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.Different divisions, but all my men, loyal to me and therefore loyal to each other.We are not a castle divided!”The boy said nothing, as he ran three steps to every one of Roland’s lengthening strides.**********“What had Lord Roland rushing off so?” Millicent deftly plucked her needle through fabric stretched taught within an embroidery hoop much as she plucked at conversation tight with discord.Veri, as she kept her head down, her hands tugging at misplaced threads.Though she’d made a mess of her stitches, the only true show of her agitation lay in the drop of blood on her fingertip.She’d pricked it with her golden needle.She’d grown addled headed at the mere mention of Roland’s name.Heat stung her cheeks.As a child at Oakland, the sense of his nearness calmed.An ally in a strange and disturbing world.Not so now.Vexed, Veri lowered her hands, held them motionless.Such a waste of time and expense to embroider and jewel garments.In costly threads and such fine fabrics, a lady could do little but stand idle.Weary, her soul as blue as the fabric she worked upon, Veri stuck her finger in her mouth, to suck at the bloodied needle prick.“Work such as this does tire the eyes.” Margaret offered.Startled anyone would address her, Veri looked to Margaret.The Lady neither smiled nor scowled but she did nod to Veri.Lady Dori and her companions bristled, dislike reawakened.Veri removed her finger, let it rest crooked upon her lap, a drop of blood sitting on the surface of it.She made a point to remain quiet, unobtrusive, the vain hope of blending into nothingness now spoiled.“The task is not to my liking.I’ve not had practice at this sort of thing.”“Aye,” Margaret nodded again, as she turned back to her stitches.“They should have taught you,” Hannah offered, inciting an angry “tsk” from Dori, whose bitter hatred sparked in her eyes.“It takes a peaceful, innocent mind, for such work.” Dori snapped, tossing down her embroidery hoop so hard it bounced, landed on Veri’s work basket.The basket, with its rounded bottom, toppled.Skeins of silk and wool rolling into the rushes.Everyone stared at that toppled basket when Dori rose, her finger aimed at Veri.“I never lose my temper, but now look what a mess you’ve made me do!” She gestured to her sewing hoop, and the white silk impaled by a knitting needle.Something black slithered over it.“Oh my, oh my, oh my!” Her litany, crescendoed into a shrill scream.High-pitched squeals echoed around the room as the ladies scrambled to stand upon their seats, scrunching their skirts up.Dori’s wail ceased as her body crumpled.Veri, the only one still focused on Dori, hurried to catch her sister-in-law.The viper, its forked tongue flickering to taste the air of the castle, glided across pristine fabric, an ominous black scrawl on virgin white, before dropping gracefully into the rushes.Small but toxic, it would surely have bitten Dori if she’d reached for her hoop.A viper.“Unhand her, you vile, vile witch!” The handmaidens shouted, as guards rushed to the aide of screaming maidens.Numbly, Veri allowed the guards to gather up the lifeless form.“Did it bite her?”“Is she going to die?”“Oh! Where has it gone? It’s disappeared?”“How did it come to be in Lady Veri’s basket?”Everyone spoke at once, all searching for sign of movement in the rushes.A dog nosed about, creating a ripple through the straw.The guards, finally understanding the cause of excitement, unsheathed swords.“It is moving toward the fire, toward the warmth.” Veri said.The commotion stopped, all eyes on the hearth.All but Margaret.“Go!” She whispered harshly, giving Veri a hard shove.“Go from here, before they put you together with that snake!”The unexpected force caught Veri off guard.She stumbled back, righted, and stepped forward.“Go!” Margaret hissed again.She could not.She stood, rooted to the spot, wondering all the same things the others had wondered, yet coming up with no conclusions.The others were not so unimaginative.How could a viper, a creature of witchery, have gotten into her basket? If she had rustled in her own basket, it would have bitten her.Had it been placed? And by whom? Cwen was the only one allowed in her rooms.Other maids would come and go but all under Cwen’s watchful eye.All turned accusing glares to Veri.The guards, having caught the viper, tossed its headless form from sword to sword, as though a game and not an arrow of indictment.The Ladies ignored the play, pummeling Veri with a verbal swath of venom.“Witch!” “Evil creature.” “Blood sucking hag!”She stood, unable to send their hatred back, or to defend herself.What good would it do? They would not listen.The rushes seemed to swirl and lift, a minute motion that drew more screams.A mouse skittered across the floor.Doreena broke the spell, pulled all attention her way and as she did, Veri slipped away, as steadily as her legs would carry her.She would seek her asylum, her room, the only place within the castle left to her.Her only sanctuary.Or was it?Someone had put that viper in her basket within her room.Oblivious to the excitement in the great hall, Roland calmed another conflict.His men in a bout of fisticuffs, castle guards against war seasoned knights in the yard.No better than boys on the cusp of being men, as though their weapons were mere toys.Thankfully, they were equally matched.No disabling wounds.Bad enough to be injured by an enemy, but from your own side, the height of foolery.He shamed them, when he caught them, after getting between the worst of them, breaking them apart with his own fury.He shamed them and sent them to the cold waters of the river to bathe away their anger.But he did not blame them.Not completely.He knew where it started.Tanya.He looked toward the huts on the inside of the castle wall.She would be somewhere in there, no doubt waiting for him to make it worth her while to leave.So be it.If that’s what it took, he would see her gone this very day.CHAPTER 6 ~ BREAKING BOUNDARIESAfraid to go back to her room, of what she might find there, she headed to the great oak doors of the castle.Locked indoors for far too long, the breeze she’d felt earlier, the promise of the outdoors, beckoned.A mighty shove against the heavy oak doors and she was outside, her face to the sun.Glorious! One slow draw filled her lungs to bursting.She released it in a heartfelt moan.Such a simple act with such heady reward.It was not natural to spend so many days indoors.Especially with days as beautiful, and full of sunshine as these past few had been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]