Chapter Five
That evening’s feast wasn’t like any other.
Tonight, it was different.
At least, that’s how Corisande felt as she gazed out over the packed great hall. It was full of men, feasting and laughing and drinking, and the enormous hearth was spitting more smoke into the room than was probably going up the chimney, so a fine haze of blue smoke hung up near the ceiling.
In spite of what had happened that afternoon, the mood of the hall was one of gaiety.
As if a man hadn’t burned to death in Alastor’s hearth, a man who had been key to much of the political winds that were blowing in their direction.
As Corisande looked out over the hall, it was as if the men of The Keld hadn’t a care in the world.
At least, that was the attitude of the rank and file. On the dais, however, the mood was a quite different. Those men knew what had transpired earlier in the day because they’d been part of it, so they were a bit more subdued.
Perhaps reflecting on what the future would bring.
“Who are those men with Papa?”
The question came from Corisande’s younger sister, and the youngest de Bourne sibling, Gaia.
She had seen ten years and eight and was newly returned from fostering at Prudhoe Castle.
Corisande had only seen her youngest sister intermittently over the past seven years until her return home a few months ago, so the sisters were still coming to know one another as grown women.
But Corisande knew one thing for certain –
Her sister was man-crazy.
She was a pretty little thing, too, petite and blonde as their mother had been.
Already, she was giving Alastor and her older brothers fits because she would flirt and tease, and then her father and brothers would have to rush in to fend off the men she had been toying with.
There was one squire in particular, one who had served with distinction for a few years, who Gaia would not leave alone.
The poor young man had been the object of her attention since her return to The Keld and three weeks ago, Alastor finally sent the lad south to an ally’s home simply to get him away from his man-eating daughter.
Now, Gaia was already eyeing the visitors to The Keld, Cole de Velt included, and Corisande knew there was going to be trouble.
Gaia had little restraint when she saw a man she found attractive.
“Those men are important allies,” she said. “They are here on serious business with Papa and you will not embarrass him. No winking, smiling, or pinching, Gaia. Do you understand?”
Gaia looked at her sister, frowning. “What has happened to you?” she said. “You used to be much more fun when we were younger. When did you become so serious?”
Corisande had limited patience for her sister’s antics these days. “I have grown up but, evidently, you have not,” she said. “Do not behave like a trollop. Papa has warned you against such things. Now, where is Gratiana?”
She was asking about the female ward they’d had at The Keld for three years now, a young woman from a good family that had a small castle on the Welsh Marches.
Lady Gratiana de Allington was a mature young woman of good character and, fortunately, didn’t subscribe to Gaia’s foolery.
In fact, Gaia frightened her, so she didn’t usually solicit her company.
And Gaia knew it.
Therefore, she lifted her slender shoulders in a careless gesture.
“Who knows?” she said. “More importantly, who cares? Gratiana is as bad as you are when it comes to fun. The woman does not have a frivolous bone in her entire body.”
Corisande eyed her little sister, wondering for the hundredth time about the company she must have kept at Prudhoe that gave her such an attitude.
Little Gaia was quite worldly, and not in a good way, and Corisande found herself wondering just how her sister would embarrass herself tonight in front of the visitors.
Keeping her busy was the only solution.
“Return to the kitchens and make sure the cook has more bread being prepared,” she said. “Your help in the kitchens is invaluable to me. I appreciate it.”
Gaia rolled her eyes, clearly displeased. “But I should be sitting at the table with Papa and the others,” she said. “So should you. Why are we serving the meal? We are not servants.”
Corisande looked at her. “Nay, we are not,” she said, “but we are the daughters of the Lord of The Keld, and that means we ensure that everything is perfect for his men and his guests. They taught you that at Prudhoe, didn’t they?”
Gaia’s expression suggested they had, but she’d hated every minute of it. “I have learned everything I need to know,” she said, turning her nose up at anything that involved management or domestic responsibilities. “I want to sit with Papa and his guests. Who are they, anyway? Do you know them?”
Corisande’s gaze moved to the table where her father and brothers were sitting with Cole and his men.
Specifically, her focus lingered on Cole, seated between Ares and her father, listening to Alastor as he went on about something.
