What a lovely, wicked thought.
“You have always been a true friend, Rosalie,” she said with insincere sweetness. “Mayhap I could very well comfort Curtis when news of his wife gets around.”
Rosalie nodded, moving her gaze out over the sea of mostly men and a few well-dressed women. “I will tell my husband,” she said casually. “He likes a bit of gossip.”
“Does he?”
“Enough that he will not keep it to himself.”
“Even if it is about Curtis?”
Rosalie looked at her. “What man would not like to take a de Lohr down a peg or two?” she said. “To be truthful, I think some of these men are only allied with Hereford because they are afraid of him. A bit of gossip like this is sure to knock him down a peg or two.”
Larue rather liked that idea, since it had been Hereford himself who rejected her father’s offer of a betrothal between her and Curtis. Perhaps he did indeed need to be knocked down.
Perhaps the whole family did.
With a scheme in place, Larue and Rosalie parted ways.
The evening was about to get interesting.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Dustin had beenwatching the dancing for the past two hours.
But something was amiss.
Perhaps it was simply her overactive imagination, but something didn’t seem quite right. Curtis and Elle were dancing in front of the snapping hearth as the minstrels played, along with Myles, Douglas, Christin, Liora, Melusine, and Asa, but neither Myles nor Douglas could seem to find partners, which was why they’d ended up dancing with Christin and Liora. The single women, who had come with their fathers or brothers, didn’t seem particularly interested, not even when handsome Andrew tried to persuade them. One young woman, from the House of de Lave, did dance for a little while, but after two dances with Andrew and Douglas, her father demanded she sit down with her mother.
It was quite strange.
And Dustin was watching all of it, trying to figure out what was going on. The music was good and the wine was flowing, but no one seemed to be having a good time. Christopher, who had been in Curtis’ solar in the keep with Peter, Caius, Alexander, Bretton, Robert, Tristan, and Sean, eventually came out and rejoined the people in the hall. Most of them headed for the dais,collecting cups and leftover food as they sat. Christopher, cup in hand, sat next to his wife and smiled at her before taking a hefty swallow of the wine.
“This is good,” he said, smacking his lips. “After sending so much to Curt, I think our own stores are running low. I must send for more.”
Dustin didn’t respond to his comment as he drank more wine and muttered something to Alexander about taking a trip to Burgundy to find other, more delicious wine. She was fixed on the dancing.
“Chris,” she finally muttered.
“Aye, love?”
She pointed to the group dancing. “Does something seem odd to you?”
Alexander and Peter, the closest, heard her. “What seems odd, Mama?” Peter said. “Other than Douglas being angry that he has to dance with a sister, nothing looks odd to me.”
Even though Dustin wasn’t his mother by birth, she had raised him, so Peter always addressed her as his mother. As he and Alexander snorted about Douglas pitching fits because Andrew drew in the unmarried women before he did, Dustin pointed to the dancing group again.
“Do you think it strange that the only people dancing are de Lohr family members?” she said. “Look—it is only those from our family. With music like this, there should be dozens of dancers out there.”
Christopher simply shrugged. “Mayhap they do not feel like dancing tonight,” he said. “It is no great mystery.”
But Dustin wouldn’t let go. “Look at them,” she said, gesturing to the guests on the other side of the hall. “They are not even looking at the dancers. Everyone is crowded away from them. There is no cheering, no joy. No one is even here at the dais, speaking to us. We may as well be eating alone.”
Now, Christopher was starting to see what she meant. “It does seem odd,” he said. “Do we all smell horribly? Is a foul odor driving everyone away?”
Dustin was becoming increasingly annoyed with it. “Sean,” she said, turning to the man across the table as he sat in conversation with Caius. “Will you and Cai see what you can find out? You do not bear the de Lohr last name, so if this is some kind of strange vendetta against us, maybe they will tell you. Find out why no one is dancing and no one is speaking to us, but be discreet.”
Sean, perhaps one of the greatest spies England had ever seen, had heard most of the conversation. He looked to the dancers, musicians, and finally the hall full of people that seemed to be oddly removed from the party going on around them.
