did you not tell me you are no Elderman?”

Aiken goes completely still.

He stares at me, and I stare back. We do not break eye contact for a long time, the swaying movements of the ship oddly comforting.

“Who told you?”

“Lady Aedre.”

“She had no right.”

“As you have no right to chastise me for keeping secrets. Father Aiken.”

He shoots up from the chair, closing the space between us so quickly I react by standing as well.

“You knew last eve.”

“Aye.”

His chest heaves in anger. And maybe something else.

“What did she tell you?”

We stand so close, the cabin both confining and warm, though not overly so.

“She told me you are no Elderman. That you aid the king, though she does not know why. That she had a vision, that I would play an important role in Murwood End. Lady Aedre convinced me to make the journey here rather than back to Breywood.”

His jaw set, Aiken says nothing.

“And then I understood,” I say, bolder than I’d intended.

“What did you understand?”

Although Aiken doesn’t move, I know well how this will end.

“I understood how a man who pledged himself to God could look at me the way you did throughout our journey to the south.”

“If you understand at all, you’ll not provoke me, Hilla.”

Nay, Aiken is wrong. I’ve lived for my sister these past years. But this night is for me.

“Provoke you?” I pretend to misunderstand, closing the distance between us. “I do nothing save answer your questions. More than you’ve ever done with me.”

His lips part.

“What is holding you back, Aiken?”

His shoulders heave with the effort of restraint.

“Tis I who is a widow of mere days. Who learned the man who captured her only posed as an Elderman. And yet you stand before me hesitant. Even though I know you want to kiss me.”

With every bold word that comes from my mouth, my shoulders pull back. My chin rises. I will not be held down any longer.