The desperation with which Eddie and Susannah had taken to one another was something that had to be expected, and Roland took it in his usual, quiet stride.

The madness had gone out of Eddie’s gaze, and the other one – the bitch named Detta Walker – had only shown herself in Susannah’s face once or twice since they’ve escaped the western beach into the cool protection of Shardik’s forest.

The greenery of their surroundings, coupled with the scarce songs of the odd bird seemed to have been of an improvement for their overall condition. Roland found himself actually enjoying the first company he’s had for… years? Centuries?

Since Cuthbert and Alain and Jamie had ridden into their deaths on Jericho Hill.

All told, it did not surprise Roland to be awoken by the first little rustlings on the other side of the fireplace where his two apprentices had taken refuge wrapped up tightly in the new leather blanket they had learned to make from hides.

He lay still and listened with something akin to friendly amusement, trying to give them their privacy as much as possible as they started forgetting their surroundings and fell into each other.

Roland could only imagine how Susannah’s strong thighs would feel clamped around a man’s hip. The loss of her shins and feet only helped the musculature in what was left of her legs, and he’d seen the way she moved without her extraordinary chair – sinuous, fluid movements, akin to a snake slithering through the underbrush.

He could hear Eddie’s low, reverent groan and Susannah’s throaty laugh.

“You goan give it to me, big boy?” she goaded huskily and Roland could feel a chill running down his back and his balls pulse in almost reluctant want. There’d been more Detta Walker in her voice than he’d feel comfortable with; but Eddie didn’t seem fazed in the least.

Their love making was almost silent after that; only the slick sound of their union still loud enough to reach Roland’s ears in an almost comforting rhythm, their breaths getting deeper and more labored the longer they fucked; and Roland could not deny that he enjoyed it – witnessing the forming and strengthening of their Ka-tet and being an incidental part of their growing affection for each other.