Chapter 19

“So you need to summon Cillian to court, for the sake of yourself and everyone else in the kingdom,” Beyta said. “I’ve never seen you happier than those few weeks in his village. Even more so than with your wife.”

“Don’t bring her into this, Mother,” Malo replied.

“I’m just making a point,” Beyta said. “Can you remember a time in your life when you enjoyed the company of someone as much as Cillian? Someone who could keep up with you and elicit such pleasure?”

“He abandoned me, Mother,” Malo protested. “He left me in the middle of the night without a word. I suppose he got what he wanted and was gone.”

“What did you say to him before he left?”

“I just told him that I had been called back here,” Malo said.

“Did you tell him you planned to bring him with you?”

“No, I just assumed he knew I would,” Malo said.

Beyta covered her eyes with a hand in frustration. “Dumb as a load of wet hay. I don’t have the time nor the patience to explain it to you. You need to go to him. Now!”