“I can only guess.” She twisted around and slammed her palm against the wall. “Catjsa. That woman…” Shaking her head, she turned back to Dell. “You’re lucky Orlo didn’t kill you for whatever you did with his wife—”

He threw his hands up. “I didn’t do anything! I can’t help it if she can’t keep her hands off me.”

Mari advanced. “Dell, you’re a sweet boy, but sometimes I think all this fighting has scrambled your brains.” She bent down and gripped his chin. “This face, that bloody smile of yours, they’re weapons and they will be turned on you time and again.”

“Aw, Mari, you trying to tell me you think I’m beautiful?”

She released him and stepped back with a huff. “Do you take anything seriously? You’re a Tenyson, Dell.” She placed a palm over her heart. “The only one with anything in here since your dear father passed. I don’t want you to be taken advantage of by those wanting to start trouble.” Mari and Corban knew who he was even though Edmund did not. He couldn’t help that. She’d seen the Tenyson crest his brother burned into his foot when he was eleven years old.

He climbed from the bed and stood, his tall frame towering over her. Putting a hand on each of her shoulders, he bent to look her in the eye. “Don’t worry about me.”

She gripped his wrists and sighed. “I’ll always worry as if you were my own son. I’m not the only one either.”

He released her and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “I don’t know why Edmund bothers. He’s not even Madran. He—”

She interrupted him. “You don’t know the kind of things that man has accomplished. If he sees something in you, it’s because you’re meant for more than scrubbing decks and cleaning stalls.”

There’d been a time when he wanted more. A family. A piece of land to farm. His life with his mother had been simple. They lived in the countryside near a small village. They never had much, but it was a good life.

He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. “I need to wash this grime off my skin. Mind if I head out back.”

“Make sure you aren’t seen.”

He walked from the back room to a separate part of the building where a door led to an alley. The stiff reek of urine hit him as soon as the wind shifted, but he probably smelled just as bad.