By Right of Arms (11 page)

“How dare you …”

“Did I mistake his eyes, madame? If his gaze had been fingers, I would have had to slay him for trespassing.”

“What do you know of it? He was Giles’s staunchest vassal. He mourns his lord.”

“ ’Twas not mourning,
chérie.
It was lust. Do take special care, for Verel can be replaced … and you cannot.”

He strode out of the chamber, leaving her alone with his warning. Nothing was ever missed by this man. She sat heavily on her bed, staring at the wall. She, and each of her vassals, stood naked before him. He accurately interpreted every glance, gesture, whisper. She had seen confusion only once in his eyes, and that was his perplexity over how Giles had won and maintained her support.

She meant to learn Hyatt’s weakness. However, she did not expect to gain any knowledge by sulking in her room. She would relearn this keep, as she had learned it twelve years ago. She would watch the organization of two opposing forces, judge the strength of her people, and observe the habits of this new troop of men. She meant to become as good at judging her foe as he was at judging her.

Aurélie made only cursory trips through the common room, entrusting the tending of the wounded to other women. She examined the cookrooms, spoke with the villeins for the first time since the coming of the English. She paid her calls to widows and children. She saw weaponless soldiers installed with their families or casting about in search of a place to bed down. Hyatt’s men and additional servants had left little extra space in the hall, outbuildings, and stables. A knight who had once resided in the hall took his refuge with a recent widow. A page who had lost his knight was placed with another, but this time his role was to carry bales of hay. Where there had been four to a room, there were now ten. Wagons, tents, and mean shelters littered the outer bailey, for many residents had been rousted from their inner bailey or village hovels. Aurélie worried whether there was enough food to feed them all, victor and vanquished alike.

The sun was lowering when she moved through the corridor toward her chamber. She was halted in mid-stride by a shriek, a ringing slap, and the abrupt opening of a chamber door. Baptiste came stumbling from the room backward, tripping on the frame and falling against the opposite wall, a hand clasped to her reddened cheek. Aurélie was but five paces away. She saw the girl’s tear-filled eyes and the shocked wonder on her face.

“I’ll have you whipped, you belligerent slut!”

Aurélie looked toward the chamber to see a wildly enraged woman brace herself against the frame with both hands. Coppery tresses fell errantly over her bare shoulders, her eyes sparkling with fury. She looked ready to hurl herself at Baptiste, and Aurélie flew to place herself between the two.

“Nay, madame, do not harm her,” she ordered, crouching to see if Baptiste was hurt.

“I would not have burned the child, madame,” Baptiste choked.

Aurélie turned pleading eyes to the stranger. “Madame, the girl serves well, but it is her first day of chores after a battering from these knights. Patience! Please!”

“Bah, the ignorant whore deserves a battering. She is a fool. She meant to bathe my son with scalding water.”

“Madame, she is a
child,
and she has never tended the young for her duty. She usually attends to
my
needs.” Aurélie turned to Baptiste. “Why have you not kept yourself to my rooms?”

“I ordered her to serve me. I am of Hyatt’s house. ’Tis my right.”

Aurélie’s temper was slowly building. “You may enjoy a victor’s right without destroying the spoils, madame. If you have needs, seek me and I will place the best servant in your hands. Baptiste is a tender lass and need not suffer your abuse.”

“And who are
you?”
the woman demanded.

“I am Aurélie, and I
was
the lady of this hall.”

The woman showed some surprise and then quickly collected herself, crossing her arms over her ample chest and leaning in the frame of the door. She leisurely surveyed Aurélie from her toes to her nose, a superior smile playing on her lips.

“So we meet. The wife and the mistress.”

Shock etched itself on Aurélie’s features, though she quickly chided herself that she should have expected as much. The woman was beautiful, almost exotic, with her fiery hair cascading freely over her bare shoulders. Her lively green eyes were animated, her lips moistened to the shade of a peach. Her gown was not only revealing, but elegant. She was not working to settle Hyatt’s possession, but beating the servants.

Aurélie felt no superiority when facing Hyatt’s vixen. Something inside her shrank convulsively. He had need of wifely talents as the keeper of the provender, but surely this woman could entertain him in his leisure time.

