need for that yet, I trust. The harvest is nigh, and with your villeins made ill after such a visual treat as that, the food will spoil in the fields.”
It was a weak effort, but it got a ghost of a smile, anyway. “So I have an excuse for my wretched state. What of you? Have there been breaches over the curtain wall by Vandals that I am not aware of?”
“No Vandals.” Agravar paused. But breaches had been made.
“How is that little ninny, my wife’s cousin? Lord, the chit wears on my nerves. She is always looking at me as if I am a wolf about to devour her.” He held up a staying hand. “And none of your comments about my looks—I have taken a care to be very kind to her.” Glowering into his cup, he added, “I fear she is simple. And I am beginning to think it runs in the family.”
“Alayna’s maladies shall pass when the babe is safely birthed.”
“Agravar, the first time someone tried to slay me, I was sixteen years old. They have been trying ever since—men twice my size and expertly skilled in battle. And still I sit here today. However, I do not know that I will survive this.” He gave his friend a baleful glance. “Be grateful you have no woman to twist you up in knots, my friend. Aye, you are wise. Away with your conscience—tumble the three wenches who pant after you and be done with them. Then drink with your comrades at arms and be glad you own your own heart. ’Tis safest, I think, than to live in this wretched fear.”
Agravar said nothing. He had lived a lifetime of brutal neglect and abuse, yet never had he heard words more cruel. Rising, he left Lucien to his drink and his self-pity and went to fetch himself a serving of the former to wash away the sour taste of the latter.
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