As she looked at him, she couldn’t help but remember how kind he’d been to her earlier and her sister’s question stirred something odd in her…
Jealousy.
She didn’t like the idea of her sister paying attention to Cole and she had no idea why except she’d rather liked his attention on her.
She didn’t want that same kindness turned to her lascivious sister, where it would be wasted.
Corisande was rather old not to have been married yet, and it had been a long time since she’s given any regard to a man who showed her attention.
It wasn’t as if she’d had a lack of attention from suitors, but the only man she’d ever considered marrying had gone off to France three years ago.
Sir Auden de Stroude had been his name. He was the last of his family, an old family from Cornwall, and she’d met him when he served the Earl of Hexham, her father’s close ally.
Auden was sweet and handsome, and he’d paid her a great deal of attention, so much so that her father demanded to know the man’s intentions.
Before they’d been able to discuss it, however, Auden had been sent to properties in France owned by Hexham.
There were disputes there and Auden was supposed to defend the properties, and negotiate a truce, but he never returned.
Hexham told Alastor that the knight had married a local noblewoman to secure peace, and that was the last time Corisande had really thought about a man in romantic terms.
But the introduction of Cole de Velt had awakened something.
“I know who they are,” she said after a moment. “The man seated next to Papa is Sir Cole de Velt. His father is Ajax de Velt, a great and terrible warlord from the north. The men with him are his knights, Sir Addax and Sir Essien. They are brothers.”
Gaia was fixed on the al-Kort siblings. “I have never seen men like them before,” she said. “They are not English.”
“I do not believe so.”
“Where are they from?”
Corisande shook her head. “I do not know,” she said. “I did not ask.”
Gaia grinned as she looked them over from a distance. “They must be from someplace far away,” she said. “Mayhap they are from Rome or Athens, great warriors like those in Papa’s books. Don’t they look like that to you? Like the gods of old?”
Corisande nodded faintly. “I can see them with wings on their shoulders, shooting bolts of fire from the heights of Olympus,” she said, grinning at her sister when the woman looked at her.
“Surely, they are great warriors if they are with a de Velt and if you by chance speak to them, do not wink at them or pinch them. I will not have them returning to Olympus with tales of Alastor de Bourne’s bold daughter. ”
The smile on Gaia’s face turned to a frown as Corisande winked at her and turned away, heading back towards the kitchens. She hadn’t taken two steps when the scruffy servant who had helped her tend the soldier with the infected boil approached her from the shadows.
“My lady,” he said nervously. “The man whose leg you lanced today is in great pain. The boil seems to be very red and angry. You should come and see him.”
Corisande was distracted from her kitchen duties. “Of course,” she said. “Has a fever sparked?”
“Not yet, my lady.”
“Where is he?”
“I took him back to the knight’s quarters, my lady. He waits for you there.”
She paused a moment, thinking. “Then bring hot water and boiled linen,” she said. “I will send someone for my medicament bag. Gather those things and meet me in the knight’s quarters.”
The servant nodded and ran off as Corisande turned to her sister. “Gaia, you must manage the kitchens,” she said. “I may not return for some time, so please make sure Papa and his guests are well-supplied. Will you do this?”
Gaia nodded. “Aye,” she said. “Where are you going?”
Corisande gestured in the general direction of the bailey. “To tend a man with an inflamed wound,” she said. “I shall return as soon as I can.”
With that, she dashed off, staying to the recesses of the hall as she made her way towards the main entry.
Gaia watched her sister until the woman departed and instead of going to the kitchens as she’d been asked, she headed straight to the dais where those fascinating men were.
She wasn’t going to spend her evening in the kitchens when there were handsome males to be entertained.
That night, Essien was the first one to be pinched by a naughty blonde with an impish grin.
It was cold on this evening, a dusting of brilliant stars spread across the heavens as Corisande moved quickly beneath that dark sky, heading towards the stables.
She had a particular purpose in mind.
The stables of The Keld were quite old. In fact, a portion of them belonged to the bones of an even older building, for there had been Romans in this location at one time and Castle Keld had been built over the ruins.