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"Behold your new mistress, my wife," he pronounced, "and know that when she bids you, I have bidden you. What service you render her, you are rendering me. What loyalty you give or withhold from her, you give or withhold from me!"
His harsh gaze slashed across them for one breath-stopping, threatening moment, and then he turned to Je
Unshed tears of poignant gratitude and awed wonder shimmered in Je
Behind them, the armorer clapped his hands slowly-twice. The smith joined in. Then a dozen more serfs. By the time Royce had guided her up the wide steps leading to the hall doors where Stefan and Friar Gregory were waiting, the entire bailey was thundering with steady clapping-not the sort of uninhibited, spontaneous salute that marks heartfelt enthusiasm, but rather the rhythmic response of the spellbound who are awed by a power too potent to resist.
Stefan Westmoreland was the first to speak after they entered the great, cavernous hall. Clasping Royce's shoulder with warm affection, he joked, "Would that I could do that to a crowd, dear brother."Meaningfully, he added, "Can you grant us a few moments? We have something that needs discussing."
Royce turned to Je
Her mind still dazed by Royce's incredible thoughtfulness in making that speech, Je
Je
"Je
Tipping her head back, sca
Tilting her head and listening closely, Je
"And the weather was perfectly abominable!" Aunt Elinor continued. "Just when I thought the rain would surely drown me, the sun came out and baked me alive! My head began to ache, my bones began to ache, and I surely would have caught my death, had Sir Stefan not finally agreed to let us stop for a short while so that I could gather curative herbs."
Aunt Elinor descended the last step and materialized before Je
Stefan lowered his tankard of ale. Obediently, he replied, "No, ma'am," bowed slightly, then he lifted his tankard of ale to his lips, carefully averting his eyes from Royce's mocking, sidewise glance. Arik stalked into the hall and went over to the fire, and Aunt Elinor gave him a reproving look as she continued to Je
The knights by the fire turned to stare, and Je
Opening her arms wide to Je
Je
The split-second of taut silence that followed that slander was exploded by a loud guffaw that suddenly erupted from Sir Godfrey and was abruptly choked off by an icy glance from Arik. To Je
"Now, now, sweet little dove," Aunt Elinor soothed, but her attention was on the knights who'd laughed at her diagnosis. Over Je
Grabbing her aunt's hand, and scrupulously avoiding meeting the laughing gazes of the other knights, Je
Her husband, with a tankard of ale arrested in his hand in exactly the same place it had been when Aunt Elinor had first said Arik's name, managed to keep his face straight and to gravely reply, "By all means, Je
"What a delightful idea, child," Aunt Elinor exclaimed at once. "You must be fatigued to death."