Page 15 of Quest of Fools

"You can be certain of that," Warf said, heart pounding with hope and wary happiness.

Lover

The only thing better than going to bed with a kiss on his lips was the kiss he got in greeting the next morning as Marian brought him a cup of tea while they waited for breakfast to be ready, since the pounding thunderstorm had woken them both early.

Warf traced Marian's cheekbone, enjoying the flush that elicited."Good morning.Was hoping the weather would be nicer, but we seem to be in for rain for the foreseeable future."Ordinarily he'd still be down at the docks, moving what he could from warehouse to destination, organizing and cleaning otherwise.Work that was miserable on a good day and downright torture on bad days.When the rains lasted more than two days, he just stopped going and sought work elsewhere, or took the chance to stay home, even if meant less money coming in for a bit.

That he didn't have to go anywhere or worry about anything was still beyond his comprehension."So what shall we do today, since I doubt we're taking the children to the park."

"I'm sure we'll find something to do, and the rain might not last all day."

As if to mock him, lightning lit the room as bright as midday, and thunder rumbled so loudly the house shook.Back in their old home, the roof would be leaking and the girls would be cranky, stuck in the house with almost nothing to do and right in each other's space.Here… they probably hadn't even woken up yet.

A knock came at the door, making them both jump.Marian frowned in the direction of the hallway, but didn't go to see who it was himself."Hopefully it's nothing."

The sitting room door opened a moment later, and the butler came in with a letter on a silver salver."A letter for you, my lord.The messenger said it was urgent."

Marian frowned deeply as he took the letter and examined the front of it.Whatever it said turned his expression as stormy as the weather.He replaced it on the salver."Put it in my office, please, and I'll deal with it after breakfast.Any further messages from this address are to be turned away promptly and absolutely nothing accepted."

"Yes, my lord."The butler faded off.

"Everything all right?"Warf asked."Your former lover again?"

"Yes, near as I can tell, but she'll have to wait until I feel like telling her to go away again."He rubbed at his temples."I wish I knew how to drive her away for good—but this is not your problem, and I'm not letting it mar our day."

Before Warf could reply, the door opened again, and a maid bowed before saying, "Breakfast is ready, my lords."

"Thank you," Marian replied.

They beat the girls there again, though only by a couple of minutes, and after that breakfast was mostly listening to them explain what they were going to do that day, since the rain had ruined the park, an in-depth discussion over who had the prettiest new dress, until Rosi screamed about a dropped piece of biscuit, signaling she'd had all the noise and activity she could take for a bit.

Warf got her cleaned up and then carried her as he led the way back up to the nursery, where he happily played with them for a couple of hours, until Rosi was ready for a nap and the other two went off to their studies.

Back downstairs, he found Marian predictably in his office, busy at his desk going through correspondence and other papers."There must be a great deal that goes into running a household like this."

Marian looked up, a smudge of ink on one cheek, spectacles perched on his nose.He blinked owlishly at Warf and then hastily removed them, setting them aside on a little velvet pillow or something that seemed made for the purpose."Quite a bit.Accounts around the city to pay, servants to pay, various household inventories to review from time to time, taxes, maintenance, repairs, winter preparations, stables, various social events… None of that includes the art I deal in, my duties to the city and kingdom, my businesses, the land I own…"

Things that Warf couldn't even really help with since he couldn't read.

"Speaking of, what do you think of making a trip into the country come spring?My land there is relatively new.I bought it last year and only made one trip to look it over personally before I had to be back here for the Tournament, since there's a great deal of preliminary work on our side of things.The girls would love it, I'd imagine."

"They would indeed, given they've never really been outside the city, not to speak of," Warf replied."Where's the land?"

Marian pushed to his feet."Come, I'll show you!"He crossed the room to where a series of small cubbies were built into the bookshelves, each one holding a large, rolled up piece of paper.Maps, likely.Good maps were expensive and hard to come by, and there were at least ten here.

Pulling one out, Marian spread it across the large table that took up most of this side of the room, and weighed each corner with small but heavy circular objects that seemed made for the purpose."So here's us, obviously.All the way to the east, here, is my family's land.The Bellowen title has belonged to us for seven generations, but we didn't come into this land until about five generations ago."

"I thought the two always went hand in hand."

"Complicated story, but our old lands now have been folded into those of the Duke of Leavington, and my family owns these.My personal lands are located here, a few days south, a place called Three Berries.Guess what kinds of crops they specialize in?"

Warf laughed."Potatoes."

Marian grinned.

Warf looked at the map, trying to take it all in.The temples all had maps, of course, but they were nothing like this, only intended to give visitors a general idea of the world they inhabited.He knew they lived in the bottom half of the continent, surrounded by ocean on one side and three other kingdoms on the others, with mountains to the south providing a natural border between them and the southernmost of those kingdoms.

He wished he could pick out all the places Rath had visited and told him so much about, but the words were all gibberish to him.

---