“Aye.”
“When did you foster?”
She shrugged, putting more food in her mouth. “I was there from the time I was eight years of age until I had seen sixteen years,” she said. “I was called home because of the death of my parents, of a fever. It was my aunt who greeted me at Chalford Hill to inform me of their passing and the very same day, I was sent to St. Blitha. I have been there ever since.”
He pondered that information. “Okehampton is a fine castle,” he said. “It is commanded by de Courtney, or so it was the last I heard.”
“It is, still.”
“And being that it is a fine castle, there are many fine knights there. The wards would also be from fine families. Not just anyone would be accepted as a ward.”
“My father knew Hugh de Courtney,” she said simply. “They were friends and allies.”
For Maxton, that was a surprising bit of knowledge. The de Courtney family was extremely powerful, and they were also allies of Maxton’s father, Magnus. They would not be allied with anyone other than a powerful family, and Maxton was starting to sense something quite tragic about the young woman’s situation.An heiress who has been sent to live in poverty by her guardian.He sat forward, collecting his cup again, thinking on the circumstances as he saw them.
“So you fostered in a fine home and you were the heiress to your father’s fortune,” he said pensively. “Your father died and your aunt assumed your wardship, recalling you from Okehampton and sending you to a convent where you would never have a chance to find a good husband. She essentially threw you in the rubbish pile.”
Andressa looked up at him sharply. “My lord?”
He held up a hand, begging her patience while he clarified. “The woman assumed your guardianship, yet sent you to an order she knew you would never return from,” he said. “Women are not sent to convents to return from them unless there is an offer of marriage, but it seems to me your aunt knew you would never receive a marriage offer at St. Blitha. No marriage, no husband to inherit your father’s legacy. That way, it all belongs to her, and will forever. She has stolen your inheritance. Am I wrong?”
Andressa lowered her gaze. Her chewing slowed and when she finally swallowed the bite, she didn’t put more food in her mouth. She simply sat there, looking at her lap.
“I cannot know her motives, my lord,” she said. “But I do know I am of age now, yet she does not recall me home. I assume she wants me to become a nun. It is her right to do with me as she wishes, given she is my guardian.”
Oh, but he could sense such sorrow in her words. In the months or even years past, Maxton would have never given thought to such a tone, nor would have he even indulged in such a conversation but, at this moment, he was doing both. He was starting to feel things again, that newly awakened compassion wreaking havoc with his thought processes. He simply wasn’t any good at gauging it or controlling it.
He didn’t like what he was hearing.
It didn’t seem right, this woman who had clearly had her inheritance stolen by a greedy aunt. At least, that was her story. As a seasoned knight, perhaps he should have been more suspicious of her than he was. The truth was that his background with women was spotty; those who weren’t liars usually had some other issue– selfishness, perhaps greed. He’d never met one he fully trusted and, as a rule, he stayed clear of them. But this pale, slender woman had him believing her story. All signs pointed to it being the truth.
He hoped he wasn’t being made a fool of.
“Finish your meal,” he said after a moment, scratching at his neck and looking around the room, wondering if this wasn’t the first time she’d coerced a meal out of someone with her sad story. “If this inheritance is rightly yours, why do you not stand up for yourself? Why starve away at St. Blitha?”
He seemed dubious and the least bit irritated. Andressa could sense a sudden change in his mood. He’d been very interested in speaking with her at first but, suddenly, he seemed oddly distracted. Perhaps, he was even nervous. She was coming to think that he was sorry he’d bought her a meal if he knew now that her aunt wouldn’t pay for it. That seemed to be whenthings changed with him. With that in mind, she daintily wiped her mouth with the cloth that had come with the food.
“I fear I have taken too much of your time and money already, my lord,” she said, quickly standing up. “God bless you for what you have done for me. I shall not forget it. If you do not wish for me to work off the meal, then I shall pray for you every morning for the rest of my life. God appreciates those who are generous and compassionate, and you have been both.”
He looked at her, sharply.Compassionate. There was that word again. How could she know he’d brought her here hoping that the good deed of feeding the woman might take some of the sting out of his life of sin? It was his own fault for feeling sorry for her, for wanting to show God he wasn’t just a murder. A killer.
An assassin.
It wasn’t her fault that he’d forced her here.
“Sit down,” he said, reaching out and pulling her back into her chair. “Finish your food.”
His manner still seemed edgy. “Truly… it is not necessary,” she said. “I have eaten enough. I should return to St. Blitha soon.”
He shook his head at her firmly. “Eat,” he said. “If you leave now, then you will have wasted my money, and that will displease me. Do you wish to displease me?”
She shook her head quickly. “Nay, my lord.”
He gestured to her plate and she complied, plowing into the boiled beef. From the way she was pushing it into her mouth, he knew she was still very hungry. He was coming to think that his momentary suspicion of her had been misplaced. It was the natural doubt he carried with him, always, knowing that all men were not what they seemed. It was doubt that had kept him alive for many years, instincts that were better than most.As Andressa ate, he waved over one of the wenches who was working the common room, serving the tables.
“Something more, m’lord?” she asked.
It was a clearly suggestive question, but Maxton ignored it. “What more do you have in the kitchens to eat?”
