Silversword (de Lohr Dynasty Book 7) (17 page)

More men bearing torches came out to greet them as they crossed the skinny bridge. The wood creaked and groaned under the weight of the horses and Alessandria was a bit nervous about it, relieved when the horses finally returned to solid ground on the other side. She directed her horse behind Chad and listened to him as he spoke with a bald-headed man, one of the men who had come from the manor bearing torches.

Evidently, the lady of the house was having some kind of feast and there were other guests inside, crowded into the odd-looking manor house. Chad, however, didn’t care about any other guests. He only cared about himself and Alessandria, and made sure to throw the de Lohr name around a few times before the man he had been speaking with offered to usher him inside. It was the answer Chad had been seeking.

So they followed the men with torches into a large, rounded doorway that Alessandria took to be the entrance, only she was puzzled that the horses were allowed in. She soon saw why; the entry door led to an inner courtyard of sorts and as soon as they entered the spacious courtyard, Chad dismounted his steed and made his way to Alessandria, removing her from the leggy mare. He then took her satchel, his saddlebags and sword, and followed the bald-headed man into an arched entryway, which led directly into a two-storied hall.

The heat and stench of the hall hit both Chad and Alessandria in the face like a slap. The smell of dogs was nearly overwhelming, as was the smell of roasting meat. Smoke lay across the ceiling in a haze from the blazing hearth, filling their nostrils with the acrid scent. It was noisy inside, with musicians in the corner playing and about a dozen people seated at a heavily-laden table.

Food and wine scattered all across the table and the bald man approached an older woman with wild gray hair seated at the end, bending over to whisper in her ear. When he was finished, the woman immediately looked to Chad and Alessandria, practically shoving away the bald man.

“You two!” she cried rather happily. “Come closer! Let me get a good look at a de Lohr!”

The entire table turned to them at that point, looking to Chad and Alessandria, standing several feet away and mostly in the shadows. When the lady with the wild hair waved them over, Chad simply took Alessandria’s hand and obeyed. He gently pulled Alessandria with him, their bags in one big hand and her in the other, until he came to within a few feet of the older woman. He dipped his head at her in greeting.

“My lady,” he said. “I apologize for the intrusion, but I am Sir Chad de Lohr. My father is the Earl of Canterbury and a friend of Lord du Bexley. Is he not at home?”

The woman shook her head, causing her wild gray hair to whip about. Her hair was so curly that it was literally standing on end, frizzy and unkempt. “My husband died last winter of a fever,” she said. “We miss Merlin, God rest his soul, but life must go on, mustn’t it? I am Felicia, Lady du Bexley, and you and your wife are welcome in my home.”

Chad forced a smile. “You are very kind, my lady,” he said. “We have had a rather long journey and are grateful for shelter this night.”

Lady du Bexley waved him to the table. “Please,” she said. “Sit by me. I would hear all about your travels and your family, Sir Chad. My husband spoke often of your father. He was quite fond of him.”

She was shoving the couple immediately to her left down the table, pushing at them to make room for Chad and Alessandria. The couple, a well-dressed man and woman, moved reluctantly, clearing space on the bench. Chad helped Alessandria to sit before taking the space next to her.

“Thank you,” Chad said as servants immediately appeared, placing food and drink in front of them. “My father often spoke of Sir Barnabas as well. I believe your husband knew my grandfather as well.”

Lady du Bexley was zeroed in on Alessandria and Chad as if there weren’t a dozen other guests at her table. Her small eyes were quite intense.

“My husband knew everyone,” she said frankly. “Barnabas was in his eightieth year when he died. He knew Moses himself, I believe.”

She laughed at her joke, bringing a smile from Chad as Alessandria dug into her food. Literally, she plunged her hands into it and shoved meat in her mouth, absolutely starving. Chad couldn’t help but notice that she was eating with an urgent edge and neither could Lady du Bexley. The old woman put her hand out, touching Alessandria on the wrist.

“Slow yourself, Lady de Lohr,” she said, “or you will choke. You will not want to choke because if you die, I fear I will have to match my daughter with your handsome husband. You’ll not want to die if you know a woman is waiting to take your place!”

