"What did you do?" he asked, trying to get her to expel her anger in ranting.
She snorted. "What could I do? The man is a metal-worker in the smithy, so I couldn't kill him. I may need his skills. He's cooling his heels in the dungeon right now, but I daresay that won't fix the underlying problem." She sighed, looking exasperated but not spent of her anger just yet.
He finished removing her bodice and started to knead her shoulders. "And what do you think is the underlying problem?" he said gently.
She rolled her neck. "Oh, well, of course it's that the Goddesses dared to make me heir and not Yarrow. Of course they can't see that I didn't choose my life any more than they chose theirs, but common sense is not so common with commoners -- Oh!" she exclaimed as his hands found a large knot
