Free The Lioness and Her Knight by Gerald Morris Page B

your beauty, you must have had dozens of young men at your feet."
    Lady Laudine shook her head. "Indeed I did not. But I admit that I was an awkward girl and not very attractive when I was younger."
    "Why then, you improved remarkably," Luneta said. "For I don't believe I've ever seen a more beautiful woman than you." Luneta didn't enjoy saying this, feeling that this was not the time to talk about superficial things, but she had already discovered that the subject of Laudine's personal appearance was one of the few things that could distract Lady Laudine from her grief. It worked, and Lady Laudine brightened perceptibly and, for a time, abandoned her imaginary memories of her kind husband.
    Luneta thought periodically about Ywain, wondering if he were perhaps looking over her shoulder or standing in a corner listening, but she heard no sound and saw no sign of him. Neither did the steward, Malvolus, who continued his vengeful search for his master's killer for three full days. On the second day, a guard discovered Ywain's armor under a pile of straw in the stables, and for several days the steward went about staring suspiciously at all the men of the castle, imagining that his master's slayer was still in the castle in disguise. He was especially suspicious of Rhience, and if the fool hadn't been with Lady Laudine at the time that Sir Esclados left the castle, he would have been locked up without hesitation. Malvolus grew more dictatorial daily, but the one time that Luneta brought up the matter to Lady Laudine, suggesting that now that she was sole mistress of the castle she could get rid of her husband's steward, Lady Laudine dissolved in tears and begged Luneta, "Please, don't ask me to think of such things now! You can't understand how comforting it is for me to know that Malvolus is running the castle just as my dear husband would want."
    Only when Lady Laudine was asleep did Luneta have any time to herself, and at these times she usually sought out Rhience. On the evening of the second day after Sir Esclados's death, she found him reading in the sitting room where Lady Laudine had first received them, and sank exhaustedly into a chair beside him. "Any sign of my cousin?" she asked.
    "Maybe," Rhience said. "I heard a kitchen maid complaining about some missing food. She had just set it down for a moment, and then it was gone."
    "He's not starving, anyway," Luneta said. She closed her eyes wearily.
    "Have you put your child down for the night?" Rhience asked.
    Luneta allowed one side of her mouth to smile, and she replied without opening her eyes. "If you mean Laudine, yes. And if I don't go back to my own room, then maybe no one will be able to find me to fetch me to her when she rings her bell rope."
    "Is it so bad?"
    Luneta shrugged. "I try to remind myself that she really is suffering. Her husband died just two days ago, and that would be a shock for anyone. And I must admit, she seems to have really loved her husband."
    "Is that what you think?"
    Luneta opened her eyes at this. "What else would explain all this moping around and crying all over the castle? Anyway, she told me so. It was love at first sight for both of them. Her father was visiting him on business, and they met at dinner and fell in love at once."
    Rhience began to shake with laughter. "She told you that?"
    "Yes."
    "Did she, by any chance, tell you what the business was that Sir Esclados had with her father?"
    "No. I doubt she even knew. She doesn't seem much interested in business."
    "She'd have been interested in this. Their business was to arrange her dowry."
    "What?"
    "No joke, Luneta. Sir Esclados and Lady Laudine's father had this marriage all arranged before they even met."
    Luneta stared at Rhience for a moment, then shrugged again. "I suppose you had this from the servants, and they usually know, but it doesn't mean that they didn't fall in love."
    "Did you see any sign of love at dinner the night Sir Esclados died?"
    Luneta shook her head.