That gave her the resolve to load her trencher with cold venison, duck, pheasant, boar, an eggsoufflé, each and every morsel forbidden for consumption by her faith.The feast the night before had been sumptuous, and so generously proportioned that they savored many of the same dishes again.Alienor felt the eyes of the company upon her, and thought of her husband’s tenderness the night before.She owed him this loyalty, smiling at Eustache before bending to the task before her.Her stomach rolled in silent mutiny as she lifted the first piece of cold meat to her lips and smelled it.
She could not be mistaken that all the company watched her eat, and only after she had swallowed did the merriment truly begin.
When the mealwas completed and the guests dispersed, Alienor ran.
The weight of her skirts caught at her knees as she strove to put distance between herself and the keep before she was ill.A cold wind swept over the curtain walls and snatched away her veil and fillet, her loosened hair cascading down her back.Still she ran, leaping over stones in the high bailey as the north wall grew ever closer.Her shoes ground in the last vestiges of snow, and the chill in the air when she reached the wall made her shiver from head to toe.
As she had suspected, there was a narrow staircase carved out of the heavy stone.The steps led to a tiny sentinel post high on the wall, a post currently unmanned and perfect for her purposes.Alienor climbed to the post and crouched down to ensure that she was out of sight.
Moments later she took a shaking breath of relief, surprised to see that the land dropped straight down below the sentinel post.Outcroppings of rock far below threw dramatic shadows in the winter sun.The wind that swept up against the walls on this side sent its icy fingers up her sleeves and under the hem of herpelisson.Alienor shivered slightly but sat down against the cold stone, taking gulps of the icy air to regain her composure.
She had done it!She had eaten of the meat without embarrassing herself and hoped she had allayed any outstanding doubts that could reflect poorly on her husband’s house.She breathed with satisfaction that she had made it this far, unable to speculate whether she could ever repeat her feat even to uphold her husband’s honor.
The wind lifted her hair, sending it in waves against her cheeks, and she realized, too late, that her veil and fillet were gone.With a grimace, she tugged off her wimple and cast it aside.Her gaze was drawn to the craggy peaks of the mountains surrounding the fortress on this side, as she savored her moment of privacy.
What a wild and beautiful domain her husband claimed as his own.
A tread sounded on the stairs interrupted her thoughts and Alienor pivoted to gaze down the stairs.Did someone follow her, suspecting what she had done?Or did she hear a sentry checking this post?
Her hands rose to her hair.How scandalous ’twould be for any of her husband’s men to see her thus.She looked around the small enclosure, but no veil greeted her gaze in the sentry tower.
Alienor seized her wimple, managing to drape it around her throat before a man’s figure appeared in the narrow opening of the staircase.His head and shoulders were silhouetted against the sun so that she could not distinguish his features.He paused as if surprised to find her there, sitting on the floor no less, and Alienor’s heart stopped.
“I thought ’twas yours,” the goatherd said in that quiet murmur of his.
Relief flooded through Alienor.“’Tis only you,” she said before she could check the impulsive words.
He chuckled as he ducked into the tiny room, apparently unoffended.“Aye, ’tis only me.”He held out Alienor’s errant veil and fillet, and she accepted them gratefully.
“I would thank you,” she said, her words breathless beneath his regard.She was keenly aware of his survey of her disheveled state.He crouched against the opposite wall, watching her intently, as she strove to restore her headdress.The sentry post seemed much smaller with the addition of his presence, too small for two.
She should leave.
“’Twas rolling across the bailey,” he said, making a circular motion with his finger when Alienor looked up.
“Rolling?”she echoed, her skepticism undisguised.
He laughed, a most merry and welcome sound.
“A fillet so stiff as this one could turn a broadsword aside,” he teased and Alienor laughed along with him.
She tapped the hard linen circle that held her veil in place before putting it back on her head.“I should hope to never put it to such a test,” she jested, but his gray eyes sobered at her words.He turned and looked pensively at the mountains stretching toward the sky, his lips drawing to a tight line before he spoke.
“Why did you come here?”he asked, his voice low and his gaze bright.
Alienor shook her head, unwilling to answer him.She fussed with her headdress in the hope that he would abandon his question.As the silence grew between them and she could do nothing further to adjust her veil, he stepped closer, holding her gaze as if he would compel her to speak.
Certain that he would not abandon the subject, Alienor took a deep breath and tried to lie.“’Twas merely a short walk,” she began, and made to leave, but he blocked the exit by raising his arm.Alienor met his gaze and he shook his head.He was too close, this intriguing man whose gray eyes sparkled and whose words coaxed her laughter, and Alienor’s pulse raced.She smelled the scent of wind, sun and honest labor from his tanned skin.
“I would have the truth, my lady,” he insisted.
“By what right do you question me?”she demanded, her words more sharp than she intended.
His eyes narrowed at her tone before he glanced away.
“Should I find your meal on the rocks below if I looked, my lady?”His quiet words were such a surprise to Alienor that she gasped.He watched her with that intensity, but she lowered her eyes.
Had it been so obvious that she had feigned her pleasure in the meal?
