“If you are to be wed before I die of old age, you had better be thinking about the lovesick part,” Carlion said. “Indeed, I do know that Pargunese princess is back here again—you called her back from Falk’s Hall—”

“To convince her father I hadn’t ravaged her, yes. She’s returning to Falk’s Hall. I’m not marrying her, or any princess. I will marry a woman of Lyonya—a woman, not a girl—a woman with a sword. If my Squires were not all too young …” He looked at Arian. The look he got back from her was challenging.

“You would consider marrying someone who pinned you more than once?” Carlion asked.

Kieri laughed. “My wife—my first wife—was a soldier, as you know, and threw me more than once. And did so laughing, and laughed when I managed to outfence her. Aliam Halveric was the same with Estil, when they were younger, though she never fought in Aarenis. When I was a squire there, any time she was not big with child, she practiced, and I saw her throw Aliam into the dunghill once. None of us dared laugh, but they did.”

After practice, Arian and Garris walked back to the main palace with him. Abruptly Garris said, “Will you be riding today?”

“No,” Kieri said. “Carlion wants me for another session this afternoon, and that leaves no time for a ride.”

“Well, then, with your permission, I’ll take the mounts you rode on the trip out for exercise after lunch. I’ll just tell the Master of Horse.” Kieri nodded, and Garris strode off.

“If it is truly our ages,” Arian said.

Kieri turned his head; she did not meet his eyes. “Sorry?”

“You said we Squires were all too young for you to … consider. We are not all as young as you may think. I am not as young as you may think. Half-elven … look younger.” She looked up then. “I am not trying to ask anything of you. It is just that you should know.”

Kieri stared. He had been so sure they were all decades younger; he had struggled so hard against what he felt. “How old—?” His voice stuck in his throat.

“Fifty winters,” she said. She stopped, and he turned to face her. “My mother died two years ago; my father has gone back to the Ladysforest. He was glad to hear I had been chosen King’s Squire. He said, ‘So you’re finally growing up.’ Though he had not said so, I think he believed my time in the rangers was as much a girl’s whim as Elis’s horse farm.”

Kieri felt his heart pounding suddenly, felt the heat of his blood racing. Arian? Could it be? And if so … what did she want?

“You sent Garris away,” he said, hoping it was true.

“Yes. I said it might be a delicate conversation that no one should overhear.” Arian looked across the wide courtyard to the stables.

“You have ambushed me again,” Kieri said. “Hooked my ankle just as you did this morning—”