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I’m confused. “Did I do something wrong?”
“You accused me of wrongdoing with Treena, but what about you, Milla? I know the knight has been staying in your cottage. Do you believe that at all appropriate behavior? And what of this new red cloak, aye? Did he give it to you?”
A hammer hits my chest, and a noose cinches my neck. My God! What does he think of me? Does he think me a whore? Or worse?
“Jordy, Sir Victor had been hiding in a hayloft after his escape from the gallows, and he had an injury to his arm that was infected. I sutured his arm in the dead of night and did not deem it safe for him to walk back to town and sleep in dirty hay. He is the general of my army. I need him healthy and strong, so yes, I allowed him to sleep in my cottage. For two nights, just until his arm was better. That’s all. I would never take a strange man to my bed. Do you think me a harlot? Who do you think I am, exactly?”
His look is faraway. “I used to know who you were. I would wait for you to come into the bakery with your pouch and your wares, buying bread and anticipating my little surprises. I was enough for you then, but perhaps I can never be enough for you now.”
My eyes are struggling to focus, and yet I see him as clearly as the first day I laid eyes on him. I’m cold and numb, trying to comprehend his sobering wordsperhapsI can never be enough for younow.
How can your everything not be enough?
“Jordy,” I say through tears, “how can you say that?”
“Because soon I will take this sword and secure a castle that has always been yours. And it will be right and true, but then you will be someone else. You will be a queen, and I will still be Jordy.”
I take his hands and press them to my lips. I kiss his hands and his mouth and his cheeks. I kiss him until his eyes glisten, and he melts in my touch.
“I am right glad you will still be Jordy because he is the man I love, and no other.”
“You love me, a commoner?”
“There is nothing common about you, Jordy.”
He takes me in his arms and kisses me until I am dizzy. I savor the musk and spice that is his skin and the dusting of beard on his square jaw, his broad shoulders. He is my stronghold, my safe haven, all I have in the world.
“I love you, my princess,” he says into my hair. “And I have loved you forever. The hours have dragged without you in my arms, so I fear I may never put you down again.”
“Then so be it.”
But my feet do touch the ground eventually and Jordy recalls why we are back here in the first place.
“Come,” he urges. “You need to see this.”
He leads me to a stone wall in the back of the courtyard.
“There,” he says. “It’s right there.”
It is a drawn signet with the letters J and M. It has obviously been here for a long while.
“J and M,” I say. “Jordy and Milla?”
“Indeed. Compliments of a boy of about ten seasons,” Jordy replies. “I told you I have loved you forever.”
I trace the letters with my fingers. “I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen anything so perfect.”
He touches my face, trailing a finger along my cheek. “Neither have I.”
We embrace, softness against muscle, birdsong at our backs and anxiety in our hearts.
My eyes nestle into Jordy’s as he speaks, “I fear for your safety in battle, my princess.”
“And I yours,” I admit. “But I am instructed to remain close to Sir Victor, and I would advise you to do the same. I want you near me, Jordy. I can’t do this without you.”
He flashes a crooked smile that hides his teeth. “Aye, but you can. Your strength is unquenchable, Milla. But I will remain close, my princess. I may need your protection.” He winks.
“Then you shall have it, my love.”
