Page 14 of To Desire

Chapter 8

“Ahot meal and two rooms, if it pleases you,” he said to the innkeeper, spotting her immediately.

Though Edlyn’s husband had died many years ago, during the same sickness that took Darien’s mother, she had maintained his family’s legacy here, as a haven for traveling nobles. It was lucrative for her, and much appreciated. Though he’d passed through before, it was the first time Darien found the need to rely on their famed discretion.

“It would please me more if you would introduce me to your companion,” the old woman replied, wiping her knotted hands on an already dusty apron. Despite the late hour of their arrival, if he smelled correctly, that was freshly baked bread dust she wore.

Liana was watching Edlyn carefully.

“Are not those the precise questions I pay good coin for you not to ask?” he teased.

“You know well, my lord, my discretion does not extend to personal curiosity.”

“Edlyn, this is Margot, my scribe. Margot, meet the innkeeper of this fine establishment.”

Though she did not believe him for a moment, Edlyn greeted Liana all the same. After walking them to a corner table in the great room of the inn, which was smaller than most but well furnished and clean, she scurried away, swatting a serving maid on her backside. Apparently, that was Edlyn’s way of sending the maid to their table.

As he and Liana sat, the young girl asked if they wished for ale or wine.

After Darien ordered two ales—Liana had surprised him with her request—the maid scurried away.

“A feisty one, is she not?”

“Edlyn? Aye. The first time I met her, my father had been taking me to a tournament. He refused to allow me to enter, but I’d convinced him to attend. She scared me more than any knight in attendance.”

“Is she married?”

“A widow. She has been the sole proprietor for many years.”

As the serving girl returned with two mugs and a tankard of ale and poured them, Liana rubbed her hands together. They sat not far from the hearth, a welcome respite after a day that had grown colder than most. Even in the few days since Darien had made the journey to his home, the coming winter began to rear its head.

“The world is not often kind to a woman alone. I admire her,” Liana said. “A thriving inn, tucked away as it is, can be no small feat to achieve.”

As they drank, Darien’s eyes darted to the few patrons scattered throughout the room. None appeared to be paying them any mind, a good thing, as it were.

“And yet, that is the path you choose?”

Liana’s cheeks, still pink from the cold, became even more pink. With her cloak removed, Liana’s deep green traveling gown cut low enough for her mark to show clearly, and Darien had some difficulty not looking at it. Not looking at her lips, wondering if she’d been kissed before. Not wanting to marry did not preclude being with a man.

By God, she was lovely.

“As I said⁠—”

“’Tis complicated.” He waved his arms. “We’ve naught to do but drink and eat and talk. Tell me.”

“And sleep.” She laughed. “I am as tired as I have ever been before. I am unused to a full day of riding.”

“But you are, it seems, accustomed to circumnavigating discussions you wish to avoid?”

She chuckled, the sound one that he could become accustomed to hearing. “When you live with a woman whose intuition is as strong as her reading skills, such a thing becomes necessary.”

He would not relent. “It is not necessary with me.”

Liana took it as a jest, but it wasn’t meant as one.

“You are the earl’s son,” she said finally, just as two bowls of stew were placed in front of them. And bread, thankfully.

“And you are the seer’s daughter.”