Knight and the Witch 02 - A Summer Bewitchment by Lindsay Townsend Page B

Silvester gave to his maidens, too, although Ruth had shaken her head when Elfrida had asked her if she had kept any of his tokens.
    She feared I would take the gem. It is precious to her, not only because it is gold, but because of the man who gave it.
    Saddened, Elfrida fingered her own bright wedding ring, wishing for a selfish instant that Lady Astrid had never sought out Magnus.
    And why did she? To disguise her own failure by involving and then blaming him. If he had recovered Rowena, she would have taken the girl back, and continued her plotting, playing two brothers off each other.
    Is Silvester also a relative of hers? Surely he must be.
    “Is she his cousin? His mother?” she asked aloud, appalled at the last idea.
    “Hola!” Magnus’s shout shattered her gloomy thoughts. “What a place!”

Chapter 11
    The manor shimmered in the warm late afternoon light like a great tent in a breeze. Magnus counted two towers and twenty banners, two jetties and three floors, a great hall, two kitchens and a bath house.
    Plenty of laundresses here .
    “How can this lord want more?” Elfrida whispered. His generous wench did not understand greed.
    “What kind of manners will they have?” she went on. “I do not want to shame you.”
    “Never that, my heart,” he said easily. He knew it was the snobbish poison of Lady Astrid that inspired his wife’s fears, but part of him was disappointed. Does she not realize by now that I am never ashamed of her? What does she fear of me, that I will repudiate her because she uses the wrong knife for her meat? And yet, are we not alike in this? I fear ridicule from my looks. She fears ridicule from her class.
    He hugged her with his thighs. “Should you make any mistake, I will accept kisses as excuses.”
    As he hoped, that made her laugh. A greater joy to him was the greeting given to him and his people by a crusty house steward. Already awaiting them outside the manor steps, the elderly retainer at once informed him that their chamber had been made ready.
    “My Lord Richard bids you welcome. You have time to relax, bathe and change in your room before supper.”
    “We have a room,” breathed Elfrida. “So rich.”
    “We have our solar at home,” he reminded her, but she was right. A private room for a pair of guests was grand indeed. The warrior in him guessed another reason for this bounty too, a hard-headed, practical reason.
    The lord wants to question his herald and Lady Astrid in private first. That is what I would do. What I will also do is post my own guards outside our room and in the stables.
    Then Elfrida and I shall take a bath, together.
    “Excellent! Many thanks!” Magnus replied, smiling broadly as he dismounted.
     

     
    Elfrida glanced at the bath-tub, then at him, a flicker of longing falling across her face like a beam of light, then she shook her head. “I must speak to Githa. She knows more than her mistress wants her to know about Silvester. I must learn what it is.”
    “Githa will be bathing and changing,” Magnus replied. He had his own designs for spending time very pleasantly before supper and catching the desire in Elfrida’s face, he intended to see them all through. In any hunt there is always waiting and this is our lingering time. I know, Elfrida, more than you, what will take that strain from your eyes and the frown from your forehead. It will also ease your heart and mine. He rippled his fingers. “Come, wife. Our bath will soon be ready.”
    Still tense, she sped away, across the chamber and leaned over the wooden half-barrel. “Only if the water is invisible.”
    “They must heat it and bring it. While they do we will sample the bed.” Determined to keep her with him, he untied the bed curtains and drew them closed. “The evening will be long and we shall need our wits. We should snatch a nap.”
    Whistling, he danced across the wooden floor and gathered her close while she was still chuckling at his caper. Swinging her along