Under a Winter Sky - Jeffe Kennedy Page 0,148

resumed walking, Gaeres keeping pace beside her. “For a woman of my age and status, it’s perfectly acceptable.” And worthy of at least a month’s supply of gossip among any of the crones who loved to mind everyone else’s affairs except their own.

“What is your age and status?” he asked.

A blunt question that might be considered rude were it asked by another Beladine citizen, but Emerence interpreted as Gaeres meant it – innocent curiosity and a wish to learn more about her just as he’d said. “I’m six and thirty,” she said. He really didn’t need to know she was staring seven and thirty hard in the eye. “And I’ve never been married.”

“Ah. I assumed you were a widow.”

Of course he did. Those who didn’t know her always assumed such when they learned she wasn’t married. “As it is with most unattached women of my age,” she said. “It’s a reasonable assumption.”

“But not why I make it,” he countered. “You’re beautiful, brave, and competent. What man wouldn’t want such a woman?”

Stunned by his compliment and made tongue-tied by it, she stayed silent. He continued with his line of questioning, no doubt emboldened by her silence. “Why have you never married?”

That was an easy question to answer and answer honestly. She wondered if Gaeres would be as startled by her answer as she’d been by his praise of her. “I haven’t yet met the person I’m willing to devote myself to. When I do, it will be for all my life, wholeheartedly and without reservation. They will have all of me, and I will demand all of them. It’s a great deal to ask of someone and a great deal to give them. Such a person may not exist but I’d rather be alone and content in my solitary state than unhappy in a marriage simply for the sake of being wedded.

If her response unsettled him, he gave no indication of it, and the night hid any tell-tale emotion in his gaze. Even if she had unsettled him, it didn’t matter. Gaeres was Quereci, not Beladine. A visitor to Timsiora, a pleasant, very temporary distraction in her daily existence. If he chose to scoff at her words or worse, pity her for them, no matter. The worst that might happen would be she’d send him away and continue her journey home by herself.

Her fascination only grew when he nodded. “That is wise. And admirable. I think there would be many happier people and happier marriages if they thought as you did.”

“There would certainly be a lot more unattached people,” she said with a grin, relieved despite her logical self assurances, that he didn’t mock or express contempt for her beliefs. He’d complimented her yet again, and the warmth inside her chased away much of the cold seeping through her clothes.

They were halfway to her house, their time together almost at an end. Emerence chose to satisfy her own curiosity. “And you, Gaeres, what is your age and status?” She already knew him to be unmarried though not why.

“I’m seven and twenty,” he said. She’d guessed right, but having it confirmed made her groan inside. If only he was in the same decade as her. “I remained unmarried because I’m not yet deemed by my clan as worthy to take a wife.”

Emerence’s eyebrows shot up. Handsome, charming, son of a chieftain, and soon to be a council subchief himself according to Omeya. What could possibly disqualify him as husband material among his own people? “How do you become worthy?” The Quereci were an insular folk who kept to themselves for the most part, their culture mysterious and unknown to outsiders. It seemed she was about to get a peek into their society.

“Through notable deeds, displays of wise council, defense of the clan in times of hostility, hard work, and the building of trust in others through reliability and steadfastness.”

She blinked at him. “Those are all admirable traits in anyone, and while we don’t know each other very well, I have a difficult time believing you haven’t met most if not all of those requirements.”

It was Gaeres who halted first this time. He bowed to Emerence. “You honor me with your words,” he said. She blushed, grateful for the darkness. “I’ve tried to meet those expectations. Only one has yet to satisfy the elders, and that one is mostly due to my age. I hope to remedy that when I become a council sarsen.”

“Wise council,” she said. “Wisdom isn’t normally the purview of

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