Lyonel’s tent bursts at the seams with merriment, thick with the rich stink of roast meat and wine. The sort of feast that leaves no room for private thoughts unless they’re stubborn enough to survive the noise.

You have spent most of the evening trying very hard not to look at Duncan for too long, because looking too long only makes the ache in your chest worse. He’s seated beside you now, broad as a doorway and just as impossible to ignore, all awkward grace and quiet kindness. Yet every time you appreciate his good looks, your mind strays to the puppet show, to Tanselle Too-Tall and how he’d made eyes at her like she were some gift from the Seven themselves.

So when he finally turns to you with that open, earnest look of his, you brace yourself.

“You’ve gone all serious,” he says, with a hint of concern, his brow pinching with such seriousness it’s almost comical. “You need a jam pastry,” and with that, he’s up, fetching you a plate of sweet treats in the hopes of bringing a smile back to your face.

When he returns to the spot beside you, he scratches the back of his neck, glancing down at the table, then back up at you with helpless sincerity. “I was, um… was goin’ to tell you somethin’ sooner, but I kept thinkin’ I’d make a fool of m’self,” he admits, voice gentle enough that it feels meant for you alone. Then, after a breath that seems to cost him more courage than a tilt in armour ever could, he adds, “I don’t find Tanselle lovely.”

The words land softly, then all at once.

Duncan’s ears redden, but he presses on, “Well, she is very lovely. Kind, I mean. The sort of nice girl you’d like to see at market. Sellin’ nice bread or summit, not-” his cheeks are red now, all the strength in him fading as he loses himself in his own words. He has to take a pause before continuing, his teeth worrying his lip shyly. “I find you lovely. The most lovely, in truth. And… that’s been real hard to say, ‘cause you probably don’t want a big oaf like me sayin’ things like that, but… if I don’t tell you now, I might go mad.”