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"Not a mass, but a confession," the steward put in, not realizing that Royce had deliberately misunderstood his reasons for sending for Friar Gregory. Turning to the boy's mother, Sir Albert said, "I assumed that your miscreant son would naturally want to avail himself of the Church's final sacraments?" unable to speak through her tears, the woman nodded helplessly.
"No!" Royce snapped, but the hysterical mother screamed, "Yes! 'Tis his right!-His right to have the last sacraments before he dies!"
"If he dies," Royce drawled coldly, " 'twill be from suffocation at your hands, madam. Step back and let the boy breathe!"
A look of tormented hope crossed her face, then wavered as she looked around at the grim faces of the crowd, and she realized no one shared her fleeting hope for a reprieve. "What are you going to do to him, milord?"
"It's not my decision," Royce replied tightly, his anger renewed as he considered the names they'd hurtled at his wife yesterday. "Inasmuch as it was my wife who suffered at his hands, 'twill be up to her."
Instead of being relieved, the mother clapped her hand over her mouth, her terrified eyes riveted on Je
He stared at her through tear-swollen eyes, his entire body shaking. "J-Jake. M-my l-lady."
"I see," Je
Jake swallowed twice, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down in his long, ski
"Really?" Je
"Yes, mum," he admitted in a glum whisper. "I can hit a rabbit 'atween the eyes with a rock and kill him dead if'n he's close enough to see. I don't never miss."
"Really?" Je
"You did?" Jake asked, mutually impressed.
"Yes-well, never mind," she amended hastily at Royce's look of dry rebuke. "You didn't mean to kill me, did you?" she asked, and lest the foolish child admit that, she added hastily, "I mean, you did not want the sin of murder to stain your soul for all time?"
He shook his head emphatically at that.
"So it was more a matter of the excitement of the moment, wasn't it?" she urged, and to her immense relief, he finally nodded.
"And of course you were proud of your skill with throwing and perhaps even showing off a bit for everyone?"
He hesitated and then nodded jerkily.
"There, you see!" Je
Je
"No, don't do that," Je
"If your son is needed to help in your own planting," she said to him, "he can perform his… er… penance in the afternoons instead."
"I-" he said in a choked voice, then he cleared his throat, straightened his shoulders, and said with touching dignity, "will keep yer in my prayers ever' day of my life, milady."
Smiling, Je
The man paled, but he managed to look the fierce, dark man standing beside her in the eye and to say with meek sincerity, "Aye, an' you, too, milord."
The crowd disbanded in eerie, wordless silence, casting surreptitious glances over their shoulders at Je
"I was," he admitted with ironic amusement. "For a while, I thought you were going to congratulate him on his excellent aim and invite him to join us for supper."
"You think I was too lenient?" she said with relief as he opened the heavy oaken door of the hall, standing to one side for her to precede him.
"I don't know. I've no experience in dealing with peasants and maintaining order. However, Prisham should have known better than to talk of a penalty like death. 'Twas out of the question."
"I don't like him."
"Nor do I. He was steward here before, and I kept him on. I think 'tis time to look for another to replace him."
"Soon, I hope?" Je
"At the moment," he said, and Je
"Really, what are they?"
"Taking you to bed and then eating supper-in that order."
"Wake up, sleepyhead-" Royce's lazy chuckle brought Je
By the time Royce and Je
"Where is my aunt?" Je
Sir Eustace tipped his head to the archway on his left. "She's gone to the kitchens to instruct the cooks to prepare a greater quantity of food for tomorrow. I don't think," he added with a grin, "that she realized what monstrous appetites we'd have if offered tasty food."
Je
"Fit for the gods," the knight exaggerated with a grin. "Ask anyone."
"Except Arik," Sir Godfrey said with a disgusted look at the giant, who had systematically stripped an entire goose down to the carcass and was finishing the last few bites.
At that moment, Aunt Elinor bustled into the hall, her face wreathed in a smile. "Good evening, your grace," she said to Royce. "Good evening, Je
"If we'd known you meant to come down and enliven our meal with your presence," Stefan said to his brother, "we'd have saved you more."