Castle of Dreams by Speer Flora

Author:Speer, Flora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, medieval
Publisher: Flora Speer

Chapter 21

Walter fitz Alan and Brian of Collen were due to arrive at Afoncaer in mid-autumn, but with unusually bad weather delaying them, it was December before they actually came. Except for Lady Isabel, who seemed increasingly nervous and irritable, a growing excitement about the expected visitors was shared by nearly everyone at the castle. There was little enough entertainment once the harvest was over. The winter nights were long, cold, and dull. Any diversion was welcome, most especially one that would bring fresh faces to Afoncaer and also inspire extended feasting and drinking.

“I care not if they are late,” Guy said after receiving the weary messenger Walter had sent ahead, “so long as they come safely. At least they will be in time for the Christmas feasting.”

“I wish,” Lady Isabel said pointedly, “That they were coming directly from court so they could escort my new maid here. I grow tired of waiting for her, Guy.”

“You have Meredith to attend you. Be patient,” Guy advised.

“Meredith is not a well-trained maid, and she is entirely too proud and independent to make a good servant,” Isabel snapped crossly.

Meredith felt her color rising. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep her temper when Lady Isabel criticized her. She would have made a sharp response to her mistress’s remarks, but Guy was smiling at her as if to take the sting out of Isabel’s harsh words, and so Meredith kept still.

When the day finally came, Meredith stood beside Isabel in the inner bailey, watching Guy’s friends being formally welcomed. It was cold, the mid-afternoon sun shining with little warmth, the wind whipping Meredith’s cloak around her body. She was tired and in a bad mood after being required to dress Isabel in three different outfits before one was at last found to be satisfactory. The women’s quarters were strewn with cast-off shifts, stockings, gowns, and shoes, all of which would have to be picked up and put away.

“Leave this,” Joan had whispered as Isabel went out the door into the great hall. Joan took a pair of shoes out of Meredith’s hands and tossed them on the floor. “We’ll straighten this later. I want to see the guests arrive, and you do, too.”

“Why is she so nervous?” Meredith asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Joan promised, pushing Meredith before her through the door.

And so, shivering and trying to catch the blowing edges of her cloak and hold the garment more snugly to her, Meredith watched the newly arrived guests.

“My dear friend!” Walter fitz Alan, white teeth parted in a wide smile, leapt off his horse to embrace Guy. He pounded Guy enthusiastically on the back. “I never dreamed you had been exiled to such a place. What a wilderness! I thought we’d wander forever and die of the cold before we found you.”

Meredith disliked Walter at once. She did not know why. She watched his face freeze for an instant as he turned from Guy and saw Isabel. At the same moment Meredith heard Isabel draw in her breath sharply.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.