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‘I should lock it up, else you may become a sozzled old hag and permanently in your cups.’ Wolfric came forward and stroked a hand down her face. ‘I’d hate to see you lose your bloom, and what a bloom it is, Orla Munro.’ He had a strange look in his eye.
Orla jumped back. ‘If I am drinking, you have driven me to it.’
‘Oh, I doubt that. I think you were well on the way before I happened along.’ He laughed and went back to grooming Brutus. ‘And at least now, you do not drink alone, lass.’
No, she drank with him before he placed himself inside her shuddering body.
‘So tell me. Why are you here?’ he said.
She squirmed like a fish on a hook. ‘Getting a horse to go riding,’ said Orla, squaring her chin. ‘I want to explore.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?
‘Because it is not safe, and I forbid it.’
‘I can look after myself, and I do not need your protection or permission.’
‘Aye, you do, and there will be no more discussion on this subject.’
Orla bit her lip. She had to stand up to Wolfric, but how? ‘After last night, I thought maybe I could have some freedom,’ she ventured.
He swallowed hard. ‘Ah. So you thought that sacrificing your virtue would buy you some favour?’
‘The loss of virtue means something to a woman, even if it means nothing to you.’
Wolfric’s hand stopped moving, and he hung his dark head.
Black hair against her face, stubble grazing her chin as he entered her body and stung her further down.
‘That is not true, Orla, and don’t come in here picking a fight you cannot win.’
‘Why shouldn’t I go riding? Did you not go out this morning to pick a fight with those redcoats?
Wolfric froze. ‘Don’t concern yourself with my movements, lass.’
‘Why not? Are those soldiers not a threat to our safety?’
‘Since when was it our safety? You care nothing for Blackreach, nor anyone in it.’
He was right. Orla twisted her hands into her skirts. ‘Well, we are wed, so I suppose my fate is now tied to yours.’
‘Aye. But that doesn’t mean we have to, how did you put it, ‘pretend to share confidences?’ Your words, not mine. So I will keep my counsel on where I was and what I was doing, and you will not go riding this day.’
His broad hand swept down on the horse’s shiny coat, again and again. Orla could not tear her eyes away from them as though her anger and frustration had frozen her to the spot. Those same hands had been all over her body last night, and now he was treating her like this. She stood awkwardly, not knowing how to proceed.
‘Why are you grooming your own horse? Do you not have a terrified stable lad to do that?’ said Orla taking a step towards Brutus.
‘Terrified?’ Wolfric frowned and stepped between her and the beast. ‘Keep your distance from Brutus. If you get too close, you’ll get a nasty bite.’
‘I’ve suffered worse,’ she said, meeting his gaze.
Wolfric sighed and shook his head. ‘Then why did you let me do it?
‘What?’
‘Share your bed last night. That is what you are referring to, is it not? Have you not come to berate me for being a dirty despoiler, Orla. Am I not to get a tongue-lashing for taking your virtue?’
