Free Stuart, Elizabeth by Bride of the Lion Page A

swine," she said. Then she stepped forward into the
chaos.
    They
moved through the confusion. A large sow had just been slain. The butcher was
laying aside the needle-sharp sticking piece. Blood was running everywhere.
    Jocelyn
lifted her skirts and kept walking. "Glennis!" she called sharply.
"What are you about, girl? Bring your pail and catch that blood. You're
letting it all go to waste. Margaret, Aenor, Felice, run to the kitchens and
get some barley and oats on to boil. Edwyr, you help them. Hurry now! How can
you think to have black puddings if you idle your time now?"
    "You've
arrived in good time, madam."
    Jocelyn
turned. Robert de Langley had materialized out of the darkness.
    Sir
Geoffrey chuckled. "I'd thought battles confusing, but this is beyond me,
I confess."
    "Not
something a knight has much training for," de Langley agreed. He moved
closer to Jocelyn. "I've set several men to removing the hooves and
singeing four carcasses. I remember the essentials of what needs to be done
from my boyhood, but I've no idea who best should do them. Without a bailiff to
assign tasks, we're running in circles and losing precious time."
    He
hesitated. It was the first time Jocelyn had seen the man even remotely unsure
of himself. It was obvious he didn't relish the uncertainty. "I thought
perhaps, knowing the people here, you might recommend someone to oversee this,
madam."
    "Certainly."
Jocelyn glanced out over the milling crowd. "It is a bit overwhelming,
especially with darkness catching us. Still, I've done it oft enough at my own
keep of Warford, even here at Belavoir last November during the slaughtering
season. With the fires we should be able to manage well enough. I'll see to it
myself."
    De
Langley's voice was cool. "There's no need for you to do it personally.
I'm aware that blood and killing distress you."
    "Crying,
hungry children distress me far more. Whoever is left after you and my father
are done trying to kill each other, whomever these people belong to, they will
still need to eat. And I suspect there will be nothing even remotely edible
within miles. We'd best get whatever's to be gotten now."
    There
was a moment of silence. The wind swept the man's heavy hair back, sent his
cloak billowing and snapping, creating flickering unearthly shadows on the
ground behind him. The squeals of penned up pigs, the crackling of the fires
seemed unusually loud.
    "What
a very practical mind you have, madam. It must be the Welsh coming out."
    She
threw back her head, exasperated. "That's the third time now you've
brought up my mixed blood. If you mean to insult me, I suggest you try
something less obvious. My Welsh blood is so oft trotted out, the sting is
gone. Besides, even in the Montagne household, I could never be brought to
consider it shameful. My own ignorance, I suppose."
    To
her surprise, de Langley wasn't angry. "Insult you? No, madam. I did mean
it as a compliment. And you'll find I offer precious few of those. To women
especially."
    She
studied de Langley suspiciously. She had found herself too often the butt of
jokes to so easily let down her guard.
    A
smile curled one corner of his mouth. "Madam...?"
    She
felt a smile tugging her own mouth as well. "Actually, my lord—" She
broke off, let the smile come at will. "Actually, I'd consider it a boon
to be out here with something to do. I've never learnt the skill of sitting and
holding my hands in idleness. I've no desire whatsoever to be shut up again in
that wretched room."
    "In
other words, I'd be doing you a favor by allowing you to slave out here with us
through the night, up to your ankles in blood and hog entrails?"
    Jocelyn
nodded eagerly. Beside her, Sir Geoffrey chuckled.
    "Very
well then, madam. Strictly as a favor, I relinquish command of all this
magnificence to you."
    Jocelyn
accepted with another nod. It was amazing under the circumstances, but she was
suddenly excited, enjoying matching wits with Robert de Langley. It was
something she'd never done