Page 19

“Well, I never,” said Lady Morwenna. “He is handsome enough, but what manners. He’s very rude. I wonder what Lady Alice sees in him. But then perhaps she likes a bit of roughness in her men.

Bronwyn stood. She had no desire to spend time in Lady Morwenna’s company. She also couldn’t forget that Lady Morwenna was very likely guilty of hiding the crown and trying to frame Lady Alice for the theft, so she was involved somehow. She was a person to be wary of, Bronwyn decided.

“Wait.”

Bronwyn arched an eyebrow.

“I’m watching you. I know you took the crown from Lady Alice’s things. I knew she was hiding it somewhere and now I know you two are in this plot together. Why else would she ask a mere servant to stay for that confrontation?”

Bronwyn opened her mouth to speak, but Lady Morwenna cut her off.

“No. You two are thick as thieves, I know. But I know something else.”

“And what’s that?” Bronwyn asked.

“She’s a lady, like me. And like me, she won’t take kindly to other women being overly friendly with her man.”

“Rupert is his own person, and besides, we are friends. There is nothing between us.” Bronwyn held her hands loosely behind her back.

“Nonsense. Don’t lie. Your cheeks tell a different story, no matter what falsehood you tell yourself. Answer me this: does Lady Alice know of your fondness for Rupert?”

“We are simply friends.” But Bronwyn’s cheeks warmed at the words.

The right side of Lady Morwenna’s mouth curled into a smile. “Say that if you like, but I saw the way you were looking at him. Like a prize tart you wanted to eat. You would be wise not to cross me again, little baker. I have powerful friends.”

It took all of Bronwyn’s reserve not to roll her eyes.

“Laugh all you want, but I know the truth. You stole the crown and you’re hiding it somewhere.

And when I find out, I’m going to turn you both in.

See what the empress thinks of your precious rolls then.

” She gave a little laugh and tossed her brown, frizzy hair over her shoulder, walking away with a haughtiness to her step.

Bronwyn exhaled and sat back down on the log. Now what was she to do?

It was later that night when Bronwyn was helping close up the cooking tents, tidying wooden trenchers, scrubbing more pots and pans, and wiping down the worktables for the next day.

She worked under the watchful eye of Mary and the other cooks.

She learned later that many refugees had joined the camp, and the cooks had all come together from the empress’s household in Oxford and knew each other already.

To them, Bronwyn was an outsider, and to receive orders from the empress and her ladies made it seem as though she were trying to elevate herself beyond her rank.

It would take time to earn the cooks’ trust. It might take years before they allowed her to do more than wash vegetables and scrub pots, but she hoped that her situation might be different by then.

She paused in wiping down the worktable.

That was a thought that hadn’t occurred to her before: what her life would be like outside of Empress Maud’s camp.

They wouldn’t travel forever, and much as she liked being with Rupert and Lady Alice again, she’d need to figure out a future for herself, especially once the fighting between the king and empress ended.

Would there be peace in England? She didn’t know.

She imagined she would save up her money to buy a small bit of land and build on it, have a small house to herself.

Or she could rebuild her family’s home and start over in her family’s bakery in Lincoln.

She’d need help moving the people squatting there on, and cleaning it and arranging deals with merchants and the local mills so she could get started, but there was something about that life that held a certain appeal.

Not yet, however. She felt a little thrill being in the empress’s camp, and whilst she didn’t feel safe at all times, she wasn’t alone.

She would like to see a bit more of the world first before she settled down somewhere and set up shop.

Besides, her family’s bakery had a proper oven, but the building was in disrepair now, thanks to all the fighting.

She would need money to survive, save, and rebuild.

And that was assuming the building hadn’t been destroyed or taken over by someone else, and that it would even be available, considering the refugees sheltering there.

Although would she even return to Lincoln?

It was the only home she’d ever known, but now…

She didn’t even know if her family was still alive.

Her foray into the city had shed no light on the matter, and it was an unanswered question that nagged at the back of her mind. Would she ever see her family again?

Bronwyn worked and later went to sleep, but she slept fitfully, thinking of how to save for a new life.

Someone shook her awake. “Bronwyn?”

“Eh?” She woke in an instant, eyes wide. She started and stared, scrambling back. The campfire she’d curled around was still warm, its embers still red hot in the chill wind. “W-What do you want?” Her breath was cold in the night air.

“You serve Lady Alice Duncombe, right?” A young woman’s pale face looked down at her.

