‘I don’t see how I can stay.’ Donagan’s tone was odd; he bent down to scratch Bramble behind the ears, perhaps so he need not meet my eye.

‘Tell me why. Speak honestly, as you used to.’

He did look at me then, and I knew him well enough to see that he was as deeply unhappy as I was. ‘Best if I don’t, Oran.’

I grasped for an explanation. ‘Is it because you see no future for yourself if you stay with me? No wife and children of your own, because you will always be at my beck and call?’

‘Of course not, Oran, that’s ridiculous! Have you forgotten that my mother and father both serve in your parents’ household, and have done since before I was born? Half your retainers here are married folk with families.’

‘What, then?’ If he brought up the subject of my nocturnal activities with Flidais, I was not sure what I would say. I had asked my friend to be honest. To be completely honest myself would be to expose Flidais’s behaviour, and that felt . . . dishonourable. If I had said no to her from the first, I would have been on stronger ground.

‘I can’t talk about it. Not here.’ Donagan glanced around the chamber. Nobody else was there, but he was right, this was not the ideal place for a private conversation.

My instincts told me not to suggest we talk in my bedchamber. ‘Then put down your bag, to reassure me that you’re not going to bolt until we’ve talked about this, and come out walking with me. We’ll find somewhere far from prying eyes and listening ears, and you can explain yourself. I can’t just let you go.’

He didn’t want to come with me, I could see it. But he put down his bag and we went outside. Bramble danced around us, and I wished I could experience the same uncomplicated joy a dog feels at something as simple as a walk with a friend. If I managed to persuade Donagan to stay, I would never, ever take him for granted again.

Neither of us said a word until we reached the burial ground, the spot where I had found Bramble on the day she ran away. There we sat down on a bench, side by side, and the little dog hunkered down by my feet, content to rest after her second long walk for the morning.

‘I thought you were riding to Silverlake today,’ Donagan said.