Page 66 of The Warlord's Princess
While his logic is self-serving, I know that we would have to pull men from other obligations if he were not here.
“I feel I have dishonored myself more than I can bear,” I confess, though I know not why.
“Is it with one of the Penticari?”
I say nothing.
“No need to answer. I know I am right.”
I lift my gaze from my glass to his cocksure grin. “How?”
“Of all the men here, you have always been the most conflicted. We all long for honor, but our work quiets the storms raging within us. But it was never that way with you. Nothing quieted the fury in your chest and mind.”
“You speak truth, but that does not prove you right.”
“For you to have gotten to this point, where you are questioning honor and redemption, it can only be because something has challenged you to change your way of thinking.”
His insight surprises me because he seems to know more about me than I know about myself.
“The Penticari are frail, but some, not so much. There is Meg who is hearty and will give you the rough side of her tongue if you look at her crossly, and Nori, whose logic could rival Jacek’s.But there is one who is so weak, she once cried and fell because of a crab.”
“And yet?”
“I am drawn to her in a way I do not understand.”
“That does not surprise me.”
My brow narrows. “It should.”
“Where we come from, we were never given a choice. We mated who would take us, and we did so gladly. Here, it is different. There are choices with the Penticari, and with those choices comes burden. Do you take one to bed? Or do you deny yourself due to honor? And if you deny yourself, how will it feel when you are around the others who do not?”
“You are wiser than I gave you credit for,” I admit.
“Then heed me when I say that honor need not only encompass one path.”
“That sounds more like treason than advice.”
“To some, it might, but our conversation need not end with that. About your dilemma, this weak girl. You say she lacks strengths that others have?”
I nod.
“Is it possible you overlook her strength?”
“She is thin as a reed, small, without means to defend herself, lacking sharpness of words except when aggressively pushed.”
“Has she done anything to impress you?”
I think for a moment, hoping to discover something I may have overlooked, only coming up with, “She wishes to go out to collect bugs at the outer edges. It is a trip that will have her away from the village overnight.”
His brow narrows. “Collect bugs?”
“It is for dyes she wishes to make.”
“You say she is willing to risk the wilds of Melgrim to make dye?”
“Yes.”
“Then she is at least brave.”
