Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [74]
“Strange.”
“Yes, particularly since two of the qualifications for entry into the Order are legitimacy and knighthood. I don’t think Vaden was either.”
“It makes no sense. Then why was he accepted?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. He was a great warrior. Perhaps they wanted his sword.”
“Weren’t you curious? And don’t tell me curiosity was forbidden. I wouldn’t think you’d cavil at disobeying the order about asking him questions.”
“We all had our reasons for being there. It would have been an intrusion to ask him.”
She did not understand such reasoning. “If he was your friend, then knowing why he was there might have been a way of helping him.”
He shook his head and his expression became shuttered. “To share some secrets is to do irreparable damage.”
He was no longer speaking of Vaden but what he had seen in the Temple. “No secret is worth what happened at Jedha.”
“The Temple thought it was.”
“What do you think?”
He bent his head and blew in her ear. “I think you have divine breasts and the most beautiful hair that I’ve ever seen. When we were playing chess, I used to watch it shine in the firelight and wonder how it would feel against me. I wanted to wrap it around my body and drown in you.”
He was avoiding the question and trying to distract her. “What do you think?” she repeated.
“No.” He buried his head in her shoulder. “God, no.” His voice was muffled. “Sometimes I feel as if I’m choking on their secrets. When I first discovered what was in the caves, I was racked with guilt and then anger. They were my brothers, my family. Why couldn’t they trust me? I would never reveal—” He lifted his head, and she was shocked at the torment in his expression. “I’m no fool. I knew what telling others would mean. Why wouldn’t they trust me?”
He may have felt anger, but it was overshadowed by hurt and desolation. He had lost one family and then found another in the Templars. He had given them unbounded loyalty only to be cast out once again. “Because they’re blind fools.” She drew him close and held him in a fierce embrace. “And you should think no more about them.”
He was silent a moment and then he chuckled. “I shall do my utmost, but under the circumstances it’s difficult not to give them thought.” He sat up and pulled her bodice up over her breasts. “But I assure you that they’re never in my mind when I’m in your body. Let’s go to my chamber. We will bathe and then banish thought for the rest of the day.”
“Now you wish to go to your chamber.” She slipped her arms into the sleeves of the gown, then tried to straighten her hair. No need to rebraid it yet; the first thing Ware always did when they were alone was loosen it. It made no difference if she appeared tousled; everyone in the castle must know she was coupling with Ware anyway, since these last days they had seldom left his bed except to bathe and eat. She was not concerned about anyone’s reaction except for Jasmine. Tasza no longer needed the security offered by being Ware’s leman, but Jasmine was fiercely protective of her daughter and might regard Thea as a threat. Well, she would worry about Jasmine’s response later. She was too full of joy and contentment now.
“And I would not need a bath so desperately if you hadn’t chosen to wallow with me in the dirt,” she told Ware. But he would probably have ordered a bath anyway. She had discovered that Ware was nearly fanatic regarding his personal cleanliness.
It must be the sheepskin drawers.
The words popped into her head. She had almost forgotten Kadar’s teasing comment the first night she had arrived at Dundragon. “Sheepskin drawers.”
“What?”
“Kadar said the reason you were so devoted to cleanliness was the sheepskin drawers. What did he mean?”
Ware made a face. “In order to encourage chastity all Knights Templar are required to wear two sets of sheepskin drawers and never take them off.”
“Not even when they bathe?”
“We were not permitted to bathe either.