“For safety’s sake, you have to go back to your own room.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have come in the first place.” She stopped. “All those things I said to you a few days ago. I didn’t-”
I put a finger across her lips. She smiled past it. “You make these new silences … very interesting.” She pushed my hand aside, kissed me warmly. Then she slid from my bed and began to dress briskly. I arose, moving more slowly. She glanced over at me, her face full of love. “I’ll go alone. It’s safer. We should not be seen together.”
“Someday, that will-” I began. This time she silenced me, small hand on my lips.
“We will talk of nothing like that now. Let us leave tonight as it is. Perfect.” She kissed me again, quickly, and slipped from my arms and then out the door. She shut it silently behind her. Perfect?
I finished dressing and built up my fire. I sat down in my chair by the hearth and waited. It was not long before I was rewarded. The entrance to Chade’s domain opened. I went up the stairs as quickly as I could manage. Chade was sitting before his hearth. “You have to listen to me,” I greeted him. His eyebrows rose in alarm at the intensity in my voice. He gestured at the chair opposite him, and I took it. I opened my mouth to speak. What Chade did then put every hair on my body on end. He glanced all around himself, as if we stood in the midst of a great crowd. Then he touched his own lips, and made a gesture for softness. He leaned toward me until our heads were nearly touching. “Softly, softly. Sit down. What is it.