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I pushed his chest. “Right now, I’d crawl through the shit in the streets to get away from you.”
He gripped my arms with bruising strength and shook me. “You want to leave me?”
“How could I not want to leave you? Any woman in her right mind would!”
Something ignited in his eyes. “Then my brother shall give you a wrong mind!”
“I hate you.” I lifted my chin high and met his stormy gaze. “I hate you so much that not even your brother is powerful enough to change that.”
His head jerked back as if I’d struck him. It lasted for the fraction of a breath before his gray eyes darkened with… I wasn’t sure.
He picked me up, carried me up the steps to the tavern, and kicked the door open. “Oh, little one, how you’ll scream my name within the next hour.”
“The fuck I will.”
Behind the door, the three-story tavern lay empty—aside from the town’s drunkard leaning crooked against a wall of wattle and daub. The stench of ale soured between the cracks of rough-hewn tables and benches. Beside them, the tavern keeper stared at us from underneath her plain, cotton wimple.
She blinked wide eyes at Enosh, her hands fumbling with her brown skirts as she curtsied. “I think… I think I know who you are. Heard stories as a wee lass.”
“Then you’ll know it best to be quiet about it.”
She nodded. “Does the King need a boy to lead his horse to the stables?”
Enosh frowned. “My horse is in need of nothing, but I require your best room. You will bring us fresh meats, warm bread, and berries if you can find them. I also expect a tub to be brought to our room filled with clean, warm water and a rag.”
She stared at me for a moment until, with a start, she worked herself out of her daze. “Yes, Your Grace. Gretchen!” Fingers snapped toward the narrow archway behind her. “Come to heel, girl! We have a guest, none less than the King of Flesh and Bone himself. Go prepare the large room. Take the driest kindle—”
“No fire.” Enosh rummaged through the pocket of his breeches, letting a handful of gold coins clink into the woman’s meaty palm. “Will this cover the night?”
“Your Grace is too generous,” she said, reaching the coins back to him. “After a life full of nothing but tales about you from some stinky old priests… I don’t want your gold.”
“My woman is weary. Let this be clear, I will not tolerate your begging at my door. Take the coin, for none of your kin will find rest with me.”
The woman chuckled, a hearty sound that shook her entire belly. “I have no children. All kin abandoned me when I was a young lass. All I have are three dead husbands who broke my heart and my purse. I beg of you, do not let them rot.”
“I can tell we’ll be good friends.” Enosh turned toward the stairs, following a pale Gretchen, pressing me tighter against his chest as he whispered, “I shall raise corpses outside for protection. Nobody leaves this town… least of all, you.”