Training
Lek had earned some respect by defeating Edgar, though he still sensed a few of the men sniggering behind their helms at him. He obeyed Wulfsen's orders by not challenging anyone to any duels and resisted looking for fights, ignoring the whispered jests from the few remarking on him loving a soiled woman who didn't love him back.
The upside to the duel was that Edgar stayed away from Millie, and Lek now had scars. He knew they upset his mother and Millie was not happy about how he got them, but they made him feel more like a man. He thought he started growing chest hairs immediately after the duel.
Today he trained with his shirt tucked into his belt. Not just to display the scars but because he was sweating freely. He carried two heavy iron bars in each fist as he started his run up the winding stairs of Thorn Tower, then back down. He ran across the outer bailey to Garden Tower, then up and down those stairs. Then across the outer bailey to Wolf Tower, up and down those winding stairs. Then across the outer bailey to Thorn tower. He would make this circuit several times each day.
The running gave him time to think. At first he had been relieved to learn that Wulfsen would not be traveling so he would stay in the keep, near Pinja. But since Pinja was afraid so Lek stayed away from her, it only made him feel more useless. He had messed up so badly with Pinja, proposing marriage was the worst mistake he had ever made. At least before they were friends, she may have eventually recovered enough from the attack for them to still be friends and possibly he could have earned her love. But instead he stupidly rushed things and offered to marry her, and that scared her so badly she did not want him anywhere near him. Now there was nothing he could do for her. He had lost her forever.
At least with him sweating so heavily no one could tell why his eyes were tearing.
Lek was starting to get thirsty so after descending from Thorn Tower he headed to the spring in the garden for a drink.