Her thin dress hung on her bony body and she was no stranger to hunger, for her cheekbones were sharp, and her cheeks looked hollow, instead of healthy.

She stood of average height in her twenties, with a pinched expression and blonde, wispy hair. Her breath steamed in the cold.

“Why? Is she all right?” Bronwyn asked, sitting up straight.

“She’s crying her eyes out but won’t say what or why. Making a right mess of herself, she is. A right spectacle.” The young woman said the last word carefully, as if he’d heard an older person say it and was trying it on for size, like a new shoe.

“Where is she?” Bronwyn rose to her feet.

The young woman pointed. “Over there with the horses. She’s spooking them, but she won’t leave, and whenever one of the grooms asks her to go, she snaps at them, fierce as anything. Clear takes their heads off if they don’t leave her alone.”

“I’ll see what’s wrong,” Bronwyn said.

“See that you do,” the servant said imperiously. “I’m Mabel. I serve the Lady Morwenna, and you wouldn’t see her acting in such a state. She’s a proper lady. Not one for theatrics, unlike some I could name.” She waggled her eyebrows.

Bronwyn rolled her eyes. “Fetch Rupert Bothwell, quick as you can.”

“I’m not your servant. Fetch him yourself,” Mabel said.

“He sleeps with the most handsome men at camp. They’ll want to know why you’re on such an important errand.”

Mabel thought on this and patted her stringy, mouse-brown hair. “All right. But you owe me a favor.”

Bronwyn swept past the maidservant in the direction of the stables, ignoring the maid’s snicker.

There she found the groomsmen standing around uselessly, not speaking, all eyes elsewhere, yet very aware of the young woman crying into the soft, velvety hide of a horse.

Lady Alice’s cries and muted sobs cut through the quiet of the night and could be heard from not far away, echoing amongst the trees. As Bronwyn approached, Lady Alice heard her footsteps and said, “Go away. Leave me if you know what’s good for you.”

Bronwyn came closer and waited silently.

Lady Alice turned and said, “Didn’t you hear me? I said—” She stopped. “Oh, it’s you.” And she crumpled into tears.

Bronwyn held her in a tight hug and patted her back, letting the lady cry. “What’s happened?”

“Oh, it was horrible.” Lady Alice sobbed into her shoulder. She babbled and cried, her tears dampening Bronwyn’s thin tunic.

“Sssssh.” Bronwyn held her and let her cry until her sobs faded into slight tearful hiccups and fits and starts. “You’re going to frighten the horses half to death. Tell me. Are you well?”

“No, I’m not bloody well. Not at all.” Lady Alice stepped back and put a hand on the horse, rubbing its side.

“I… I was going to use the privy and had just come back when some man, I didn’t see who, but he stank of onions and sour wine, like an expensive one, not the stuff the regular men drink…

He shoved me in the dirt and pinned me down.

I didn’t see his face, but he pulled my hair and held a knife to my throat. ”

Bronwyn reached for her, but Lady Alice shook her head. “He said I’d stolen the crown and he wanted it back. He demanded to know where I’d hidden it.”

Bronwyn swallowed.

“I didn’t tell him. I didn’t give him your name.

” Lady Alice let out a shuddering breath that sounded too close to a sob.

She cried a little and sniffed, wiping her eyes.

“I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he was so serious and I was frightened.

He said he knew I’d taken it, and he wanted it back.

‘This doesn’t concern you, Lady Alice,’ he said, as if he knew me. ” Her voice shook.

Lady Alice patted the horse’s side again, and the animal nickered. She sighed. “That’s what scares me the most. He acted as if we were acquainted somehow. As if I’d know the kind of man who attacks a harmless young woman in the middle of the night.”

“Are you all right?” Bronwyn was surprised, considering she’d first met Alice when she’d been a spy in King Stephen’s court. She should have been used to a life of danger, surely.

“No, I am not all right. But I will be.” Lady Alice huffed and rubbed the horse again, patting its side. “The person demanded to know where it was. I told him I didn’t know, but he didn’t believe me. He said it was me who had it, and he’d cut my throat if I didn’t tell him where it was.”

“But you don’t know,” Bronwyn said.

“I know ,” Lady Alice said sarcastically, shooting her an annoyed look. “That’s why I didn’t tell him anything. It was smart of me to involve you because then I can’t tell him what I don’t know.”

“So what did you say? How did you get away?”