William planned to return to the topic in a few days, after it had cooled. In the meanwhile he could massage a relationship with de Lacy, but that only took a few hours of each day. A few more were spent familiarizing himself with the castle, the city, and the major issues of each. The remainder of his time—to his own surprise—was consumed by thinking about Arable, searching for her, then pretending he wasn’t. He wondered how heavy a role her presence played in his decision to stay. The invitation he’d written for her to join him in the stables had started off as a fantastical seed too silly to even think on, until he found himself throwing caution to the wind and making the preparations.

How much worse for Robin, he thought, stuck in the woods with the refugees. William had a warm bed and civilization, while he had—

—the ladder creaked beside him, and suddenly Arable’s dark curls filled the space right next to his head.

“William,” she said, pausing her ascent.

“Hi,” he returned.

He tried not to glance at the scars on her cheeks. The only light came from the waning moon and the open space above, which made the world safe and soft. Unbelievably cold, but safe and soft.

“You know we have three stables in the castle.” She cocked an eyebrow.

“I did not know that.” Well that was a miscalculation. “Huh.”

“Yeah.” Her lips were tight, her face cold. “You’re lucky I found you.”

“I am.” He gave the words every bit of importance they deserved, pleased with how easily she had set him up for it. He let it linger, and for just a moment her façade cracked into a smile. She scrunched her face, those adorable wrinkles on her nose, but instantly hissed in pain and pressed one wounded cheek to her shoulder.

He instinctively reached out to her. “Oh God, I’m sorry!”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Don’t smile,” he said, unsure how to make it any better. “Don’t react, to anything I say. Just stare at me, blankly, I won’t be offended.”

She tried to do this, but her wide-eyed attempt at a stare made him laugh, which forced her to look away. “Stop it!” she said, suppressing another smile.

He watched her, taking in her face, so easily transported back over the years. It was embarrassing how young he felt, how unsure of himself, how childish for him to invite her here in the first place. She might have taken it the wrong way, or been offended. He had not seen much of her in his few days back at the castle, and certainly not enough to know what burdens she still carried from their lifetime ago. But his gut told him this was right. It was as if they could pick up from precisely where they left off, erasing the empty years that separated them.