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He got up and pulled his pants up and buttoned the top. He grinned. “Done. Already dressed!”

I rolled my eyes. “Torin, you cannot get used to doing that, for most sex you’re going to need your clothes off, no shoes.” He laughed.

I used the pitcher and bowl with a rag that smelled clean enough to wash myself all over. Laughing to myself that it was a ‘whore’s bath.’

“What ye laughing on?”

“That I’m giving myself a whore’s bath.”

I put the rag between my legs and Torin’s eyes went wide. “Och nae, daena compare yourself tae a harlot on yer wedding night, mo leannan, ye are m’wife not a…” He shivered. “I canna even say it.”

“But yet you can compare me to a battlefield?”

“Tis totally different. Tae plant m’banner on yer field is glorious, but ye being a harlot?” He shivered again. “Nae, I daena like it. Ye are m’perfect wife, bonny and sweet.”

“Okay, my love, I won’t compare myself to anything unsavory.” I wrung out the rag, then dropped it to the table. “We are learning a lot about each other. I really like going on long journeys with you, and don’t take this the wrong way, but the first three days are always great, but now, my love… we need to get home.” I pulled my coat-dress on. “Max will be here, right? This is your meeting place?”

He stood at the bowl and washed his hands, rubbing water up and down his face and splashing it on his hair and slicking it back. “Aye, tis… but not exactly here, this inn is not the same inn, we meet at the inn in Dollar up the road a bit, but I daena think it exists in this time.”

I pouted, twisting my hair up in the back. “So we will have to look for him.”

He nodded as he pulled on his coat, wincing briefly as he did, and smoothed it down.

“Or do we need to stay put and wait for him to find us?” I pulled the veil over my head and pinned it, continuing, “Well, we will tell everyone we meet who we are, and check all the inns. We will spread the word that we are here.”

“Ye are worried about what is tae come.”

“And when I’m nervous I talk.”

“Daena worry, Princess, yer brother will come for us, he haena ever let me down.”

He chuckled. “Well, sometimes, but he winna let me down this time, because, as I said before…” He rolled his hand.

“You’re with his sister.”

“Aye, he will come if he can.”

I gulped. “If he can…?” I rubbed my temples.

He put out his arm. “We will feel better once we eat.”

39

ALEXANDRIA

1308 - A MEAL IN THE COMMON ROOM

The stair into the common room was uneven. Heat and noise rose to meet us — the now familiar peat-smoke, bitter ale, wet wool, a pot of porridgy something, a scent I had grown to associate with a meal though it was not a good smell in the contemporary way, bubbling somewhere out of sight. The stair creaked and moaned under our steps.

The rain outside was constant and loud. But it made the inside feel cozy. A very dim afternoon light came through the open door in a dirty gray stripe across the packed-earth floor. A fire glowed in the hearth. About five men sat over mugs. There was one other woman in the place, and she was serving, moving between the tables, laughing and sassing as waitresses often do.

Torin found us a bench against the wall and we sat side by side, close enough that our shoulders touched. I put my head on his shoulder, still feeling warm with satiation. “I love you, Torin.”

“Good. Ye will need tae be verra fond of me when ye see the fare this inn is goin’ tae provide for us.”

I said, “I will be happy with anything.”

He scoffed. “Princess, I daena think that is true.”