Guibert’s mail gleamed from the enthusiastic polish it had received.His tabard had been carefully mended by Alienor’s quick fingers and newly trimmed in crimson silk cording.Even his silver mane had been brushed to some measure of order.
He beamed at Alienor with pride, and as he offered her his elbow, her heart swelled with love for this man who had so gallantly seen to her upbringing.Guibert pressed her hand with affection when she slipped it through his arm and her tears rose unbidden, the older man gruffly tolerating the kiss she planted on his cheek.
Neither of them said a word as they stepped out into the corridor, the moment too fraught with emotion for them to trust their tongues.Alienor could hear her heart beat as Guibert steadily paced off the seemingly endless hall, its length lined with curious onlookers who murmured to one another as they passed.So many lived within these walls—would she ever grow accustomed to it?She blocked her ears to their whispered comments, focusing her attention on the brightly colored light fanning out of the chapel doors at the far end of the hall, matching her pace to Guibert’s.
Guibert paused in the chapel doorway an eternity later and Alienor took a shaky breath, forcing a tight smile when her foster father squeezed her hand.Rather than look at the assembled crowd, she lifted her gaze to the stained-glass window that filled the wall behind the altar.
It was a remarkable and fine piece of work, larger than any she had seen before.It was rich in detail and she studied the strangely entwined images of grapevines ripe with fruit as she walked ever closer to her destiny.The battle scenes between a unicorn and a lion seemed an unusual choice for a place of worship.There was no crucifix, she noted with relief, refusing to so much as glance toward the spot where she knew her bridegroom must stand.
When Guibert paused, Alienor eyed the priest in customary black before her for the barest instant before she dropped her eyes to the floor.Why was he amused?She could not think of any explanation for the impish glimmer in the cleric’s eyes.
His red hair and blue eyes hinted that he was a Celt.Were they not said to be merry?Perhaps he thought all marriages to be cause for laughter.
Perhaps he did not know the details of this one.
Squaring her shoulders as he welcomed the guests, Alienor risked a quick glance to her right.
The spot where her husband-to-be should have stood was empty.
She stood alone before the altar.
Astonished, Alienor looked up at the priest.She distrusted the mischievous twinkle in his eye even more in that moment.Indeed, he almost chuckled aloud at her reaction.Then he lifted his hand to beckon to someone at the side portal.Alienor followed his gesture, her mouth dropping open in shock when a shabbily dressed man appeared, coaxing a single-horned goat toward her.
A goat.
She blinked but it was indisputably a goat.A garland of flowers and ribbons was draped around the goat’s neck, the man tugging him forward by a scarlet cord while the beast chewed nonchalantly on a blossom it had apparently pulled from its ornament.
Did they mean to sacrifice it here?Surely not!
“’Tis a goat!”Alienor blurted, and the goatherd glanced up sharply, the warm glimmer of humor in his slate eyes sending a tingle right to her toes.
’Twas hardly his place to look at her so boldly, she told herself indignantly, even as she felt the heat rise over her cheeks.As if he had had a similar thought, the man dropped his gaze, a secretive smile playing over his lips.
“Why a goat?”she demanded of the priest.
“A unicorn, child, a unicorn,” the priest corrected her softly, admonishment in his tone.“You surely understand that he can only remain in the chapel for the ceremony itself,” he added in an undertone, and Alienor raised her gaze to his.He smiled.“After you are wedded, he will leave the chapel.”
The goat was to witness her nuptials?Why?What madness was this?
“But why?”
The priest tut-tutted under his breath at her question and she heard whispers from those gathered to witness the ceremony.Her cheeks burned with the conviction that she was the victim of a cruel jest, the worst teasing ever, but the priest leaned closer.“We cannot have dung in the house of the Lord,” he murmured.
Alienor shook her head impatiently, keenly aware of the goatherd’s amusement with the situation.“Nay, I would ask why must he be here at all?”she demanded and the priest regarded her in surprise in his turn.
“’Tis his nuptials, lass,” he hissed back.“Surely you know that your groom is a goat by day?”
Alienor opened her mouth and closed it again.She stared down at the beast beside her, but it merely returned her regard from alien yellow eyes.The goatherd who had led the creature handed her the end of the silken leash with a bow that seemed mocking, his gray eyes twinkling with some barely suppressed amusement.
“This is a cruel jest,” she whispered fiercely.
“Guibert gave his word,” the goatherd replied, his tone filled with unexpected steel.
With the cord dangling from her fingertips, Alienor glanced over her shoulder to find the assembled group watching her without undue interest, as though nothing untoward was occurring and this wedding was proceeding as customarily as any other.
Incredulous, she sought Guibert, but he was studying his toe with great interest.She glanced back to the beast at her side, wishing now that she had not prayed so fervently that her betrothed be anything other than a short man.
“A goat,” she whispered.
