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"A little," I said.
Conall beamed. "Then allow me to try my own hand."
"Conall," Asterion groaned.
The Red Wolf sat up in the chair and cleared his throat.
"Come rede me, dame, come tell me, dame,
'My dame come tell me truly,
'What length o' graith, when weel ca'd hame,
'Will sair a woman duly?
The carlin clew her wanton tail,
Her wanton tail sae ready —
I learn'd a sang in Annadale,
Nine inch will please a lady. —"
It was bawdy humor, in an old, rich accent that reminded me of a time before Birsha. It was Conall grinning and flashing sharp canines, and Asterion's eyes rolling while he lifted a hand to cover his groan.
My face stretched, a curl of warmth in my belly cutting through the endless hunger, and a strange sound escaped my lips—laughter, bubbling up from some place inside of me that I thought had shriveled away long ago.
"Shh, there's two more verses," Conall said, winking at me.
CHAPTER4
A CHANGE OF PACE
Lillian kept her promise of a journey around Asterion's estate. As if to prove the minotaur's offer of my freedom, I was provided with a horse.
"Pigeon takes good care of me," Lillian said, leaning forward in her seat to stroke her own horse's neck. At a respectful distance behind us, Marius followed on a dark stallion.
I could flee now. Marius might follow me, but his attachment to his human lover was obvious, and I didn't think he would abandon her alone in the woods, even if it wasn't as isolated as it first appeared. There was another man somewhere in the shadows of the trees, watching us or guarding us.
We were in the late throes of summer, the sun setting earlier but the humid warmth remaining, bringing in frequent storms. Even today, the sky threatened rain on the way. The mare I rode was not as steady as Lillian's Pigeon, bored with our sedate pace and pulling on the reins, but she was sturdy and brilliantly white, and she'd snatched the apple I'd offered in my palm with a greed I admired.
"Horses are good judges of character," I said. Guinevere, my own mount for the day, didn't seem to know what to make of me, and I didn't blame her.
"You're not scared of them, are you?" Lillian asked.
I glanced over my shoulder at her and found her face lifted and eyes closed. Behind her, Marius followed us like a shadow.
"Horses?"
She smiled slightly. "Sorry, no, my thoughts drifted. The monsters. We assumed you would be, like the other women."
"Oh. No. I was never scared of…of a monster simply for their nature. Only that I might be taken back to Birsha," I said. Lillian hummed, and Marius must've been listening because he rode closer, catching up to her.
"How long were you trapped by him?" he asked.
I turned my back on the lovers, soaking up the view of the woods instead. There was a glitter of water somewhere ahead of us. "How long has he had a house here in England?"
"Over two centuries," Marius answered.
