Free Fire Dance by Delle Jacobs

I will be needed to help with the arrangements."
    "Appoint someone. You will come with me." He did not wait for her response, but spun around and strode from the tower.
    "I cannot think what you want of me, lord," she said, hurrying to catch up with his long stride.
    Alain felt no sympathy for her plight. "You cannot?"
    "Nay, lord."
    "What do you know of this, Edyt?"
    "Naught, save that, I disbelieve your man died of the fall, as might appear."
    "And again, Edyt, you tell me no more than I have already learned. Yet, you know more than you tell me."
    "Nay, lord. I know naught more."
    "Do you not? And what did you whisper with Gerard, this morning? The man shows uncommon interest in you."
    "I have told you."
    "Bones? Nay, Edyt You play me for a fool, and I am not fond of the part. You will tell me. Do you conspire with him?"
    "Conspire? Nay, lord."
    "So you, like all the others here, have naught but support and love for the Norman overlord?"
    "Mayhap not love, lord. But the castle is yours, and all within it. We are bound to your will."
    "And how is this so easily come by?"
    "Because all know, at your very worst, you will be better than what we had."
    "Is it so? Do you not think this sudden change of loyalty suspect? When all the North burns with hatred for the Normans? Jean Nobel died because he saw something, Edyt And I will know what it was."
    "Mayhap only Jean Nobel knows. I know not."
    "I see the fear in your eyes, Edyt What do you fear? That you will be caught in your own trap?"
    Now the blue eyes flashed the fire of defiance. "If you think me guilty, then punish me and have done with it."
      Alain felt himself flinch under her glare. So, he was pursuing the wrong direction.
    "What does Gerard have to do with you?"
    "Naught. But I have the keeping of the household, and I ofttimes overreach myself."
    "Bones, again. I think not. I will find the bottom of this, Edyt You'd best not be there."
    Alain kept up his rapid pace as Edyt struggled behind him, for he had not yet dismissed her, and would not. He meant to keep her within his sight for the day. She knew something.
    Through the hall and up the wooden stairs to the lord's chamber, she trailed behind him as if led by a leash. Shame crept up on him. She had not given him reason for his mistrust. If she had private discourse with Gerard, was that reason?
    Nay. But he hadn't liked it. He had pretended even to himself to be bemused. Ha. He was jealous. That was what colored his mood so black. But this maid could not be his. He must find that damnably evasive Lady Melisande who looked like everyone and no one, and get his mind off this girl. And if he had to marry Edyt off to Gerard, or anyone else, he would do it. By Christ's Holy Blood, he would.
    Alain stomped through the doorway into his chamber and gave the heavy door a hard shove, slamming it into its jamb.
    "Again, Edyt, who is Gerard to you?"
    "A knight in my lord's service."
    "Naught else? He shows uncommon interest in you."
    "I am not such a woman as you infer, lord."
    "Then, who are you?"
    "Who? I do not understand."
    "Who, Edyt? Where is your family? Are you one of those who fled from the east into Cumbria?"
    "My family is all gone, lord. And I am too young to remember those terrible times. Mayhap Thomas can tell you more."
    Aye, she would not have yet been born. "Then did your family come from there?"
    "My mother, I think. She was from Durham."
    "Ah. At last the fair Edyt has almost given an answer."
    "I do not know if Durham is east of here, lord. I know naught of it."
    Of course. How would she know? Few but soldiers would have known where Durham lay. He had mistaken an intelligent mind for one with knowledge.
    "Aye," he replied at last. "Durham is to the east. You may go, Edyt"
    With a silent bob of her head, she skittered quickly toward the door. Well, this time, she made no great pretense at composure. He was sorry he had frightened her. Mayhap he would find a way of being kinder to her.
    It was distance from