“And I had no desire to tend another injury,” Lothair noted to Quinn’s dismay.
Melissande looked between them and Lothair indicated Quinn.“He healed well enough, for he is large and stubborn, but still, it was not easily done.An injury so fierce and untended so long required all my skill.Perhaps even an increment more.”
“You were injured?”she asked Quinn and he dared to hope she felt some concern.
“And imprisoned at Acre,” he confessed, noting the flicker in her gaze.“Bayard fought at my back, and chose not to abandon me when I fell, for which I am eternally grateful.”
“And I shall haunt him for all his days and nights in return,” Bayard said, prompting the other knights to laugh.
“We were imprisoned together,” Quinn admitted.“Another feat that saved my sorry hide, and all thanks to Bayard’s quick thinking.He convinced the enemy that we could be ransomed, and otherwise, we would never have left that battlefield alive.”
The lady had paled and Quinn folded his hand around hers once more.Did she tremble?
“Clearly, the rumor of Quinn’s manners had preceded us, though,” Bayard jested.“For there were no offers of ransom for these two sorry knights.”
“You were a sorry sight when you were freed,” Lothair agreed.“Sores and pustules.”
“Lice and fleas,” Amaury said with a shudder.
“And filth beyond measure,” Niall said.
“But all is well that ends well,” Quinn concluded, not seeing the merit of sharing more of this truth with his lady, and drank a tribute to that with his comrades.
“You were right about that pass, though,” Amaury said again.“I was certain the guides led us astray and that the road could have no summit.The snow!”
“The cold!”Lothair agreed.
“The supposed hospitality of Beauvoir keep,” Niall said and rolled his eyes.“Has ever there been a more forbidding and cold tower as that one?And the welcome was scarce warmer.”
“Never mind the price of a simple repast and a night’s lodging,” Lothair noted.“I thought the horses were to be bedded down in gold!”The knights laughed together.
“Praise be we had only to stay the one night,” Niall said.
“Lord de Tulley knows his advantage, to be sure,” Amaury said.“I would wager his treasury overflows, simply from the tolls at Beauvoir.”
Niall shook a finger at Quinn and Bayard.“But it was worth every penny when he confessed that, in the past fortnight, only two other knights had dared to climb the pass.”
Amaury laughed.“And that they had four squires, one of whom had never seen snow before.”
“Michel!”the knights crowed in unison and the boy bowed before them, his ears glowing red.He carried a pitcher of ale and brought it to the high table, pouring into the proffered cups.
“Michel was born in the Holy Land,” Quinn told Melissande.
“And yet he is in your service.”She smiled at the boy.“How is this so, Michel?”
“I am an orphan, my lady,” the boy confessed, bowing deeply to her.“When my parents were killed, the bishop meant to surrender me to a monastery as an oblate, but I ran away.I wanted to go to Jerusalem to serve the knights and become one myself.”
“You did not wish to become a priest or a monk?”she asked.
He shook his head.“I would wield a sword, my lady, for God is better served by deeds than prayers.”
“I am not certain of that.We each have our roles to play in His scheme.”
“My parents farmed in the Latin Kingdoms, my lady.My father had no sword and when the war came, he died.”The boy’s eyes shone with a conviction that Quinn had noted before.“I will not die so easily, my lady.”
“I see,” she said softly and Quinn watched her smile at Michel.The boy bowed again and continued to serve the ale, though Quinn indicated that he would have none.
“The hour draws late, my lady,” he murmured and her gaze flicked to him with some wariness.
