“Sophie, I have something important to talk to you about.” I snuggled into the smooth curve of her back.

She had nearly drifted off to sleep. “Can’t it wait, Hugh? What could be more important than what we’ve just shared?”

I swallowed. “Raymond of Toulouse is forming an army. Paul the carter told me. They leave for the Holy Land in a few days.”

Sophie turned in my arms and faced me with a blank, unsure look.

[22] “I have to go,” I said.

Sophie sat up, almost dumbfounded. “You want to take the Cross?”

“Not the Cross: I wouldn’t fight for that. But Raymond has promised freedom to anyone who joins. Freedom, Sophie… You saw what happened today.”

She sat up straight. “I did see, Hugh. And I saw that Baldwin will never free you from your pledge. Or any of us.”

“In this he has no choice,” I protested. “Raymond and Baldwin are aligned. He has to accept. Sophie, think of how our lives could change. Who knows what I might find there? There are tales of riches just for the taking. And holy relics worth more than a thousand inns like ours.”

“You’re leaving,” she said, turning her eyes from me, “because I have not given you a child.”

“I am not! You mustn’t think that, not even for a moment. I love you more than anything. When I see you each day, working around the inn, or even amid the grease and smoke of the kitchen, I thank God for how lucky I am. We were meant to be together. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She nodded, unconvinced. “You are no soldier, Hugh. You could die.”

“I’m strong. And agile. No one around can do the tricks I do.”

“No one wants to hear your silly jokes, Hugh.” Sophie sniffed. “Except me.”

“Then I’ll scare the infidels off with my bright red hair.”

I saw the outline of a smile from her. I held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I will be back. I swear it. Just like when we were children. I always told you I’d return. I always did.”