Annavieve didn’t know what to say to that so she didn’t say anything. She returned to her food, stuffing herself on chicken and beans and wilted lettuces with herbs, but she found great interest in what was going on around her as some people danced while some people ate. At least, she tried to find interest. There wasn’t enough distraction on the planet to make her completely forget about the day’s events and every time she looked at Vietta, she was reminded anew.
Victor, meanwhile, had pulled Kevin into a drawn out conversation over his big white horse, convinced he could pay Kevin enough money to buy the beast, but Kevin firmly resisted. Then William tried to outbid Victor for the horse, much to William’s amusement when Victor would become irate about it. There was also some discussion on the bet the two men had made earlier in the day as to whether or not Hage would win the mock battle. William insisted he had won the bet and, therefore, Hage’s services, but Victor strongly challenged that by saying the bet was null since Hage disqualified himself. All the while, Annavieve ignored the men and ate her food, watching the activity of the room.
“Have you had enough to eat, my lady?”
Annavieve turned to see Gorsedd standing behind her. He had asked the polite question. Annavieve nodded.
“Indeed,” she said. “The food was excellent. Are… are tournament feasts always like this?”
Gorsedd, who had been milling around his lord’s table essentially on guard duty, grinned at her question. Even though he won the mass competition, he wasn’t much for celebrating it. He was more comfortable when he was working.
“Indeed they are, my lady,” he said. “Sometimes they are even bigger and more elaborate. The lords who sponsor the tournaments view them as an opportunity to display their wealth and splendor. I attended a feast once after a tournament in Norfolk where the Earl of Norfolk’s wife had several servants covered in gold paint and pretending to be statues all around the room. They wore beads made from candied berries and guests were encouraged to take strands of these beads and eat them. It was all quite spectacular.”
Annavieve was enthralled with the idea of golden living statues and candied beads. “God’s Bones,” she exclaimed softly. “It sounds incredibly extravagant.”
Gorsedd laughed. “It was, my lady,” he said. “This feast is rather tame compared to that.”
“Do not tell Lord Lily that.”
He chuckled again. “Never, my lady,” he said, glancing up. “In fact, there is our host now.”
Annavieve turned around to see Lord Lily shooing dancers off the floor as he made his way to the table where Dorset and Salisbury sat. He gestured towards Victor, lifting his thin voice to be heard above the crowd.
“My lords,” he called. “And my gentle ladies! Welcome to Longcross! We are very pleased to have so many great and wonderful houses here. May I personally welcome the king’s cousin, the Duke of Dorset!”
Everyone called cheers to Victor, who accepted the accolades with his usual arrogance. He was very happy when he was soaking up attention but next to him, much to the man’s horror, William stood up and addressed the crowd.
“We are celebrating the duke’s marriage as well,” he said, watching Victor fume. “The duke and duchess were married in London only three days ago. May I introduce Annavieve, Lady de Ferrers, Duchess of Dorset.”
The crowd cheered loudly for Annavieve, who was positively mortified by the attention. She managed to stand up because Kevin told her to, smiling timidly to the crowd and waving. But she quickly sat back down again and the applause died down as William continued.
“As you know, my knight, Gorsedd de Bretagne, won today’s competition,” he said, gesturing to Gorsedd who, much like Annavieve, was not comfortable with the attention. “He has brought great honor to the House of Longespee, which is a bright spot in an otherwise horrific day. I learned this morning that my heir, Roger, was killed, and I am deeply grieving the loss. He was murdered in his travels and the duke has graciously offered to track down the killer and bring him to justice. My friend has given me hope.”
The crowd was now banging on the table, cheering on Dorset, as William reached down and clasped the man’s hands in friendship. It seemed as if all eyes were turned on Victor again and he basked in the attention. He squeezed William’s hands, a public gesture of their solidarity, and the crowd cheered.
But the noise eventually died down and people returned to their food and dancing as Lord Lily waved his arms wildly to encourage the musicians to begin playing again. Through the introductions and accolades, Kevin had sat still and silent, watching everything that was going on and praying that Victor didn’t introduce him to the crowd. Nothing like announcing that the Scorpion, that great assassin from the Levant, was now in their midst.
A glance down the room off to his right showed Adonis and Thomas standing there with a couple of women; although engaged in conversation with the finely dressed ladies, both Adonis and Thomas caught Kevin’s attention. A faint smirk from Adonis showed that he, too, was thinking the same thing that Kevin was:announced assassins don’t live too terribly long!
“Kevin?”
Annavieve was addressing him softly. He turned to look at her, his eyes warm upon her. “My lady?”
She was looking around the hall. “I do not suppose you know where the privy is?”
He shook his head, looking around also. “I do not,” he said, rising to his feet and pulling her chair out. “But I will help you find it.”
Annavieve stood up as Kevin told Victor that they would return shortly. Victor, hardly caring, simply waved them off, and Kevin politely took Annavieve by the arm, leading her towards a smaller door on the east side of the hall that servants were coming in and out of. Kevin was determined to find someone and ask where the lady could tend to her needs. After a short conversation with an older servant, Kevin took Annavieve out of the side door.
Vietta had watched them go with sadness in her eyes. She had wanted to accompany her friend, wherever she was going, but was called off by Lady Agnes, who instructed her to remain in the hall and finish her food. Pouting, Vietta returned to her boiled pears, unhappy with her mother. Mimsy had been feeling poorly that evening and had been given permission to remain in camp and rest, so Vietta wasn’t able to manipulate the nurse into letting her do as she pleased. Lady Agnes was much harder to manipulate.
But Vietta wasn’t the only one watching Kevin and Annavieve leave the hall; Piers had been watching from the far end of the hall, hunkered down over his food and a big cup of wine. In fact, he’d been watching Kevin since the moment the man had arrived with the lady and de Norville and de Wolfe.
Aye, Piers recognized the other knights. He’d known them for years when they all served together in the Levant, which was now coming to present a problem to him. Piers wasn’t entirelycertain he could do away with Hage and make it out of the hall alive with those two present. In fact, he wasn’t sure he could even get to Hage without being set upon by his friends. De Wolfe and de Norville were very sharp men and excellent knights. Piers not only wanted to accomplish de Clemont’s task but he wanted to be able to make it back to the man and tell him that he had been successful. Now, that was in jeopardy.
His gaze moved to Salisbury, the man whose son Hage had murdered. It was very obvious that the man had no idea Kevin was the killer. He was coming to think that Salisbury could accomplish his task for him. If he were to tell the man that Kevin had killed his heir, then Salisbury would undoubtedly execute him and there wouldn’t be a thing de Norville or de Wolfe could do about it. In fact, Piers was fairly certain that de Norville and de Wolfe had seen Kevin do it. On their oaths as knights, they could not lie about it. The more Piers considered that plan, the more he realized that it was what he should do.
Use de Norville and de Wolfe to implicate the Scorpion.
