The abbot, Father Michael, greeted Severin politely and welcomed them all into the cold great hall of the abbey. He was affable until he saw Hastings. He cleared his throat, saying, “My lord, your lady, of course, will not remain here. One of the brothers will escort her to another building, where she will remain until you are ready to resume your journey in the morning.”
“I don’t think so,” Severin said, nothing more. Hastings didn’t understand what was happening but she knew he was angry. So women
weren’t allowed with the monks. Why did this seem to anger Severin?
<•*>**• J °
“It is the way of our order, my lord. She will be fed. But she is not allowed to remain here with the men. It is considered a sacrilege. It is not done. Our Lord would not look kindly upon us for breaking one of his sacred orders.”
Hastings was on the point of telling her husband that she didn’t care, she just wanted to change from her wet clothes, when Severin drew his dagger from the wide leather belt at his waist. In a quick, graceful movement, he put the point to the abbot’s throat. “I know about how you treat ladies, Father. I will not have my wife lying on a damp mattress with only a stingy thin blanket to cover her, shivering until her teeth chatter. I won’t have her drinking cold, thin soup that some monk slips into her cell
. jje jsn’t looking. She will remain here, with me, with my men and your holy brothers.”
F ther Michael opened his mouth, both astonished and infuriated.
•in simply pressed the tip of his knife into his throat. A drop of blood
red “It will be as I say, Father. I will ensure that she doesn’t send
monks into agonies of unfulfilled lust. She will remain at my side.
Think of her as another man. Think of her as a budding brother whose
hairisbutoverlong.”
Above all, the abbot wasn’t stupid. This man all garbed in gray didn’t seem to care that he, Father Michael, abbot to this long-lived order of Benedictines, was God’s emissary, that he would go to hell if he stuck that knife in the abbot’s throat. Father Michael would have to give in, but it galled him. All the lord’s men were wet to the bone, huddled together, but the woman, ah, that one standing there all proud, her long hair in damp masses down her back, as wet as the men were, he could still see how she was looking at him, at his helpless brothers. He knew she had put her husband up to this. She was a snare of the Devil. All females were. Seducers of honorable men, whores. She should be off by herself, away from men of goodwill and morality, she should-
“We are all wet, tired, and hungry. See to it, Father.”
The abbot nodded, his mouth a tight, thin line, and turned to his cowled brothers. His thin face was red, the pulse pounding in his neck, just beside that speck of blood. Hastings saw him cuff one of the brothers. She said, staring at the holy man who had so carelessly struck another, Is that true, Severin? Women are kept separate? They are not treated well? I did not know this.”
Severin only shrugged. “It would not matter if the weather were Warm a°d the sun bright in the sky. But in this dampness, you would surely become ill. I want you out of those wet clothes. Come along.”
“Why is this a rule, Severin?”
I have been told that the Church still debates whether or not a ^oman even has a soul. Think on that, Hastings. If you don’t have a soul,
then you should be forbidden the company of God’s perfect male creatures. You are not worthy. You are no better than an animal, at least in God’s eyes.”
“That is very strange. Father Carreg never said any of this to me.”
“Father Carreg isn’t stupid. He probably believed you would make his bowels watery if he preached such a thing at Oxborough. But this is usually the way of things. It was my mother who told me of this. Travelers are welcome at religious houses, but women are to be set aside because the priests believe they will taint the very sacred air with their wickedness.”