“Shall I send you a servant who knows how to tend the young?” Aurélie asked.

The woman threw back her head and laughed. “Please, madame, send a servant who can help mine. I have three to serve me, but I need another. Hyatt has one son now, but there will be many.”

“There are needs in the hall. It may take some time to find the right woman,” Aurélie said, turning to help Baptiste to her feet.

“Then leave this wench. I will teach her myself … or beat her for her mistakes.”

“Nay, madame, she comes with me. By Hyatt’s order, she is to be left alone. She serves under my care, or not at all.”

“Hyatt’s
order? He will let me have her.”

“If he wills it, she will return. Otherwise, Baptiste stays with me. And I shall find a servant for you when I can.”

“When you
can?
You must think yourself mighty here,
lady.”

Aurélie turned to walk away. How could she be so cruel? But then Aurélie did not expect pity for her grievous losses. Especially from Hyatt’s mistress.

“I hear you are barren,” the woman chided. “Should you like to see my son? Hyatt’s firstborn?”

Aurélie continued toward the stair without responding to the woman’s wicked jeering. She pulled Baptiste along with her to safety. She heard the woman’s door slam by the time she had led Baptiste to the top of the stairs.

“Did you hurt the woman’s child?” she asked gently.

“Nay, my lady. I was about to add cool water to the boiling kettle when she became enraged and slapped me. I do not know how she could think I would hurt the child.”

“Stay with Perrine, or keep yourself near me. You cannot please her—do not try.”

“My lady, she is so evil. How did you keep from slapping her?”

Aurélie smiled ruefully. Her own justice in this hall had been swift and sure. She had not often had to resort to physical punishment, but poor Baptiste remembered well that Lady Aurélie did not condone such disrespect. “My poor lamb, you cling to useless memories. I only appear to be the mistress here, but I am a servant like you. My role is to serve Sir Hyatt’s whim and I have already seen what he does to people who abuse what he owns.”

“I do not believe he values her. She is a shrew.”

Aurélie touched the girl’s sore cheek with a loving, grateful caress. “She is here, sweet Baptiste. Sir Hyatt would not keep her close if it were not his desire. Believe me, he values her. Tread carefully.”

* * *

Aurélie’s second meal in the hall since Hyatt’s coming was a strange experience for her. Lord Lavergne occupied the seat on one side of the conquering knight and Aurélie was placed in the other. The woman, who she had learned was named Faon, occupied a lesser place at the end of the lord’s table. But oddly, the woman seemed in lively, entertaining spirits. She had dressed herself elegantly and laughed and joked with Hyatt’s men. Aurélie was confused by the woman’s acceptance of this role, but she kept her questions to herself.

Lord Lavergne was not so gracious. “Hyatt, I perceive a grave mistake in keeping this woman, your mistress, in residence at De la Noye.”

“Oh? Do you?”

“Aye. It should prove a poor example for other men, leaving them to think that they might freely take any number of women that suits them. Many, I suppose, will join mistress and wife in the same family.”

Hyatt chuckled ruefully. He looked between Faon and Aurélie. “If they think they can, who am I to forbid them?”

“This strange situation disgraces my daughter,” Lavergne pushed.

Hyatt raised a questioning brow. “I could have sent her fleeing the English armies in rags. Now there, my lord, is a disgrace.”

“But Hyatt …”

“Enough of your judgments. It is my problem. I shall handle it.”

“At least you admit it is a problem. Have you asked your wife for her preference?” Hyatt refused an answer. Instead, he banged his empty tankard on the table and a page rushed forward to bring him ale. “Daughter?” Lavergne pressed.

Aurélie sighed. “Father, you must leave these things to Sir Hyatt. He will not condone your interference,” she said quietly.

“Do
you
accept this arrangement, Aurélie?” her father asked her.

“Father, I have accepted a great deal worse.”

“The woman should be sent away from this hall. Back to her people. This will breed trouble. Your wife could tend your son …”

Aurélie’s surprised eyes focused a long moment on her father. She couldn’t believe what Lavergne dared. “Father, please …”

“Well, you would do it, would you not? Tell him. He is your husband now. You are entitled to some authority in such matters.”

