"Perhaps some day I'll show you the extent of my strength. But suffice it to say, my Lady," he said as he swept her up easily into his arms, "carrying you up a few flights of stairs will not tax me in the slightest." He didn't clutch her too closely, didn't put hands where they didn't need to be. He carried her carefully, aware of the fact she'd been wounded, though not the extent. He walked as if he carried nothing at all, breezing easily up the stairs.

He also knew that the subject had merely been shelved, not forgotten. His wife had a similar way of drawing conversations out of him. Particularly ones he wished not to have with her. Wise and intelligent women could be rather terrifying. "You find this place to your liking, then?"