take you into his confidence, Sioned. Force his truth if you have to, then show yourself worthy of it—and make him do the same. Suspicion is all very well to whet a lover’s appetite, but it’s fatal between husband and wife.”
“We need to believe in each other,” Sioned murmured. She rose, giving Andrade a look of appeal. “Tell me it will come out all right. Please.”
“Oh, Sioned.” Andrade rose and framed the girl’s face with her fingers. “May you kindle Fire and never be burned by it. May the Air never send storms across your path. May that path across the Earth be a soft one, and the Water of your tears always taste sweet with joy.” Sioned’s eyes filled with tears as she received the ancient blessing, and the Lady smoothed the drops from her cheeks. “Only let him love you, and love him in return.”
Chaynal had swallowed a bellyful of questions all the way back to Stronghold. Rohan had been in no mood for conversation. When Tobin followed him into the bathroom demanding to be told everything, Chay could only shrug.
“If I knew anything, I’d share it. Wash my back?”
She stripped down to her undershift as he got into the tub, and wielded a scrub brush with such energy that he yelped. “Oh, don’t be such a baby. You’re as filthy as the boys after a day with the horses at home, and you smell worse. At least I know the girl’s name.”
“Which is?”
“Sioned. She’s going to marry Rohan.”
“Oh, I never would have guessed, not from the look on his face!”
“But he didn’t look at her once in the courtyard, and there’s no welcome for her. Chay, he didn’t even introduce her to Mother!” She started soaping his arm. “Tell me about the dragon.”
His brief synopsis was frequently interrupted by her exclamations. Chay finished with, “Don’t tell anybody he got sick afterward. It’s not exactly heroic, and won’t listen well in bardsong.”
She grinned back at him. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t get into the official version. Oh, Chay, how proud Father would have been!”
“It’s the last dragon he’ll ever kill, you know. Even if he hadn’t said as much out there, I saw it in his face.”
“I suspected as much. Turn around, love.”
He obliged, scooting around in the rub to face her. “Anyway, we rode back and damned if the girl didn’t show up like a shimmer-vision in the sand! He took her off for a talk. I couldn’t watch as much as I wanted because the dark girl—Cami-something, the one with the eyes—kept asking questions. I rather liked her young man. Good seat on a horse, and an air of authority, for all that he’s not faradhi.” Chay closed his eyes as his wife rubbed soap across his chest, her fingers more caressing than efficient. “Oh, that’s good,” he murmured.
“Keep talking,” Tobin ordered.
“Well, it seems they lost some of the horses and all their baggage crossing the Faolain. I know that fording. It’s dangerous enough for most people, and I can imagine what those poor Sunrunners went through. The girl kept apologizing for their appearance. I think she expected them to make a grand entrance into Stronghold.”
“So did Andrade, and she’s not happy about it at all. Why won’t Rohan acknowledge Sioned?”
“I watched him with that dragon today,” Chay said slowly.
“We’ve always known he’s clever, but I never saw anything like the way he tricked that dragon. He knew all its weaknesses and played them to his own advantage. I have the feeling it’s going to be like that from now on, Tobin. And none of us is going to be able to figure him out in advance.”
“He’s going to tell me everything I want to know,” she said firmly.
“I’d walk carefully if I were you. He’s not your little brother anymore.”
“He’ll always be my little brother, and Goddess help him if he forgets it!” She lathered his hair. “What happened next?”
Chay squeezed his eyes shut as soap dripped down his face. “Nobody said a word the whole way back. But Rohan wasn’t thinking about dragons, believe me.”
“Hmm.” Tobin dumped a pitcher of clean water over his head.
“Finish it yourself. You know what happens every time I wash the rest of you.”
He smiled at her over his shoulder. “And things were getting interesting, too!”
Rohan’s bath was much less interesting, and much delayed. His mother stayed with him for quite some time, making him tell the entire story of the dragon-slaying twice while she ruthlessly cleansed and bound