Chapter Thirty-Six - Ava

Iain’s quarters were even less comfortable than Rowanne’s. Was that deliberate? she wondered. Yet the sometimes prickly girl from across the water made her welcome and she sank gratefully onto a pile of cushions, rubbing at her sore knees.

The still limping gladiator – how had she missed that before? – was only too pleased to share some of his allotted ale and they sat at the tiny table as Ava continued where she had left off on the castle battlements. He asked a question or two occasionally, but otherwise left her to make sense of her past as best she could in the telling of it.

*

There were four of them in the commander’s tent, all unshackled now and on their knees. Ava tried not to think about what would happen next. King Harold had regularly made her watch his guards have their fun with reluctant maidservants. It would be too cruel to play an active part in that.

Connor was in no mood to be gainsaid. Marriage was definitely off the table, while the other benefits clearly weren’