After a second the door opened. He had a drink in his hand. He didn’t say anything, just turned and walked back into his room, sitting in his big, expensive chair.
“Tulan, I’d like to take Neri to hang out with our friends today. She mentioned you didn’t want her going out by herself.”
“I want her to stay here,” he said.
“I’ll keep her with me at all times, and usually with several of us. I won’t let her even ride a horse and a carriage by herself, and I’ll bring her back here and walk her to the door. I don’t know why you think she’s not safe, but you know what happened last year. I can protect her.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“But Jonathan...” Neri started to say, but stopped when the count placed his hand on her arm.
“Jonathan, I don’t know what’s going on, but I can see
