‘I’m eighteen years old, Mistress Blackthorn. A man grown. I have my own cart, bought from my earnings in the horse trading business, and my own pair of cart horses. Tinker and Treasure, they’re called. I travel with my whole family: Mam, my brothers and sisters, my aunties and uncles and cousins. We follow the same pattern every year. Spend spring and summer in the south, come north in the autumn. I know my trade; I make good sales and my dealings are always fair. I can provide for Ness.’ When I said nothing, he went on, ‘I know Ness has funds of her own now. But she won’t be needing those for the everyday. What we thought . . .’ He hesitated.

‘Go on.’ I could not find fault with anything he’d said so far. I hoped this odd feeling I had was not disappointment.

‘The prince . . . Emer told me what he said at the council, when that fellow, the wretch who hurt Ness, was brought to account.’ Abhan’s voice was uneven; his jaw tightened. ‘She said the prince was very fair. She said that he was kind to her, and that he told the folk they should have seen earlier that something was wrong. She said he spoke well of Ness. What we thought, Ness and I, was that we would go to Winterfalls for his next council and ask to talk to him in private. Get his advice about Ness’s payment. We want to put it away safe somewhere.’

‘For what purpose?’

‘In case she changes her mind,’ he said simply. ‘Not about marrying me; she says she’ll never do that. But if she doesn’t take to the travelling life. It’s not for everyone, Mistress Blackthorn. Some folk can’t be happy without a nest, same place to rest their head every night. And though Ness says she’ll be fine as long as I’m there, she hasn’t tried it yet. If she’s not content with it, we’ll use some of her money to buy a place and settle. I can turn my hand to a few things. I’d find work.’

‘Really? Is it not just as hard for a travelling man to settle in one place as it is for a girl like Ness to take to life on the road?’

We had reached a wall that marked off the bottom of Mór’s garden. Beyond lay a field with sheep grazing. Abhan stopped walking and faced me, his eyes as clear as the water of a pool in springtime. ‘I’d give my life for her, Mistress Blackthorn, I swear it. Settling down, going to work as a farrier or groom, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But Ness says she’ll be fine on the road. She likes my mam and my sisters, and she says going south will make it easier to put what’s happened behind her.’