July 13, 1200
"Hello, Falidor," Halford's wife near-sang as she joined him and his brother in the sitting room, despite his explicitly requesting that she leave them be. Fond of her as he was, he had no doubt about Leonora being the last person Falidor needed many heavy doses of until his years-long funk reached a close. "This brother of yours didn't want me to greet you--asked if I'd ride out to Veldora and visit my parents today. Damn rude of him, wouldn't you say?"Falidor shrugged as Halford fought back a groan. "I would have thought newlyweds enjoyed each other's company."
"Thank you! See, Halford: when you ask me things like that, it makes me suspect that you're only interested in spending time with me if that time is spent naked." She landed a playful swat on his arm, which was rather less painful than the knowledge that Falidor was now probably picturing her nude. "So. Falidor. How long have you been sleeping with Lady Nata?"
"Wait, what?" Halford shot Leonora a warning glance before squinting instead toward his brother. This was certainly the first he'd heard of that.
Falidor didn't look quite so shocked. "Um... how did you know about that?"
"Didn't until just now." Leonora--Halford knew for a fact despite his not looking at her--winked. "Good for you; you both must have been a few years overdue for a good lay by the time you got to it.""Leonora!" For all her unfiltered mouth was what had attracted Halford in the first place, he wished she wouldn't say such things about his brother. And his brother's employer's mother!
"Falidor, are you sure about this? Given Marsden's age, isn't Lady Nata practically your boss?""It's not like that. It's completely separate from my work." Surely Falidor wouldn't have been the first to make a claim like that. "Look, I loved Ivy. And Nata loved Sir Farilon. Neither of us are really ready to love anyone else, but... well, we both have needs. It's convenient."
"Yes, until you get her pregnant. Or until one of you meets someone else and the other one starts to feel resentful."
"We've taken precautions on the former--and the latter won't be an issue. There aren't any feelings involved. It's just sex."Just sex. This from a man who'd refused to visit a brothel during his entire relationship with Ivy. "Look, I've known you my whole life. There are people who can do 'just sex', and people who can't. You can't. You're going to get hurt."
"God, Halford--let the man stick it to his boss in peace." He turned his head just in time to catch Leonora rolling her eyes. "So long as they both want it, they're not doing anything wrong. And if Falidor gets hurt... well, maybe it's the kind of hurt that will be good for him in the long run.""Thank you, Leonora."
"See? This is exactly why I didn't want you two to be in the house at the same time." Exactly, entirely why. Not that he could see much point in explaining all of it to either of them at the moment. "You always gang up on me."NEXT CHAPTER:
