I laughed. “I am a musician, your grace. Leave the poets to their superstitious bone rattling. All I need is my instrument, two good hands, and a knowledge of my subject.”
The idea seemed to trouble Alveron. “Nothing to aid your inspiration?”
“I would have your leave to freely wander the estates and Severen-Low according to my will, your grace.”
“Of course.” I gave an easy shrug. “In that case, I have everything I need for inspiration within easy reach.”
I had barely set foot on Tinnery Street when I saw her. With all the fruitless searching I had done over the last several months, it seemed odd that I should find her so easily now.
Denna moved through the crowd with slow grace. Not the stiffness that passes for grace in courtly settings, but a natural leisure of movement. A cat does not think of stretching, it stretches. But a tree does not even do this. A tree simply sways without the effort of moving itself. That is how she moved.
I caught up to her as quickly as I could without attracting her attention. “Excuse me, miss?”
She turned. Her face brightened at the sight of me. “Yes?”
“I would never normally approach a woman in this way, but I couldn’t help but notice that you have the eyes of a lady I was once desperately in love with.”
“What a shame to love only once,” she said, showing her white teeth in a wicked smile. “I’ve heard some men can manage twice or even more.”
I ignored her gibe. “I am only a fool once. Never will I love again.”Her expression turned soft and she laid her hand lightly on my arm. “You poor man! She must have hurt you terribly.”
“’Struth, she wounded me more ways than one.”
“But such things are to be expected,” she said matter-of-factly. “How could a woman help but love a man so striking as yourself?”
“I know not,” I said modestly. “But I think she must not, for she caught me with an easy smile, then stole away without a word. Like dew in dawn’s pale light.”
“Like a dream upon waking,” Denna added with a smile.
“Like a faerie maiden slipping through the trees.”
Denna was silent for a moment. “She must have been wondrous indeed, to catch you so entire,” she said, looking at me with serious eyes.
“She was beyond compare.”
“Oh come now.” Her manner changed to jovial. “We all know that when the lights are out all women are the same height!” She gave a rough chuckle and ribbed me knowingly with an elbow.
“Not true,” I said with firm conviction.
“Well,” she said slowly. “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.” She looked back up at me. “Perhaps in time you can convince me.”
I looked into the deep brown of her eyes. “That has ever been my hope.”
Denna smiled and my heart stepped sideways in my chest. “Maintain it.” She slid her arm inside the curve of mine and fell into step beside me. “For without hope what do any of us have?”
Patrick Rothfuss
A Wise Man's Fear
Capítulo 66 (fragmento)
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