hard to figure her out.”
“I know she loves her children.” Reid was about to say what mother wouldn’t until she remembered her own mother.
“She also doesn’t talk much,” he said. “She rarely gives her opinion.”
“That’s a Marsden thing.” Most women didn’t give their opinion.
“Then how do you explain Idina? She learned to be strong from someone.”
“True.” But that wasn’t what was bothering Reid. “How can Leigh not protest our plan to kill Eldon?” Even knowing her son was evil, how could she stand by while those around her plotted his demise? “And Eldon is your half-brother.”
“Are you advocating we not assassinate him?”
“No. But…Leigh only had one child with the man she loved. And that’s Eldon.”
“Huh. I never thought about it that way before. Are you afraid she’ll try to stop us?”
“She hasn’t protested. Not once. She hasn’t even asked if we can put him in the dungeon instead. Don’t you think that’s odd?”
“It’s not odd if she’s planning something.”
And that was what Reid was afraid of. Only, she had no idea what Leigh could be planning. In order to figure it out, she had to discover Leigh’s end goal. What did Leigh want to accomplish?
“And now that my father’s dead, it makes me wonder.”
“You think he might seek Leigh out?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been so focused on organizing soldiers and preparing for an invasion with minimal loss of life and property, that my father and Leigh haven’t been on my mind.”
Reid slid her arm around Dexter’s torso. “Maybe I’m overthinking it.” But seeing Nara crying on the floor had stirred something inside of Reid.
“I don’t think we should ever doubt or question our intuition.” He ran his hand through her hair. “For example, my intuition is telling me I should kiss you right now.”
“Then I suggest you take your own advice.”
“Gladly.” His lips devoured hers.
Sleep was a long time coming that night.
Chapter Fourteen
From where she stood on the roof of the castle’s northeast tower, Reid couldn’t believe how many soldiers camped outside the city wall. If they joined forces to march under Marsden’s banner, they would defeat Eldon. She was sure of it.
“What are you doing up here?” Nara asked as she joined Reid.
“Just looking.”
“Dexter wants to see you. I offered to find you. He’s at the barracks.”
“I’ll head over there.” She pushed off the low wall.
“Before you go,” Nara said, “I’d like to apologize for my behavior the other day. I didn’t mean to cry like that. It had been a long journey, a trying day, and I was hungry.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me.”
“I know, but I’d like to. I want you to understand that even the strongest have times of weakness. These moments don’t make us less. We can become more when we acknowledge all parts within us.” She wrapped her arm around Reid’s shoulders, hugging her.
Now it was Reid’s turn to tear up.
“What’s the matter?” Nara asked.
This woman—this warrior princess—was more of a mother to Reid than her own mother had ever been. Reid shook her head, not wanting to talk about it.
Nara rubbed Reid’s back. “Let’s discuss something else then.”
Reid didn’t have anything to say.
“I don’t want to sound too presumptuous,” Nara said, “but I’m guessing with your upbringing, you don’t have a lot of experience with men.”
Oh, good gracious, was this woman turning the conversation to a more intimate topic?
“Now that you and Dexter are married, do you have any questions about anything that occurs in the bedroom?”
Reid covered her face with her hands. They were not going to talk about this.
“I know you don’t have a mother to ask any questions you may have.” She wrung her hands together. “If you’d like, I can fill that role. Remember, I don’t have a daughter of my own.”
Reid sucked in a large breath of air, a funny little cry-snort escaping. Had no one told Nara that Reid’s mother was alive? “Brianna now goes by the name Anna. And she is running the Knights of the Realm.”
“Come again?” Nara blinked.
“My mother is alive.”
“Oh.”
Reid had forgotten to fill Nara and Gytha in on that vital detail.
Nara opened her mouth several times to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, she rubbed her forehead. “I have no idea what to say to that.”
“Which is fine because I don’t want to talk about her right now. I’m not ready.”
Nara nodded. “Back to what I was trying to say then. Since you grew up without a mother and were raised as a man, do you want to discuss bedroom