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We turned to him slowly. Clearly he was trying to calm us both down.
“Thank you,” I said, trying to smile. I sat down on the bench across from him with my back to the room, trying not to think about all of the eyes that were still on me.
“No one is looking,” Galahad said softly. He met my eyes. “Almost no one,” he admitted, with a grin.
“They’re just not used to seeing you. Really seeing you,” Lancelet complained, settling herself on the bench beside me. Evidently no apology would be forthcoming. “They know you mix with us more than the king does, but by the Three, must you always be hiding under that hood?”
I bit my tongue. I wasn’t going to keep making a fuss about what she did. I also wasn’t going to pull my hood back up and show weakness, to Lancelet or to Kairos Draven. My gray braid hung against my back, almost painfully heavy. I tried not to think of how I must look.
Like an old crone, as Florian had said.
I was a twenty-year-old girl with hair that made her look like a grandmother.
But what did it matter? Soon I’d be a celibate priestess at the Temple of the Three.
I couldn’t help stealing a glance past Lancelet’s shoulder. Kairos Draven had taken a seat at the bar. He sat alone. There was already a tankard in front of him and he sipped from it slowly, his eyes on his glass, not the room. Certainly not on me.
Once again, I was beneath his notice.
I turned back to my friends, and picked up the pitcher, filling the mug in front of me.
“Oooh, she’s going to drink with us,” Lancelet exclaimed with glee.
“Where is your paramour?” I inquired, lifting the glass to my lips. I was glad it wasn’t a medicine night or the liquor would probably have caused my head to explode. But fortunately, I was spared until tomorrow.
Lancelet shrugged. “She didn’t last.”
I raised my eyebrows. “She didn’t last?”
Lancelet smirked. “Very well. There is another. More charming, more beautiful...”
“Oh, by the Three, Lancelet,” Galahad groaned. “Can you show no loyalty to a woman for more than a week?”
Lancelet seemed affronted. “It’s not as if we made vows. We’re young. This is how it should be.” She gave me a significant look. “For all of us.”
“Not Galahad,” I reminded her. “He’s making vows.”
“Making, not made. He could still enjoy himself if he chose. There’s no explicit rule against it.”
“Well, I don’t choose,” Galahad said sweetly, taking another sip from his mug. “And I am enjoying myself just as I am, let me assure you. My loyalty is pledged, utterly and completely.”
Lancelet shook her head as if in disgust. “Pledged to three women. I remember a time when youlikedboys.”
“I still do like them,” he protested. “I simply don’t need them in that way. This is quite different.”
“You can’t tell me that a nebulous goddess can fill the place of a warm naked body in your bed at night,” Lancelet argued, refusing to give in. “There’s no comparison.”
I shifted uncomfortably on the bench.
Lancelet turned back to me. “And you. You have no such excuse. You might be doing whatever you like. At least until...”
“Yes, until.” I met her eyes. “What is the point? It can go nowhere.”
She looked speechless for a moment. “Nowhere? Morgan, you truly are an innocent if you think a night in a beautiful woman’s bed–or a beautiful man’s for that matter, since it’s your preference– is ‘going nowhere.’ Try it just once for yourself and then come and tell me that.”
“I think Morgan means, what if she developed feelings?” Galahad says quietly.
“Then she would deal with them.” Lancelet shrugged lightly. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
