Rum Paul Stillskin by Laura Strickland

Author:Laura Strickland [Strickland, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fairy Tales, Fae, Rumpelstiltskin, Devon, Dartmoor, Romance, Fantasy
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2019-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“Who are you?”

The question turned my head, and I stared, startled, at the small lass who’d come up behind me. The brown maid, Jenny, stood only as high as my nose, but the fierce look in her eyes made up for her diminutive size.

Ah, and how had she seen through my glamour? I’d thought I stood well shaded by it, watching the festivities—watching Maisie enjoy the festivities. Yet Jenny had sniffed me out like a keen-nosed hound.

Before I could answer her query, she pressed, “You are certainly no ordinary peddler. And you are far too interested in Maisie.”

“Every man here is interested in Miss Maisie.”

She snorted and narrowed her clever brown eyes. “There is something odd about you,” she asserted. “Something—otherwise.”

I blinked at her. So she thought to know about me, did she? “We are all odd, in our ways,” I informed her. “Anyway,” I added, dropping just a bit of my glamour, “who are you to stand guard on your mistress?”

“She is more to me than just mistress. She is my friend, and I would not have you harm her in any way.”

“Me, harm her?” I nodded toward the pavilion where the king still lounged among his many guests. “You should rather worry about how he might injure her.”

“Aye? And how could the attentions of a king injure anyone?”

“You would be surprised.”

A thoughtful look invaded her eyes. She reached out and grabbed my sleeve. “Come, we need to speak together, you and I.”

Unprecedented, that—no one touched me, not voluntarily. True, her fingers clutched only the fabric of my sleeve, not my skin. Yet the shock of it caused me to follow along with her.

She led me to a sheltered place beside one of the hedgerows, where we sat side by side. It occurred to me she could prove useful, close to Maisie as she was, though I would first need to get her on my side.

But how? She could apparently see through my magic, and I possessed few other advantages.

The first thing she did now was untie a bundle and spread a small repast out on her knee. Shooting a look at me, she asked, “Do you want to share?”

“Is that your dinner?” I returned.

“Aye, I brought it from home. Unlike some, I have no pennies to waste on food or baubles.”

“Thank you, Mistress Jenny, but no.”

“You need not be afraid. ’Tis but brown bread and cheese, both of which I made myself.”

“I am not afraid.”

“Well then, I will eat while we talk, since naught has passed my lips since early this morning.”

Considerably taken aback by her attitude, I said, “As you will, Mistress.”

“You’d best call me Jenny. What is your interest in Maisie, Master Peddler? And pray, do not pretend it is not interest. I know better.”

“Do you?” She threw me completely off balance, this small brown maid. Yet it would definitely benefit me to gain her favor. How much to tell her? How far could I trust her?

“You came to the farm the other day just to see her, didn’t you?” she accused.

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