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"They were wet."

"Guy."

"Someone could have slipped."

I shook my head. "Insufferable man."

"Your insufferable man."

I smiled. "Unfortunately."

He kissed the top of my head.

I looked toward the house. Soon there would be a cradle in our bedchamber. Tiny clothes drying beside the kitchen fire. A child running through the gardens, getting into trouble, and asking questions neither of us knew how to answer.

I wondered whether the baby would have Guy's eyes.

Or my stubbornness.

Probably both, if the gods had any sense of humor.

I imagined Guy teaching a small child to ride, his expression stern while he tried desperately not to smile.

I imagined Little John pretending he wasn't completely besotted.

Merry would buy entirely too many things.

Alana would insist on teaching the child archery before they could properly walk.

And Sefa would spend the next twenty years telling all of us what we were doing wrong.

I laughed to myself.

"What?" Guy asked.

"Nothing."

"Robin."

I looked up at him.

"I was just thinking about how much trouble this child is going to cause."

His mouth curved.

"With you as a mother?"

"Excuse me?"

"I expect a considerable amount."

I laughed and swatted his arm.

He caught my hand and kissed my knuckles.

Then he looked down at the compass resting in my palm.

"Do you think they'll want it someday?"