“You’d set me aside is what you’re saying. Me, and our … my child.”
“No! I’d keep you safe, put you where no one would point shame at you or mock you for having a child alone. And when I could, I’d come to you and our child.”
“Have you ever considered that you could come with us? That we could leave Buckkeep, you and I, and go upriver now?”
“I can’t leave Buckkeep. I’ve explained that to you every way I know how.”
“I know you have. I’ve tried to understand it. But I don’t see why.”
“The work I do for the King is such that-”
“Stop doing it. Let someone else do it. Go away with me, to a life of our own.”
“I can’t. It’s not that simple. I wouldn’t be allowed to just leave like that.” Somehow, we had come uncoupled. Now she folded her arms across her chest.
“Verity’s gone. Almost no one believes he’s coming back.
King Shrewd grows more feeble each day, and Regal prepares himself to inherit. If half of Regal’s feelings for you are what you say they are, why on earth would you wish to stay here with him as king? Why would he want to keep you here? Fitz, can’t you see that it’s all tumbling apart? The Near Islands and Ferry are just the beginning. The. Raiders won’t stop there.”
“All the more reason for me to stay here. To work and, if need be, fight for our people.”
“One man can’t stop them,” Molly pointed out. “Not even a man as stubborn as you. Why not take all that stubbornness and fight for us instead? Why don’t we run away, up the river and inland, away from the Raiders, to a life of our own? Why should we have to give up everything for a hopeless cause?”