Iona nodded to herself as she slipped quietly out the door.
* * *
“There’sIona and she’s wearing a smile. I have never seen her smile,” Kinnell said.
Torin turned to see Iona make her way down the stairs and he was surprised himself to see her smiling, the healer having a stoic nature, and for some reason that she smiled worried him.
“I like your wife,” Iona said when she reached the two men. “She speaks her mind and is wise in her words.” Her grin grew. “Though, you might want to get in there since your wife is speaking with Anwen and has some interesting questions for her.”
Torin rushed past Iona and took the stairs two at a time, hurrying to enter the keep.
“Flora!” he shouted once he entered the Great Hall and she and Anwen turned to look at him. “Anwen, you are dismissed to see to your chores.”
“I am not finished speaking with her,” Flora said. “I wish to ask her about the ghost or since you were present at the time of the incident perhaps you can tell me about it.”
Torin dismissed Anwen with a wave and the woman eagerly hurried out of the room. He went to his wife, stopping in front of her. “I ordered you not to speak to the woman involved in the incident.”
“You also failed to tell me that the woman was in your bedchamber with you at the time,” Flora said and hurried to continue before her husband could command her silence. “Not that it matters since we were not wed at the time, but I must ask… will you be a faithful husband? Or will you be a husband who is not satisfied with one woman and one not faithful to your vows?”
Torin hesitated, thinking about his da who had his fair share of women while wed, though his mum did not seem to mind. He had come to the conclusion that once his mum had produced a male heir for her husband that she had done what was expected of her and she and his father were never intimate again. He could not blame her since his father could be a cruel man.
“You need to think on it?” Flora asked when his response was not forthcoming. “Your hesitation is answer enough.”
Torin wondered over his hesitation. Had he no answer? Had he needed to ponder it? Was he more like his da than he wanted to believe?
Flora continued, concerned he had yet to respond. “I know only of marriage of what I have seen of it between my mum and da. They were a loving couple and though I had no thought to wed, if I decided to do so one day, then I wished to have a marriage based on love, a loving and faithful marriage, not one based on lust. I believe until we determine what our marriage shall be, we should wait to consummate our vows, leaving either of us to walk away from our hasty marriage if necessary.”
Strange that she should feel an uneasiness in the pit of her stomach almost as if she was disturbed by the thought of their marriage ending. After all, it had barely begun. Why should it bother her? She scarcely knew her husband, though the little she did know she believed him a good man and a strong one, someone who already demonstrated that he would not hesitate to protect her.
Torin’s hand snapped out to take hold of the back of his wife’s neck, not roughly but firmly. “Listen well, wife. We are wed and we will remain wed. I have no desire to begin another search for a wife. As far as being faithful? Give me no reason to be so.”
Flora yanked her neck free of his grasp, though she was not fool enough to believe she had had the strength to do so. He had released her when she pulled away.
“And will you do the same… give me no reason to be unfaithful to you?” she challenged.
“I will not tolerate an unfaithful wife,” he warned, his face tight with annoyance.
Flora gave a defiant lift of her chin. “And I will not tolerate an unfaithful husband.”
“You will tolerate whatever I demand of you,” he ordered, growing more annoyed that she dared to make demands.
“Not likely,” she said, “now kindly take your leave, I have duties to see to.”
“Your duty is to me first and foremost. I come before all others and you do not command me,” he warned, anger in his powerful voice.
“I do not take well to command either,” she argued, an unfamiliar anger churning in her as she fully realized the freedom that had been lost to her with this marriage.
“You will learn,” he said as if declaring it so.
Flora could not hold her tongue. “I doubt it.”
“I do not, and you will start by curbing your tongue,” he ordered.
“An unlikely possibility since so much can be learned and matters settled through civilized discussion.”
“Are you suggesting I am not civilized?” Torin snapped again, finding it difficult to temper his annoyance.
As was her way, Flora spoke her mind. “When you make foolish demands as you seem to so often do, it would appear so.”