She meant it as a joke and those who had heard her laughed, including a rather giddy and homely looking young woman across the table. As Alessandria sat in embarrassed silence, the young woman’s silly, high-pitched laughter was above everyone else’s.

“Mama, you are so right,” she said, eyeing Chad. “He is, indeed, a comely boy, is he not? Why did you not have Papa send for the de Lohr sons when you were seeking a husband for me?”

Lady du Bexley and her daughter seemed quite pleased with themselves in a giddy, silly way. Lady du Bexley pointed to the young woman.

“Sir Chad, meet my daughter, Eloise,” she said proudly. “A pity that you did not know her before you married your wife. Oh, I mean no disrespect to your wife, of course, but a fine marriage between the House of de Lohr and the House of du Bexley would have been a grand thing, indeed. Eloise is the heiress to her father’s estate, in fact. She will inherit more land than the House of de Lohr holds, of that I am sure. You do not have any brothers, do you?”

Chad was trying very hard not to be rude. The mere thought of being married to that bug-eyed, frizzy-haired creature horrified him and he could hardly believe that Lady du Bexley had brought about such a personal subject so quickly. Perhaps the woman was rich, but she clearly had the manners of a boor. He took a very long drink of his wine before answering.

“I have two brothers, my lady,” he said, thinking on Stefan and Perrin and realizing he had a prime opportunity to play a very nasty joke on them. Not that his father would ever agree to a marriage with the du Bexley heiress for either of them, but it was great fun to think of the lengths his brothers would go through to avoid the woman if she was on their scent. “Neither of them is married.”

Lady du Bexley was intrigued. “Is that so?” she said, very interested. “Are they as comely as you, my boy?”

Chad shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “I am the beauty in the family. Just ask my wife.”

Lady du Bexley turned her attention to Alessandria, who was taking a long and satisfying drink of her wine. After the choking rebuke, Alessandria had hoped to stay out of the woman’s conversation but evidently that was not to be.

“Is this true, Lady de Lohr?” Lady du Bexley asked. “Is your husband the only handsome son in the family?”

Alessandria swallowed her drink, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she looked at Chad. “Aye,” she said after a moment. “He is the only handsome son. He is kind beyond measure. Therefore, you may not wish to waste your time with the other two sons. I have the only one worth having.”

Chad grinned at her. God, he’d give anything for her words to actually mean something. As he looked at her, he thought that there was something in her eyes that suggested she did, indeed, mean every word. But there was also something twinkling in the sea-colored eyes that spoke of mirth. Perhaps she was simply playing the game or perhaps she, too, was coming to think that Lady du Bexley was quite bold and without tact. It was quite ridiculous, really, to show such behavior towards people she had just met.

“A pity,” Lady du Bexley said, unaware of the fact that her two newest guests were inwardly laughing at her. “Imagine – my daughter marrying into the House of de Lohr. What a magnificent thing that would be. Nonetheless, I shall write to your father about a betrothal, Sir Chad. If he has two unattached sons, no matter how homely they are, they are still de Lohrs. Either one will make a fine match with my daughter.”

Chad could see that there was no discouraging the woman. Like a dog with a meaty bone, she wasn’t going to let go of the fact that she had a de Lohr in her midst with two eligible brothers. He couldn’t keep the smile off his lips when he thought of Stefan and Perrin hiding from the obnoxious Lady du Bexley and her equally-obnoxious daughter. He hoped he was around to see it.

Someone down the table was telling a joke and Eloise shrilly called to her mother to listen. Lady du Bexley turned her attention from Chad, listening to one of the men tell a joke about the king, in fact. It was something ribald, not even mildly appropriate for women, but Eloise laughed her cackling laugh and Lady du Bexley admonished the man to watch his tongue even though she, too, was laughing.

Lady du Bexley was also eating, having pulled a leg from a roasted swan, and bits of food were flying out of her mouth as she chewed. Some of it sprayed into Alessandria’s trencher and Alessandria looked at the mess in front of her, bits of half-chewed bird flesh, rather sadly.

Chad, seeing what had happened and suspecting she wouldn’t eat from her trencher now that Lady du Bexley had blown her spittle all over it, tore some beef off the hunk before him and placed the un-spit upon meat on the corner of her trencher.

