“I’m afraid I’m not so bold as ye.”
“I’d say a pilgrim with a mule-hair beard confrontin’ the Prior o’ Scone is fairly bold.”
She had to smile at that.“Thatwasa wee bit risky.”
“So tell me about Jehan o’ Rouen.”
“Who?”
He chided her with a look.“I know ’twas ye.I saw the green hood in your satchel.”
She sighed.She supposed there was no point in hiding it anymore.Even if he did know about Jehan, there was still much hedidn’tknow about her.Including her real name and profession.
“Jehan is the oldest o’ ten.His da died last year, so he goes from tourney to tourney, earnin’ coin to support his brothers and sisters in Rouen.”
“I see.And I suppose these brothers and sisters have names?”
“O’ course.”Eve was nothing if not thorough.“Alain, Beatriz, Caterine, Denis, Elaine, Florie, Guillaume, Heloise, and Isabeau.”
His eyes were dancing with amusement and, perhaps, admiration.“And how did Jehan perfect his skills with a bow?”
“Huntin’ hare in the forest.Indeed, he had to flee Rouen, bein’ wanted as a poacher.”
Adam’s laughter rolled over her like a warm breeze and did something curious to her heart.It had been a long while since she’d heard such a carefree sound.She thought she could sit here forever, swapping tales with her fellow impostor.
“Now ye,” she said.
“Have ye heard o’ Godefroid de Claire?”
She had.The abbess at her convent had seen some of the artist’s reliquaries on her travels.But Eve didn’t want to reveal too much, so she shook her head.
“He’s a jeweler.He makes enamels and reliquaries.”
“And ye’ve posed as this jeweler?”
“Aye.”
“Do ye know how to make jewelry then?”
“Nay.But it didn’t get that far.”
She lifted a brow for him to continue.“Tell me everythin’.”
“My younger brother was leavin’ an alehouse late at night when he tripped o’er the alewife’s cat and landed in the lap of a drunken nobleman,” he said vaguely.“The man, furious at bein’ accosted, challenged my brother to combat the followin’ day.He couldn’t see my brother was too young for battle, and the proud lad wouldn’t refuse the challenge.”
She clasped a hand to her breast.
“So I ordered him to stay at home.Early the next morn, Godefroid de Claire,” he said with a wink, “made a visit to the nobleman.Godefroid pulled out a quill and parchment and told the man that as a gesture o’ thanks for his loyalty, the king had commissioned an enamel to be made in his honor.The nobleman was delighted.Naturally, drawin’ up the design for the piece took most o’ the day.”
“Naturally.”
“By the time Godefroid left, the man had completely forgotten about the battle.”
“And the enamel?”
“The nobleman’s friends agreed the man must have drunk himself into a stupor to imagine the esteemed artist Godefroid de Claire would make an enamel for him.”
It was Eve’s turn to laugh.Whowasthis hero in disguise who risked life and limb for his family?She desperately wanted to know.
