Corisande eyed her little sister, wondering for the hundredth time about the company she must have kept at Prudhoe that gave her such an attitude. Little Gaia was quite worldly, and not in a good way, and Corisande found herself wondering just how her sister would embarrass herself tonight in front of the visitors.
Keeping her busy was the only solution.
“Return to the kitchens and make sure the cook has more bread being prepared,” she said. “Your help in the kitchens is invaluable to me. I appreciate it.”
Gaia rolled her eyes, clearly displeased. “But I should be sitting at the table with Papa and the others,” she said. “So should you. Why are we serving the meal? We are not servants.”
Corisande looked at her. “Nay, we are not,” she said, “but we are the daughters of the Lord of The Keld, and that means we ensure that everything is perfect for his men and his guests. They taught you that at Prudhoe, didn’t they?”
Gaia’s expression suggested they had, but she’d hated every minute of it. “I have learned everything I need to know,” she said, turning her nose up at anything that involved management or domestic responsibilities. “I want to sit with Papa and his guests. Who are they, anyway? Do you know them?”
Corisande’s gaze moved to the table where her father and brothers were sitting with Cole and his men. Specifically, her focus lingered on Cole, seated between Ares and her father, listening to Alastor as he went on about something. As she looked at him, she couldn’t help but remember how kind he’d been to her earlier and her sister’s question stirred something odd in her…
Jealousy.
She didn’t like the idea of her sister paying attention to Cole and she had no idea why except she’d rather liked his attention onher. She didn’t want that same kindness turned to her lascivious sister, where it would be wasted. Corisande was rather old not to have been married yet, and it had been a long time since she’s given any regard to a man who showed her attention. It wasn’t as if she’d had a lack of attention from suitors, but the only man she’d ever considered marrying had gone off to France three years ago.
Sir Auden de Stroude had been his name. He was the last of his family, an old family from Cornwall, and she’d met him when he served the Earl of Hexham, her father’s close ally. Auden was sweet and handsome, and he’d paid her a great deal of attention, so much so that her father demanded to know the man’s intentions.
Before they’d been able to discuss it, however, Auden had been sent to properties in France owned by Hexham. There were disputes there and Auden was supposed to defend the properties, and negotiate a truce, but he never returned. Hexham told Alastor that the knight had married a local noblewoman to secure peace, and that was the last time Corisande had really thought about a man in romantic terms.
But the introduction of Cole de Velt had awakened something.
“I know who they are,” she said after a moment. “The man seated next to Papa is Sir Cole de Velt. His father is Ajax de Velt, a great and terrible warlord from the north. The men with him are his knights, Sir Addax and Sir Essien. They are brothers.”
Gaia was fixed on the al-Kort siblings. “I have never seen men like them before,” she said. “They are not English.”
“I do not believe so.”
“Where are they from?”
Corisande shook her head. “I do not know,” she said. “I did not ask.”
Gaia grinned as she looked them over from a distance. “They must be from someplace far away,” she said. “Mayhap they are from Rome or Athens, great warriors like those in Papa’s books. Don’t they look like that to you? Like the gods of old?”
Corisande nodded faintly. “I can see them with wings on their shoulders, shooting bolts of fire from the heights of Olympus,” she said, grinning at her sister when the woman looked at her. “Surely, they are great warriors if they are with a de Velt and if you by chance speak to them, do not wink at them or pinch them. I will not have them returning to Olympus with tales of Alastor de Bourne’s bold daughter.”
The smile on Gaia’s face turned to a frown as Corisande winked at her and turned away, heading back towards the kitchens. She hadn’t taken two steps when the scruffy servant who had helped her tend the soldier with the infected boil approached her from the shadows.
“My lady,” he said nervously. “The man whose leg you lanced today is in great pain. The boil seems to be very red and angry. You should come and see him.”
Corisande was distracted from her kitchen duties. “Of course,” she said. “Has a fever sparked?”
“Not yet, my lady.”
“Where is he?”
“I took him back to the knight’s quarters, my lady. He waits for you there.”
She paused a moment, thinking. “Then bring hot water and boiled linen,” she said. “I will send someone for my medicament bag. Gather those things and meet me in the knight’s quarters.”
The servant nodded and ran off as Corisande turned to her sister. “Gaia, you must manage the kitchens,” she said. “I may not return for some time, so please make sure Papa and his guests are well-supplied. Will you do this?”
Gaia nodded. “Aye,” she said. “Where are you going?”
Corisande gestured in the general direction of the bailey. “To tend a man with an inflamed wound,” she said. “I shall return as soon as I can.”
With that, she dashed off, staying to the recesses of the hall as she made her way towards the main entry. Gaia watched her sister until the woman departed and instead of going to the kitchens as she’d been asked, she headed straight to the dais where those fascinating men were. She wasn’t going to spend her evening in the kitchens when there were handsome males to be entertained.