“Here,” he said quietly. “I will share with you.”

Alessandria looked at him gratefully, accepting the beef and pushing it into her mouth. “Thank you,” she said quietly, chewing politely, “but I am not quite sure how I am going to tell our hostess that I have no intention of eating where she has spit.”

Chad grinned as he cut more meat for her, off the bone. “I am not entirely sure she will notice,” he said softly. “She seems to have the attention span of a sparrow.”

Alessandria giggled. “She
was
very kind to allow us into her home.”

“Very kind.”

“But her manners….”

“I know.”

Alessandria grinned, taking another bite. “Where will we stay tomorrow night?”

Chad thought on that as he handed her more meat. “We should be well north of London tomorrow,” he said. “There are many inns or taverns where we can find lodgings.”

She pictured what adventures in accommodations tomorrow night might bring for them. “It has been a long time since I have stayed in an inn,” she said. “In fact, it has been a long time since I have slept in a bed. We slept on the floor at Newington. The Mother Prioress believed it made us strong to sleep in discomfort.”

Chad shook his head. “I am not entirely sure I agree with that,” he said. “I have spent my share of nights sleeping on the ground, but it did not make me stronger. It made my back hurt.”

Alessandria laughed softly. “Mine, too,” she said. “I have had an aching back for six years. I cannot imagine what it would feel like not to sleep on the hard earth.”

“You will find out tonight.”

Alessandria started to say something but Lady du Bexley suddenly let out a cry of delight as several servants flooded into the hall, bringing with them trays of sweets and other delights to conclude the meal. Alessandria watched, wide-eyed, as many delicacies were placed on the table – marzipan, which was an almond paste, shaped like a little castle with little cloth banners flying from the turrets while a tray of fried dough balls coated in honey and cinnamon sat nearby. A pudding of mashed apples and raisins was displayed in a lovely painted bowl while an entire tray of baked pears sat near the middle of the table.

It was more food than Alessandria had ever seen in one sitting, decadence on a grand scale. Lady du Bexley was wealthy and not afraid to show it. The servants were dishing out the sweets to the diners and Chad made sure to get his trencher in there so they could serve him up some treats as well. When he drew his trencher back and set it between him and Alessandria, they both inspected the marzipan and the fried dough balls and the pudding. Chad cut the sweets into pieces so Alessandria could eat them more easily and she ended up gorging herself on nearly everything that was there.

In truth, Chad was deriving a good deal of pleasure simply watching her eat, even if she was eating some of the things meant for him. He really didn’t care. It was clear that she was very hungry so he let her eat whatever she wished. He was happy to take her leavings. In fact, the more he sat with her and watched her, tossing around light conversation, the more enchanted he was becoming with her. She was sweet and beautiful and he liked to watch her laugh – she had a silly little giggle. She ate, they both drank, and the evening passed pleasantly and quickly.

In fact, Chad had no idea how late it was by the time Lady du Bexley’s guests began to excuse themselves. All he knew was that he had enjoyed one of the more pleasurable evenings of his life, made far more pleasurable after the hell of the past several weeks. He and his army had been deployed a very long time before Evesham, and then after that horrific event, the days following had been full of trying to grasp the political situation in the wake of Simon’s death. It had all been so complex and unpleasant. But sitting here with Alessandria, in this warm and fragrant hall as the wine flowed freely, he felt truly at peace for the first time in months.

More guests left the table but Chad remained, still drinking wine and sitting beside Alessandria, who was so full of sweets and food that she could barely move. But the wine was delicious and warming, and soon enough they were having their own giggling conversation over how Stefan and Perrin would react to Eloise du Bexley showing up at Canterbury Castle. Mostly, it was Chad making faces when he imagined what his brothers would do to him and Alessandria was laughing uncontrollably. He must have been quite entertaining because Lady du Bexley soon realized that her new friends were having a marvelous time and she sought to capture Chad’s attention.

“What are you and your wife laughing about?” she demanded to know. “You must tell the rest of us so that we may laugh with you!”

Chad’s eyes widened. He had been making great sport of Lady du Bexley’s daughter and knew he couldn’t tell his hostess that, so quickly, he scrambled for an excuse.