Shadows and Light

mug. They’d found enough fresh streams on the journey to keep supplied with water, but the ale created a different kind of thirst, and it wasn’t one he could afford to indulge when it was already so hard to keep his wits sharp. After taking another sip of ale, he put a thick slice of cheese on a piece of fresh bread, folded it one-handed, then bit into it.
    “If the ale isn’t to your liking, I could get you something else,” Breanna said as he finished the first piece of bread and cheese.
    He smiled as he put more cheese and bread together. “It’s better ale than I’ve tasted in a good many days. But if I drink it as heartily as I’d like, I’ll likely be asleep before the last swallow.”
    She didn’t smile back. Just studied him. ‘Tell me something, Bard.“
    He stiffened, then gave her a rueful look. After all, he was the one who had told her he was the Bard.
    “Are you wandering without two coins to rub together because you don’t entertain well enough to earn a purse when you play, or has it really been a hard road?”
    He set the bread and cheese back on the plate, his appetite gone. “We’re very good entertainers. We just haven’t had the heart to play in the past few days.”
    “Then I’m sorry that your heart holds your hands and voice captive.”
    It always does, Aiden thought. But it usually speaks its truth through the songs. “Mistress Breanna, there are things I should tell you about what is happening in the eastern villages, things your family especially needs to be on guard against.”
    “Then you’ll tell us,” Breanna replied. “But they’ll keep for a little while.” She turned her head toward the kitchen. “First you’ll have your bath and a bit of a rest. After the evening meal will be soon enough for us to listen to what you need to say.”
    Would a few hours make so much difference? They could. If the Black Coats came riding up to this house, they could.
    Please, let me die. Please.
    A shudder went through him. He reached out, not quite touching Breanna. “As grateful as I am for your hospitality, I beg you, Mistress Breanna, be careful who you welcome into your house. Be wary of strangers, especially men—especially if there’s more than one of them. Keep your warding spells strong.
    Please. Evil is riding the roads these days, wearing the faces of men.”
    He watched her face pale a little. Then he wondered if he’d been too abrupt. She seemed to go away from him, her thoughts focused elsewhere.
    A moment later, she focused on him again. “Come along,” she said briskly. “I’ll find you some clothes to wear so that yours can get washed.”
    He followed obediently through the house until she showed him into a guest room that had a corner screened off as a bathing area.

    “Your lady is in the adjoining room,” Breanna said. “I suggest you knock. I also suggest you wear something more than a towel before you enter.”
    He pushed his dirty hair away from his face. Mother’s tits, he was looking forward to being able to soak himself clean. “I understand. I wouldn’t want to distress the ladies.”
    Breanna just looked at him, wide-eyed. Then she grinned. “Oh, you wouldn’t be distressing them. I’m sure Gran and Elinore would enjoy the opportunity to admire a handsome man, but being the object of their attention while wearing something that could become unknotted at any moment might be distressing to you.”
    He could picture it. And he could almost hear the tune that would go with the song about a man caught in just such a position. Have to have plenty of instrumental bridges for the laughter to die down before the next verse, and—
    He was suddenly aware that Breanna was watching him.
    “Makes a fine picture, doesn’t it?” she said.
    He winced at the purely female amusement in Breanna’s voice. He could barely hear the tune and didn’t have one line of the lyrics yet, but he knew exactly what tone of voice Lyrra would use when she sang her part of that song-to-be.
    Laughing, Breanna left the room, closing the door gently behind her.
    He quickly stripped out of his clothes, leaving them where they fell, and hurried behind the screen. More than just a hip bath. A good-size tub filled with water.
    He’d just settled into the tub, sighing with pleasure, when a brisk knock was immediately followed by the bedroom door opening.
    “Aiden?”
    “Breanna?” He looked around for some way to cover himself, even though he couldn’t see her