Page 47 of The Scot

Chapter 20

“You asked her . . . can you repeat that?”

It was the first time Terric had smiled all day. There was little to be joyful about when planning a defense against a force that might be, by their reckoning, nearly twice as large as theirs. The other men had left the solar for the evening, dismissed by Terric, but he’d asked Lance to stay back.

“I asked for Roysa’s permission to court her.”

“Court? As in for consideration of marriage?”

The jest among the four men of the order was that Lance was as even-tempered as Conrad was mercurial. Lance very rarely raised his voice, and Terric took some pleasure in the fact that he’d inspired him to do so.

“Have you ever courted a woman with the intent for anything but?”

Lance poured himself the first ale of the day. The pitcher had been delivered to them earlier by the same maid who kept appearing, it seemed, everywhere Terric went.

“I’ve never courted a woman,” Lance said, “and you know as much.” Giving Terric his back, he meandered toward the enormous hearth.

This had always been Terric’s favorite chamber at Dromsley. It reminded him of the lord’s chamber at Bradon Moor. Large but not obscenely so. Well appointed, though simple.

“Aye, thank you,” Terric quipped. “I would gladly accept an ale.”

Lance looked over his shoulder. “I was distracted,” he said, by way of an explanation.

Terric stood and made his way to the bright red table built into the wall. He grabbed the pitcher, poured, and waited for his friend to speak.

“She is . . . ,” Lance began.

Sitting back down, Terric watched Lance as he became accustomed to the idea.

“You told me once—not long ago, if I recall—that you’d not have peace until your mother and sister were avenged.”

“Aye.”

Lance came back from the hearth, sitting across from him. “You know, we always wondered at the fact that you were so much bigger and stronger at each of the tournaments.”

“As we all were.”

“True. But you were, are, different.”

“I am the only one with Scots blood,” he said with a grin. “And therefore, the only true man among us.”

Lance made a face.

“You trained harder. Longer. That summer was the last one any of us saw that boy with arms and legs the size of his sword.”

The reminder was a sharp one. He’d been too small to help Cait, too weak. If the other boys hadn’t been there, the outcome would have been quite different.

“Thankfully,” he said, his tone a bit hard. “But I don’t understand what this has to do with Roysa.”

“It’s true, I was not looking for love when I met Idalia.”

“I should think not. You could have devastated our mission by seducing Stanton’s daughter.”

Lance ignored him.

“I don’t believe Guy was looking for love either.”

Snorting, Terric declined to respond. Instead, he said, “I did not say I’m in love with Lady Roysa.”