“Well,” Patience breathed at last. “I am glad to see that at least one of you has some sense. What on earth were you thinking, FitzChivalry, to barge in here and all but attack my maid?”

“I was thinking that I loved her,” I said bluntly. I dropped into a chair and put my head into my hands. “I was thinking that I am very weary of being so alone.”

“That is why you came here?” Patience sounded almost offended.

“No. I came here to see you. I did not know she would be here. But when I saw her, it just came over me. It’s true, Patience. I cannot go on like this.”

“Well, you’d better, because you’re going to have to.” The words were hard, but she sighed as she said them.

“Does Molly speak of it … of me? To you. I must know. Please.” I battered at their silence and exchanged looks. “Does she truly wish me to leave her alone? Have I become so despised of her? Have I not done all you demanded of me? I have waited, Patience. I have avoided her, I have taken care not to cause talk. But when is an end to it? Or is this your plan? To keep us apart until we forget each other? It cannot work. I am not a babe, and this is not some bauble you hide from me, to distract me with other toys. This is Molly. And she is my heart and I will not let her go.”

“I am afraid you must.” Patience said the words heavily.

“Why? Has she chosen another?”

Patience batted my words away as if they were flies. “No. She is not fickle, not that one. She is smart and diligent and full of wit and spirit. I can see how you lost your heart to her. But she also has pride. She has come to see what you refuse. That you come, each of you, from places so far apart that there can be no meeting in the middle. Even were Shrewd to consent to a marriage, which I very much doubt, how would you live? You cannot leave the Keep, to go down to Buckkeep Town and work in a candle shop. You know you cannot. And what status would she enjoy if you kept her here? Despite her goodness, people who did not know her well would see only the differences in your rank. She would be seen as a low appetite you had indulged. ‘Oh, the Bastard, he had an eye for his stepmother’s maid. I fancy he caught her around the corner one time too many, and now he has to pay the piper.’ You know the kind of talk I mean.”

I did. “I don’t care what folk would say.”

“Perhaps you could endure it. But what of Molly? What of your children?”

I was silent. Patience looked down at her hands idle in her lap. “You are young, FitzChivalry.” She spoke very quietly, very soothingly. “I know you do not believe it now. But, you may meet another. One closer to your station. And she may also. Maybe she deserves that chance at happiness. Perhaps you should draw back. Give yourself a year or so. And if your heart has not changed by then, well …”

“My heart will not change.”

“Nor will hers, I fear.” Patience spoke bluntly. “She cared for you, Fitz. Not knowing who you really were, she gave her heart to you. She has said as much. I do not wish to betray her confidences to me, but if you do as she asks and leave her alone, she can never tell you herself. So I will speak, and hope you hold me harmless for the pain I must give you. She knows this can never be. She does not want to be a servant marrying a noble. She does not want her children to be the daughters and sons of a Keep servant. So she saves the little I am able to pay her. She buys her wax and her scents, and works still at her trade, as best as she is able. She means to save enough, somehow, to begin again, with her own chandlery. It will not be soon. But that is her goal.” Patience paused. “She sees no place in that life for you.”

I sat a long time, thinking. Neither Lacey nor Patience spoke. Lacey moved slowly through our stillness, brewing tea. She pushed a cup of it into my hand. I lifted my eyes and tried to smile at her. I set the tea carefully aside. “Did you know, from the beginning, that it would come to this?” I asked.

“I feared it,” Patience said simply. “But I also knew there was nothing I could do about it. Nor can you.”

I sat still, not even thinking. Under the old hut, in a scratched-out hollow, Nighteyes was dozing with his nose over a bone. I touched him softly, not even waking him. His calm breathing was an anchor. I steadied myself against him.

“Fitz? What will you do?”

Tears stung my eyes. I blinked, and it passed. “What I am told,” I said heavily. “When have I ever done otherwise?”

Patience was silent as I got slowly to my feet. The wound on my neck was throbbing. I suddenly wanted only to sleep. She nodded to me as I excused myself. At the door I paused. “Why I came this evening. Besides to see you. Queen Kettricken will be restoring the Queen’s Garden. The one on top of the tower. She mentioned she would like to know how the garden was originally arranged. In Queen Constance’s time. I thought perhaps you could recall it for her.”