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Lady Waltharia entered the cha with an ironic smile the empty bed, the silent pallets, the table laid with a pitcher of cider and three silver cups, and the sleeping child The door closed sharply behind her and she ju silently behind her

She chuckled, sweeping her hair back over her shoulders Somehow, between the hall and this chath hair, still crinkled from its recent confineed," she said as she crossed to sit on the edge of the bed, tying back the hangings so they didn’t get in her way

"Haven’t I?" he asked, notfrom- his place beside the door

"You once told me you would never marry"

"Only because ons It was not ," she observed, rising to go to the unshuttered"You are not what you were" She leaned out on the ledge, hands braced on the wooden fra From the trundle bed Anna could not see what Waltharia was looking at, if indeed she was looking at anything except the sky and the stars It was probably war damp and chill jealously inside them

"What is she like? Your wife, I mean"

"Do you envy her?"

She turned "I suppose I would have, once But you would have been too ht about that I needed a rinned delightfully and sat on the ledge Wind stirred her hair "He’s a good h"

"He acquitted himself ably today"

"So he did But he isn’t you You’re the best stallion in the king’s stable I can’t help but admire sohalf naked at hed "I needed a wash"

"You can wash here I can have water brought up"

"You’re the one who hasn’t changed"