Chapter 238

We sat like that, a small animal of quiet curled between us, until the first noises of the house rose: spoons against bowls, leather creaking, the low murmur of men trying whispering and failing because their shoulders tell on them.

He stood then, unwilling but obedient to duty.

He dressed in his careful way—belt settled where it belongs, collar closed where he forgets when he is tired—and pause