After a moment, Alain left, leaving Roland to rest his forehead against the doorframe for a moment while he steadied himself. One night. One night of peace, after all the struggles of the day. Had it really been so much to ask?

Nodding to the maid as she dried her hands and hurried away, he closed the door after her and moved back over to sit on the bed, head in his hands and sheet still around his waist. "The next person to bring me bad news," he commented at last, rather bitterly, "will be lucky not to get my boot in their belly." It was a joke, or as much as one as someone so humourless could summon up with the immense weariness that was currently coming over him. At the same time, though, it might not be so far from true. He might have been able to manage, had it not been for that hope, however brief, of letting it go for the night.