He looked at her with heat and love in his blue eyes. ‘I have much to worryabout. You are everything, and yet I now realise how easy it would be to lose you.’
‘Do you trust Eldric? Because all this comes down to Eldric and his words, his ideas for you and I.’
He nodded.
‘Then stop worrying for me and my family; I worry more for you.’
‘There’s nothing to worry about with me.’
She gave an exasperated sound and took some steps away to pace the room. ‘Leaving for Spain! Leaving England and Scotland and your vow to Robert! You started spying against the King to protect him.’
Ah. It was good that they talked, and they needed to talk more. There were words he wanted to say, and she wasn’t going to like them. Alice fought to the death for those she cared about. And...he felt his heart swell...she cared forhim.
‘I won’t be breaking my vow to Robert,’ he said, and waited for his words to be understood.
She stopped and clenched her hands. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I can pass information from Spain. I’ll work together with Eldric and we’ll continue with the Half-Thistle Seal.’
Her hands flew apart. ‘No!’
Hugh crossed the room and entwined her hands with his own. ‘Imustcontinue. There are too many changes in the world, too many chances. I can’t sit idly by while others sacrifice themselves—’
She jerked her hands away. ‘But you’ll be free from all that. We’ll leave your sword, the horn, a few pieces of our clothing. It will be as if we died. If we don’t stay hidden you might be recognised, and then what? What of our children?’
‘Children?’ He choked the word out as if his throat closed on him.
‘Youhaveto know we’ll have them. They’ll be at risk.’
‘I cannot break my vow.’
‘But this plan includes marrying me. To do so you need to be alive. You jeopardise our lives by doing this.’
‘I have already said I feel like a coward for going into hiding, I can’t just abandon my friend, my honour.’
‘Did Robert feel like a coward because he fakedhisdeath?’
Hugh rubbed a hand down his face and across his nape. She was right, and Robert had never cowered from anything or anyone.
‘It doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe I’m wrong—maybe in this way I am flawed—but I know that if I turn my back on that vow it will be something I cannot recover from.’
Suddenly she stilled, and a look softened her eyes. ‘I’m not trying to fix you. You’re still unflawed to me.’
‘I don’t understand—why are you arguing with this then?’
Tears welled in her eyes, and he felt every one of them even before she said the words.
‘Because I love you. Because I finally have you, and we have a future. I don’t want it to—’
He took the necessary steps and pulled her into his arms. ‘It won’t end. This is our beginning. This is new for you, but I’ve been here before. There are risks—’
‘Yes, there are risks. I don’t know how good a spy you are if the King suspects you—and now you say you’ll continue?’
‘I have to. I meant it when I said I regretted those lost years without you. The years you helped people here—I would have liked to help along with you. I liked that day at the barn, and I intend to have more of those days with you.’
He did understand her need to help; he wanted toshareit with her. ‘I do, too. Which is why I want you to stop. Which is why—’
‘What?’ Hugh said, at her sudden pause.
