Melcorka shook away the dark images from her mind to concentrate on this new problem.
"Bradan and I are old friends," she said. "We understand each other."
"I am sure you do," Aharn said, "but I do not wish to wear the horns of the cuckold even before we are married."
"I am not cuckolding you with Bradan." Melcorka felt her anger rise at the suggestion. "We are friends, not lovers." She was unable to look at Bradan as she said that.
"All the same," Aharn said, "my men are beginning to talk."
"Let them!" Melcorka was suddenly reckless. "If they want to talk, they can come to me, and I will talk directly to them with a steel tongue and a sharp answer!" She glanced over at Defender that lay between her and Bradan.
"There is no need." Bradan stood up. "I am not here to be the cause of a
