I would be too. Hell, I am scared. I was a prisoner in Corwin, even if I don’t remember all of it—and don’t want to. I know what the Cutters are, and Boise’s in bed with them. Not so sure about God being the way Mom thought, but the Devil? You betcha.

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the polished wooden tray.

Mary sat up and murmured thanks as well, reaching for a cup.

“Luncheon will be in an hour, my lord, my lady; en famille, in the gazebo court. Lord de Grimmond said to tell you that everyone you want to contact immediately will be there.”

“Lord de Stafford?”

“He’s gone, my lord. He left his regards and said he had to get back to his main force to make sure everything was ready. He didn’t say ready for what, my lord.”

She bobbed a curtsy and left, with the quick step of someone who has important work waiting.

“What time did we get to bed?” he said, rubbing his face, doing it carefully because of a couple of bruises. “I feel indecent, lying up this late. There’s a lot to do.”

Mary made an indelicate slurping sound as she sipped the hot tea; he followed suit. The acrid-sweet liquid seemed to clear the cobwebs from his mind, enough for him to notice that there was a bandage on his right forearm, and from the dull ache underneath a couple of stitches, not quite sharp enough to be real pain. It was a familiar feeling, and a familiar place—that was the most vulnerable part of a swordsman’s anatomy and he had the white scar lines on his skin to prove it, this would just be one more. You could wear a vambrace, but he’d always thought the minute loss of speed wasn’t worth it most of the time.

He worked the fingers, testing the feeling in his arm and the degree of play; nothing serious, and he could use it hard at a pinch, though ideally he’d wait a few days before putting any strain on it.

“When did we go to bed or when did we get to sleep?” Mary asked, working her eyebrows and grinning. “As I recall, you weren’t that tired. At first.”

“Well, a soldier learns to—”

“Sleep and eat and whatever, whenever he can. I am a Ranger, darling. Same saying. C’mon, they’ve got showers here. Solar heating system, all the hot water we want on tap.”

“Didn’t we shower last night?”

“How often do you get the chance? Without waiting for the water to heat, even?”

“Point,” he said. “Very definite point. Have to keep this bandage dry somehow, though.”

“I’ll soap and rinse and dry you again. Thoroughly, very thoroughly. And whatever.”