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say.”
    “Well enough.” Ulric gestured toward the doorway, and Trey preceded him into the bailey and toward the main hall. The men would be gathered there while the tower room was occupied by the women who would prepare his wife for the consummation of his marriage. They’d started work there in the morning, and woe to any poor male who dared to trespass.
    “It seems to me you have a problem, my lord,” the minstrel said.
    “I have my land and manor. I have the wife and helpmeet to secure my place here. What problem could I have?”
    “Your wife doesn’t want you,” the man answered. “I’d wager she doesn’t even like you.”
    “She needn’t like me or even tolerate me as long as she obeys me.”
    “Do you really want to spend your life with her that way?”
    In the waning daylight, the flickering of light from the main hall guided them. Inside, the men sat around the fire, drinking and joking. Ulric found a flagon of wine and two goblets and led the minstrel to a corner where they could speak in private.
    They sat at a table in shadows, far from the fire. If anyone noticed the presence of the bridegroom, they said nothing. Ulric filled the goblets and then drained his own and put it down on the table with some force. “God’s breath. How long will these women take?”
    “Wedding nights require ritual,” Trey answered. “Including making the groom wait.”
    “And what’s the purpose of that?”
    “Not being a woman, I can only guess, but I imagine it’s meant to impress him with the gravity of the vows he’s taken.”
    “Gravity,” Ulric spat. “Priests, gowns, ritual. I’ve gone to war with less preparation than this marriage has taken.”
    “If you make this into a war, expect to lose it,” Trey said.
    “I don’t lose.”
    “You frighten her, my lord. You can force her to obey, but she’ll take no pleasure from the union.” Trey set his own goblet down. “And neither will you.”
    “I’ll make her want me.”
    “By force?” Trey said. “Won’t work. Accept my help, instead.”
    “What could a minstrel do?”
    “The lady responds to my song. You saw that for yourself.”
    He had. She’d shrunk from Ulric, even after she’d taken the vow to marry him. As soon as this Trey had set fingers to the lyre, she’d opened to him of her own will. That kiss. The taste still lingered on his lips, more potent than any wine.
    “I have an elixir,” the minstrel said. “It soothes and excites at the same time.
    “How can that be possible?”
    “Are you sure you want to know?”
    “Speak,” Ulric commanded.
    “’Tis your lady wife I’ll be discussing. You may not like what I have to say.”
    “If I tell you to speak, you will do it,” he answered.
    “The tonic uncoils fear, opening up the person to other emotions. Lust is the most common one.”
    “An aphrodisiac?”
    “I’ve taken it myself a few times. It’s quite potent.”
    “Then, I’m to drug my own wife,” Ulric said.
    “Or I’ll do it for you,” the man answered. “You’ll want to apply the salve yourself, though.”
    “Elixirs, salves. You’ve probably made the whole thing up.”
    Trey reached into the bag that hung from his belt and pulled out a vial. “Here, my lord.”
    Ulric took it from him, removed the stopper, and sniffed the liquid. “Cinnamon. No more.”
    “There’s some of that, but other herbs as well.”
    Ulric handed the vial back to him. “Fakery.”
    Trey reclosed the bottle and put it back into his pouch. “As you say. Deflower your wife on your own.”
    “I don’t like you, singer.”
    “But you need me, don’t you?”
    The man was too sure of himself. Either a master at deception or speaking truth. Ulric did have a problem with Lady Josalyn. She was tiny and a virgin. She hated him and feared him. She’d never planned to lie with a man and had no intention of enjoying the marital act.
    And here he sat, hard and eager to couple with her. All he’d have to do was show her his