‘You know where next,’ Brother Peter said irritably, taking the burden of the dishes and heading towards the kitchen. ‘Since you have been listening at the door, I assume you know where next: Venice. And Milord says that the ladies may come with us and pretend to be of our party. We are to appear as a merchant family, you two are to appear as servants.’ He paused and looked disapprovingly at the two of them. ‘In order to pass as our servants, you will have to work. You will have to carry dishes perhaps. I do hope it’s not an inconvenience to you.’

He dumped the plates on the kitchen table, ignored the flustered thanks of the innkeeper’s wife, and went up the stairs to the attic bedroom room he shared with Luca and the other travellers. Ishraq and Freize were left alone.

‘A breath of air?’ Freize suggested, gesturing to the front door and the greying sky and sea beyond.

She went out before him and he offered her his arm to walk along the quayside in a quaint careful gesture. She smiled and walked beside him, arm in arm, like a young betrothed couple. She noticed that she liked his touch, his closeness, the warmth of his arm, the gentle support as they walked across the cobbles. She felt comfortable with him, she trusted him to walk beside her.

‘The thing is,’ Freize confided, ‘the thing is, that I heard you with the infidel lord, on the quayside earlier today, and it’s somewhat disturbing, to know that he spoke to you kindly and that you responded. I know that he spoke to you in a strange language – perhaps Arabic. And I know that you answered. Then, when I asked you, you told me that he said something you couldn’t understand. Now, I don’t want to call a young lady a liar; but you can see that I would have some concerns.’

She was silent for a moment.

‘What I want to know is what he said and what you replied. And also: why you told me that he spoke too fast for you to understand?’

They took half a dozen steps before she replied to him. ‘You don’t trust me?’

He shook his head. ‘I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is that I heard him speak to you in a foreign language, and I heard you reply in the same language. But when I asked you, you denied it.’ He hesitated. ‘It would make anyone wonder. We don’t need to talk about trust. Let’s talk about wonder.’

She paused, releasing his arm. ‘You brought me out here to question me?’ she accused him.

‘Sweetheart mine, I have to know. Don’t get all agitated with me. I have to know. Because he is the enemy of the little lord’s Milord. You heard him. He said he was the worst enemy in the world. So I have to take an interest. I am sworn in love and loyalty to the little lord, and he is sworn to the rather quiet lord in the blue hood, and so I am bound to want to know what you are saying to his most deadly enemy.’