She looked warily at Hyatt, surprised to find that there was a tolerant amusement in his eyes as Lavergne pleaded his case.

“Well, Aurélie … tell him your preference.”

“Father, I have no children, but if I did, I would not wish for them to be taken from me. Leave this to Sir Hyatt, and place none of this problem on my shoulders. Now be still, lest she hear you.”

“Why would I care who hears me? I …”

“You,” Hyatt interrupted, “must carefully recall that there is a difference between an ally and a vassal. A very large difference. And I am not your vassal.” He quieted his voice. “Take your daughter’s advice, my lord. Leave the matter to me.”

The discussion at an end, Hyatt resumed his meal, eating heartily and hurriedly. Lavergne was finally quiet. When Hyatt had finished, he rose and went to speak with Girvin. While her husband and his knight were in conversation at the other end of the room, Aurélie turned to her father.

“My lord, you must heed Hyatt’s words. Believe me, you do little to help me when you come to my colors in such a way.”

“I have a right to …”

“My God, you are more difficult to teach than I have been. We have no rights here, Father. Hyatt has made it clear that he will not tolerate any question as to his rule. If he chooses ten whores to place at the foot of my bed, I have nothing to say. Do not try to match him again.”

“How can you abide such indecency? I have raised you above the likes of these base habits.”

“I have buried my husband and seen my men-at-arms turned into stable hands. Believe me when I say that none of what you raised me for has been mine this past fortnight.”

Lavergne’s eyes dulled sympathetically. “Does he treat you badly?”

She looked down. “There is very little joy in this marriage.”

“And this business with his whore, Aurélie? This surely hurts you deeply.”

She raised her eyes and looked at her father. “Father, I do not love Hyatt. Why would I care?”

“He is your
husband!”

“He is the lord of the hall. If I am dissatisfied with his habits, where do I plead my case? To King John? To the Black Prince?”

“To
me.
I am your father; I am his ally now.”

She shook her head. “One more word from you, Lord Lavergne, and you will be sent from De la Noye on the back of a mule. Hyatt has no need of your alliance.”

She rose slowly to fetch a pitcher and fill her father’s cup. She carefully poured the ale. “While you enjoy the food from this table, Father, I bid you remember, you do not eat from Giles’s storehouse. Nor from mine. Everything you touch belongs to the Englishman now … until some French army comes to wrest it away from him. Should that happen, I fear there would not be much for either of us to enjoy. Hyatt would likely fire the keep before he would turn it over to anyone.”

She returned the pitcher and sat beside him again.

“Do you hate me for this, Aurélie? Did I do you wrong, giving you to him?”

“I know you meant to help, Father. Nay, I do not hold any grudge against you or anyone else. You thought to restore my position and my home to me. Yet I do not forget for one moment that I polish Hyatt’s cups, roast his pork, keep his house. And you must accept this, or we shall have more trouble.”

She stole a wary glance toward Hyatt and found that as Girvin spoke to him, Hyatt’s eyes were upon her. She ended the conversation with her father after one glance at Hyatt’s suspicious frown. He did not trust her. Of course he should not, for she would undermine him if she could. But did he not realize how totally he had intimidated her? If she could think of the slightest way to plot against him, she would. But alas, he gave no sign of any weakness. She had spoken the truth when she said that he held his conquest firmly.

Hyatt left Girvin’s side to speak to others in the room. He braced an arm with one comrade, partook of a toast with another, and paused to inspect the repairs that a page had made on a bridle. It was a long while before he returned to the table, but he did not sit. He stood behind Aurélie and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Have you eaten your fill?”

“Aye, Hyatt.”

“You leave so much on your plate. You will become too thin.”

She turned to look into his eyes. She couldn’t help but think of Faon, whose soft, round curves must be more to his liking. “My appetite will return, given time and fewer wars.”

“Good enough. Bid your father good night.”

Aurélie merely nodded toward Lord Lavergne once and then went with Hyatt toward the stairs. She was grateful that there were very few of her own people in the common room, and those few present were frantic in their service to the demanding knights. It was better that only Hyatt’s people could judge his impatience to take her to bed, since she did not care what they thought of her. In her resignation, she had forgotten Faon.