The Quest by Stone Lyn

Author:Stone, Lyn [Stone, Lyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-04-14T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Baincroft was a busy keep without much space for privacy unless one remained above stairs in a sleeping chamber. However, Henri needed only a few moments alone to think before he met with his father and Rob, so he had ducked into the wall recess sometimes used as a haven for unimportant visitors to pass a night. There he sat upon the cushioned ledge and leaned back against the wall, out of sight of any who might pass by.

Henri had never believed eavesdropping ignoble. He had indulged in it since he was a small boy, finding the practice highly informative and sometimes lifesaving. The plots and intrigues of the French court had made keen ears imperative.

At times he wished for Rob’s capability of reading words on lips from across a room. Henri did not need it now, however, for he could not see them directly.

The speakers stood not six feet away from the alcove where he sat. From the shadows that he saw cast upon the floor, and the scent that reached his nostrils, he knew they were attending the sconces that lighted the darker corners of Baincroft.

“She’s not much of a mother, if you ask me,” Glenys the maid was saying now. “Did you see the poor wee bastard? She must have starved it for months, hoping it would die.”

Henri almost bolted out of concealment to throttle the little tongue-wagger, but quickly recalled that these were Rob’s people, not his, to chastise. He felt like doing bodily harm to the bitch and that would not do.

Besides, he needed to hear the reply to learn if the maid’s opinion was isolated.

“Mind your mouth unless you’re wishing to become a goose girl or worse,” Mistress Aiden warned her. “’Tis naught to you what your betters do.”

“She’s not my better,” Glenys argued hotly as they strolled past the place where Henri listened. “The common clothes she wore here marked her for what she is. And the lack of jewels. There’s not a ring, even a braided token, on her finger. We were all talking about that last evening.”

“Maybe her proof was lost or stolen,” Mistress Aiden countered. “I still say it’s naught to the likes of us whether she was ever wed.”

They stopped then to replace the candles farther down the wall. Through the opening, Henri could no longer see their shadows upon the floor, but could clearly hear their words.

Glenys snorted. “She wants to be a healer, I heard her say. She’ll not be giving me no herbs, I can tell you that.”

“Nor me,” Mistress Aiden agreed. “’Tis one thing to keep quiet and not court Lady Mairi’s anger, quite another to allow Sir Henri’s harlot to cure one’s ills. Betwixt you and me, she’s bewitched that one, you mark my words.”

A gasp. “Surely not! She does spells, you think?”

“Potions, most likely,” Mistress Aiden declared. “She admitted to Lady Mairi she knows her herbs. It ain’t like our fine Harry’s a man to trip over just any skirt, now is

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