Edmund and his plans be damned for shewouldbe his alone!
Blinking his eyes, he found her under the many layers of coverings and settled on her back unlike last night. Before he could humiliate himself, he walked over to the table and poured wine into the goblet there. Drinking it down quickly and praying it would quench his newly built thirst and the hunger that raged through him, he waited for a few minutes in the quiet.
When his sense of control strengthened, Giles walked around the chamber putting out the few candles that still burned, placing the lady’s shift on the chest, and then positioning his sword within easy reach beneath their pallet. Finally, lifting the top two layers on the bed and sitting on the edge of it, he unlaced his boots and tugged them off, tossing them nearby. Then his tunic and shirt and braies followed.
He climbed onto the bed, the ropes straining and giving, and lay on his back, listening as the entire keep settled for the night. After a long while, his body relaxed enough for him to feel sleep’s pull. Lady Fayth breathed gently, as she had in the chair, and he contented himself with the thought that at least she would get some rest tonight.
However, now that he knew what delights lay beneath her clothing and that she was feeling some measure of curiosity about what would happen between them, there was no way to convince his male appendage that it would not happen. It was in the middle of that long, dark night when his body relented and sleep claimed him.
The shutters lay open when she woke in the morn and Fayth wondered when Giles had left the bed and the chambers. Her back did not ache though, a good sign, and she felt well rested. Sliding across the bed, she noticed the warmth yet remained on the place where he’d rested. So, he’d preceded her to his duties by only a short time.
As soon as she began moving around the chamber, Emma entered bringing a pitcher of steaming water for her to wash. A few minutes later and she left the room, clean and dressed and in search of something meaningful to fill her day. As Fayth walked down the stairs to the hall the sound of voices reached her. Pausing, she listened to her husband and his friend argue over something.
Their location and the hushed voices spoke of their need for secrecy or, at the least, privacy. In a few minutes, she’d gathered that her husband was intent on a course of action that his friend believed to be the wrong one. They battled, with words and arguments, back and forth until the other one, Brice, cursed and stormed off. Giles remained in the stairwell and Fayth knew she must make her presence known or he would discover her.
She walked loudly back up a few steps and then down again, calling out to Emma as she did. When she turned and stood at the final flight of stairs, she acted surprised to see him there.
‘Good day, my lord,’ she said as she reached the place where he stood.
His eyes were still angry, she could tell, and he gritted his teeth as she noticed he did when agitated. Still, he took in and released a deep breath before addressing her.
‘Lady,’ he said, nodding to her. ‘You look as though last night’s sleep was better than the previous one.’ Before she could speak, he tilted his head and stared at her. ‘Ah, you heard Brice, then?’
‘I could not understand all the words, but, yes, I heard you and your man arguing.’ She’d decided on the truth. ‘Is aught wrong? Has there been an attack?’
‘Brice does not agree with my plan to allow you to act as steward here.’
Her breath caught at his statement. Did he truly mean to allow her to carry out those duties? Fayth had been certain that last night, when she could not promise not to aid those he deemed enemies, he’d decided to choose someone else. But now?
‘Have you made up your mind, then, to accept his counsel in this?’ she asked, following him down and onto the main floor.
‘Just as you have little choice in your life, lady, I have little in mine. I need someone to take charge of our stores, our people and our preparations for the winter while I take control of the manor’s defences and other protective measures. I could ask one of my men to step up to the task, but the one with the most experience in these matters is Stephen.’
He paused and watched her. Fayth gasped when she realised the identity of his man ‘Stephen’—the soldier who’d hit her and nearly raped Ardith. None of her people would willingly help that man accomplish anything.
‘I know that you punished him for his actions, but I am not certain that they have been forgotten.’ The lump that yet remained on her scalp began to throb just at the memory of that encounter. She caught herself before lifting her hand to touch it.
‘Just so, lady. Which is why I sought another instead of him. Have you given thought to my offer?’ He glanced over to the large table where his trusted men sat waiting for him.
Fayth wanted to accept, but her heart was torn over this. Was it her role to act as her enemy’s steward and help him retain his hold on her lands and people or should she be taking a more active stance and oppose this invader? Or should she do her best to keep her people strong so that they could overthrow this conqueror when Edmund and the others returned?
It was her custom to consult her father or Edmund over serious matters and her uncertainty over the correct path, but with them gone she had no one. And looking over at the new lord, standing a few feet away, stern-faced, arms crossed, already in his hauberk, she knew he would brook no delays and wanted her answer now.
‘I will assist you in these duties, my lord.’
‘Come, then,’ he said, directing her to the table, ‘there is much to do.’
With a pounding in her head and spasms in her back and arms, an exhausted Fayth sought her bed as soon as she finished eating. Her excitement at being given the authority to act lasted not much longer than it took her to greet the man who would oversee her in her duties—Brice. His enthusiasm for carrying out this favour for his friend waned with each passing hour and he questioned her every decision, her every conversation, even her every action.
Brice was as hard a taskmaster as she’d seen before, but if forced to it she would admit that his questions were fair ones, his doubts were ones she understood and his reactions were ones she’d seen in her father’s actions. And, in spite of many prayers offered up during this day for patience and humility, it did not make it easier to accept.
Now, as she sank into the tub that Emma had waiting for her in her chambers, she questioned whether or not she was adequate to the position she’d accepted. Her legs ached from walking more in these last three days than she had in as many weeks. Reaching down to rub them clean made her arms and back ache even more. When she settled deeper into the hot water, she fought off sleep so that she could wash the sweat from her skin.
With Emma’s help, she washed her hair and then climbed out, soon finding herself wrapped in drying cloths and sipping wine while Emma combed her hair before a well-stoked fire. Lulled nearly to sleep by the soothing motion and the feel of the comb running through her hair, Fayth closed her eyes. Unfortunately, her thoughts ran on in spite of her physical exhaustion. Lists of supplies. Lists of people. Lists of those missing. On and on it went until she decided that at the least her body could get some rest if she were in the bed. Dismissing Emma, she crawled under the covers and settled near the wall.
Something tugged at her thoughts, some aspect of her duties that was missing. She turned on her side, trying to ease the ache in her back as she realised the problem. She knew nothing of events and situations outside the walls of Taerford Manor. The new lord had not even permitted her outside the walls to the village yet and showed no signs of doing so.
Fayth thought on the tasks she must accomplish on the morrow and on how many she would need to assist her in them. Because of the need for the wall to be repaired and strengthened, Lord Giles had everyone who could work, and who was not assigned to other vital tasks, helping to cut down trees, bringing them inside the walls and chopping them into logs and planks to be used as they needed. Thus far, the only look to provisions he’d done were for those necessary for their daily food.
