Chapter Nine #4
No one seemed to react overtly, but inside, most of them were twitching with impatience.
They didn’t like the privileged, and most especially not a woman who’d had special treatment.
They were all men who had earned their way in life, and they expected those they trained to do the same. To be worthy.
Hopefully, Tay was correct and she was worthy. Time would tell.
“How much time do we have, my lord?” Fox asked.
St. Denis thought on that. “I do not expect to hear any response from any of my missives for at least three months,” he said.
“You have that time. Tay is in charge of the lady’s training, so he will tell you when you are needed and for how long.
Consider this a personal favor to me, good lords.
When next you are paid, there will be something extra in it for your efforts. ”
A pay bonus was never a bad thing. The trainers started glancing at one another, to see how others were reacting, and most of them simply shrugged in resignation. This was something they were going to do, and they were to be paid for it. No one could complain much.
Without any further questions or concerns, St. Denis headed out of the hall, with Aamir following behind. A few of the others began to trickle out, but Fox and Sinclair and Ming Tang remained behind. Sinclair de Reyne, or “Sin,” as he was known, rubbed his hands together as he faced Tay.
“This sounds like a challenge,” he said, glancing at the lady. “But mostly, I am eager to hear how she forced you to submit during an exercise.”
Tay closed his eyes and hung his head. “Nay, you do not.”
Sinclair fought off a grin as he looked to Athdara. “My lady?” he said. “Will you tell me what you did to subdue our Leviathan?”
Athdara’s gaze drifted over the man with the mischievous gleam to his eye. “You are the trainer known as the Swordsman?”
“I am, my lady.”
“If I were to subdue you, would you want me to tell your friends how I did it?”
Fox burst into soft laughter as Sinclair shook his head.
“Nay, my lady, I would not,” he said. Then he thrust up his chin.
“I can see that I shall get nowhere with her. I must say that I am grossly insulted, too, but I will keep that to myself, lest she best me in a fight and Tay comes around asking foolish questions.”
With that, he headed out, but there was humor in the air. He wasn’t truly insulted. Fox, who still didn’t seem all that sure about the lady, lingered for a moment, looking her over, before heading out after Sinclair. That left Ming Tang and Tay, both of whom turned to Athdara.
“Well,” Tay said, “I suppose we should settle you in before you begin your training. Have you eaten yet today?”
Athdara shook her head. “I returned just as the recruits were taking the field, so I have not.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Verily.”
Tay looked to Ming Tang. “Will you come with us? I have not eaten either.”
But Ming Tang shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I have some advanced recruits that I will be tending in a little while, so I have things to accomplish before that happens. Lady Athdara, I look forward to knowing you. It has been an honor, daughter of a duke.”
Athdara smiled at the man with the genuinely polite manner. “It has been my honor as well,” she said. “Will you tell me more of your home sometime? I should like to hear of its beauty.”
Ming Tang bowed slightly. “I will be happy to tell you.”
With that, he headed out of the hall, leaving Tay and Athdara to follow behind. Once they quit the longhouse, Ming Tang went one direction and they went in another.
Overhead, fat clouds were rolling in, and the smell of rain was on the air, but that wasn’t unusual. Rain was a frequent companion in Devon.
“Where are we going?” Athdara asked, looking over her shoulder. “The training ground is back that way.”
Tay pointed ahead. “We are going to eat something, and then we will collect your possessions from the cloister,” he said. “I will settle you in the village, since you will not be training with the recruits. There is no reason for you to stay in the cloister with them.”
“Where will I stay?”
“With me.”
She came to a halt and looked at him. “With you?” she repeated, frowning. “What does that mean?”
He lifted a dark eyebrow. “It means you will be staying in my cottage,” he said. “It is big, and there are plenty of chambers. There is no reason for you to go elsewhere when I have the room.”
She didn’t move, and her furrowed brow deepened. “I may have lived the life of a wanderer, sleeping in stables and cloisters with other men about, but it was not by choice. It was purely survival. It would be quite improper for me to stay in your cottage, unchaperoned, given the choice.”
“Very well,” he said. “Then you shall have a choice. The cloister or my cottage.”
She sighed sharply. “I’ll choose the stable.”
“That was not a choice.”
She threw up her hands. “What will everyone think when they hear I am lodging in your cottage?” she said. “They will think I am a harlot!”
She was becoming quite irate, and Tay understood why. She was absolutely correct, but he was reluctant to admit it. He didn’t see anything wrong with her in one room and him in another, but that was foolish of him. He knew that. He was trying not to be offended by her resistance.
“Do not flatter yourself,” he said. “It is purely for convenience. Lord Exmoor has made you my ward, and that means I am responsible for your protection, training, and safety. That is why you will stay with me, but if it is so horrific to you, I will find a female servant to be your attendant and chaperone so no one will think you are a whore. Will that be satisfactory?”
Now Athdara was offended. Flattering herself, was she? Big, handsome Tay evidently didn’t have designs on her, and she didn’t blame him. She was filthy and smelly and had been sleeping with men all around her. Why on earth would he find her attractive? Of course he didn’t.
Somehow, she was vastly disappointed.
“Aye,” she said glumly. “That is acceptable.”
“Good,” he said, eyeing her with exasperation. “I’ll find a female servant on the morrow and be done with this idiocy.”
Athdara threw a thumb over her shoulder, in the general direction of The Black Cock. “A dreg whom I’ve come to know got a job as a serving wench at The Black Cock,” she said. “I am sure she would rather come here and be with me. She would make a good chaperone.”
“Who?”
“The big woman I was with the night we met,” Athdara said.
Tay remembered the woman. “Tall? With dark hair?”
“Aye.”
“Fine,” he said. “I will send someone to town and summon her.”
“I can go just as easily,” Athdara said. “I do not wish to put you to any trouble.”
Tay rolled his eyes. Then he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Trouble,” he muttered. “That is all you have been.”
Athdara could have taken that as his aversion to her, but she didn’t. Something in his warm, powerful grip told her that he was feeling anything but an aversion.
Truth be told, so was she.