In the telling, his choice seems a cruel one. And it is true that Merlyn has been manipulative in his time, as well as demanding. But to his side, it must be credited that he never knew of my terror of the darkness.
While I was resident at Ravensmuir the first time, there was seldom complete darkness in our chamber. He lit candles when we loved, and we loved most of the night most nights. Even the night just past, the solar had been lit with the first young sliver of the waning moon diffused through the clouds. I had opened the shutters upon my arrival for precisely this reason.
Merlyn and I had not lived together long enough that he might know all of my secrets, especially those—like this one—that I protected so carefully. And even if he guessed at it, he could not have understood the f
