Free Kathryn Le Veque by Netherworld

the same dark-veined, gray stone that comprised the rest of the castle.
    “These towers could be seen from miles away,” he said. “When we were approaching from the valley to the south, they were the first things we saw.”
    Chrystobel nodded as she pointed to the southeast tower. “That is Tower Twilight,” she said. “It is houses the married soldiers and servants. The tower next to it, the southwest tower, is called Tower Night and it houses the armor and weapons. The northeast tower is Tower Day, and it houses our unmarried men or any visitors we may have. Your men will be housed there.”
    Keller turned to look at her. “I have five hundred men with me and as big as that tower is, it will not be able to house all of them,” he said. “My knights will be rearranging the accommodations to suit us. I would assume your people have been told to cooperate.”
    Chrystobel wasn’t so sure she liked that statement. It sounded as if the Welsh occupants were beneath the English who were here to take control. But the truth was that they were beneath the English. Nether belonged to them now, and everyone within her, including Chrystobel. She nodded in response to his statement.
    “Aye, my lord,” she said. “They will be compliant.”
    Keller’s eyes glittered at her in the weak moonlight. “Including you?”
    “It is my duty to be compliant.”
    “You were not earlier.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “When I asked you who had left you bloodied. You lied to me.”
    Chrystobel abruptly lowered her gaze, her manner suddenly nervous. She had been quite calm until Keller brought up the incident in her bower. Now, she didn’t know what to say. She had sincerely hoped that subject wouldn’t come up but Keller had cleverly introduced it into their conversation. Off-guard, his sly action both irritated and embarrassed her. She didn’t like being embarrassed.
    “It is not polite to accuse a lady of lying,” she told him with more boldness than she had exhibited since their introduction. “A man of courtesy and tact would not question a lady’s answer in any fashion.”
    Even as she said it, she cringed. It was an instinctive reaction, waiting for a hand to come flying out at her. That was what usually happened when she showed any amount of insolence, at least when Gryffyn was around. The flinching reaction was drilled into her brain, the result of too many slaps from a man who was full of them.
    But Keller didn’t react as Gryffyn often did. In fact, he did exactly the opposite. He stared at her a moment as if surprised by her response before actually cracking a smile.
    “I have never been a tactful man but I have been known to be a courteous one,” he said as he popped his knuckles in a fidgeting gesture. “I should not have called you a liar.”
    “How would you have reacted had someone called you a liar?”
    “Not very well, to be sure. You were far more gracious in the face of slander than I would have been.”
    Chrystobel eyed him, curious at his change in manner, especially the knuckle-popping. Suddenly, he didn’t look like the cold, imposing English knight. Now, there was a measure of humanity to him, a real man with human ticks. His guard, somehow, had gone down with the course of the conversation and it was an unexpected twist. Her gaze lingered on him.
    “In fairness,” she said, “I supposed it was a natural question, but it was still rude of you to dispute my reply.”
    Keller conceded the fact. “Indeed it was,” he said. “You told me that your injuries occurred when you fell and I should have accepted that.”
    “It would have been the polite thing to do.”
    A smile played on his lips. “You are correct. I apologize for calling you a liar.”
    The man has a handsome smile , she thought. He had big white teeth and massive dimples in each cheek, carving big ruts through his face. More than that, she noticed that rather than rise to a verbal confrontation, he seemed to back down, to ease up