The Reckless Oath We Made(40)

“My lady, I doubt not thy virtue, but thou art weary, and ’tis my custom to bear it thus,” he said.

“I don’t know what that has to do with my virtue.”

He frowned. I was going to at least offer to close the tailgate and topper but he did a slow rotation so he could reach them with his left hand.

“Thy virtue. Thy strength.”

“Is that what virtue means? I thought it meant something else,” I said, but he didn’t explain.

All that stuff must have weighed a lot. Enough that his right arm where he was using it to stabilize the weight on his shoulder was flexed tight.

“I didn’t know you were taking me to the gun show.” As soon as I said it, I could tell he didn’t understand. He turned and tilted his head in that cute, doggy look of confusion.

“My lady?” He was standing there holding all that stuff, waiting for me to explain.

“Gun show, like your arms are your guns. It’s just a saying. I only meant because your arms are so big. Whatever.”

For a few seconds he looked even more confused, and then he smiled and turned back around.

“’Tis nigh dark. Thou must admire my arms and walk in the same while,” he said.

I hoped it was a joke, because I laughed. Walking behind him at dusk, it wasn’t like I could see his arms, but going up the hill it was hard not to notice that he had calf muscles like softballs.

As we came up the path, I could see a bonfire and some sort of a Hobbit house with a grass roof. I hadn’t known what to expect, but I wasn’t sure why we needed a tent, if there was a house. When we got to the fire, two people stood up to greet us. A man and a woman, who was wearing a nightgown.

“Sir Gentry!” the man said. “Ever true to your word. We had begun to worry that you were delayed.”

Then they saw me.

“You brought a guest!” the woman said.

Even with all that stuff balanced on his shoulder, Gentry bowed and said, “I present to you Lady Zhorzha. My lady, these folk been Sir Edrard, long my friend and brother-in-arms, and his wife, Dame Rosalinda.”

“Lady Zhorzha! Welcome!” they said.

When Sir Edrard came around the fire, I put out my hand, meaning to shake, but he took it and bowed over it, the same way Gentry did. Dame Rosalinda curtseyed to me, and since I didn’t know how that worked, I waved.

“I shall make ready the pavilion,” Gentry said.

I would have been just as happy to help set up the tent, but I stayed there and made polite conversation. Sitting around the fire, I could see Edrard and Rosalinda a little better. Gentry wasn’t all that tall, but they were adorable little gnome people. Edrard had a thick curly mustache and beard, and Rosalinda had Princess Leia hair.

I took the water they offered me and, when I asked, Rosalinda led me into the woods, where I expected to have to squat, but there was an actual outhouse. When we got back to the fire, Gentry was talking to Edrard about sledging stones. Or I thought that’s what I heard.

By then, the sun was down, and we sat around the fire talking until I couldn’t anymore.

“If it’s okay, can I go to sleep?” I hated having to ask, but there I was, like always, a guest in someone else’s house . . . ish.

“My lady, I am sorry thou hast waited and art weary.” Gentry stood up and bowed to Edrard and Rosalinda. Then he gestured for me to come with him into the woods, further away from civilization. Twice I had to stop, because going up the hill made my hip feel like it might give out on me. The second time, Gentry held out his hand. I took it, because I wasn’t sure I was going to make it otherwise. I didn’t know how he felt about holding hands, but he held on to me the whole way up.

At the end of the path, where he let go of my hand, stood the tent. Pavilion, that was what he’d called it and, standing alone in the woods, under the moonlight, it looked like something out of a Robin Hood movie. Or like a miniature circus tent. I was so relieved when he pulled back the flap for me to go in. There were pillows and sheets, and he’d hauled all that up the hill and set it up by himself.

He handed me the little LED lantern he’d used to light the way, and bowed to me.

“If thou needest aught, I am without, my lady.”

“Where are you going to sleep?” I said, because the bed was big enough for two. Sort of. Two people who knew each other better than we did.

He pointed over his shoulder to the outside and then closed the tent flap and left me alone. I took off my shoes so I wouldn’t get the bed or carpet dirty. Then I took off my jeans and my bra, and sat down on the bed to dig through my backpack for my THC drops and a pain patch. I didn’t usually double up, but I didn’t want the pain to keep me awake thinking. After I took my dose and put the patch on, I turned off the lantern and laid back on the bed.

Then I turned the light back on. Sometimes all I wanted was to be alone, but now that I was alone, I was miserable. I missed Marcus and LaReigne.

“Gentry?” I said.

“My lady?” he answered.

“Nothing. I just wanted to be sure you were there.”

“I am here.”

“Thanks.”

I turned the lantern off again and pulled the top sheet over me. I wasn’t cold, but I wanted something on me for protection. I thought about getting up and putting my jeans back on. I thought about calling for Gentry again, but I fell asleep before I could do either.