Failing to stifle a yawn of contentment, Eadyth drew Eirik’s attention. ” ‘Tis about time you awakened. My men await us just ahead.”
Eadyth straightened immediately and tried to whisk the wrinkles out of her gunna and pull her hair back into a coil as best she could atop the horse. “How do I look? I mean, do I look like—”
“You look fine,” Eirik said warmly, brushing some pieces of grass off her shoulder. A small, self-satisfied smile tipped the edges of his firm lips. Lips which looked erotically bruised from her many kisses.
Eadyth put her fingertips to her own lips, realizing that she probably looked the same, or worse. She felt a hot blush rise in her cheeks.
Oh, Lord.
Eirik grinned triumphantly.
“My shame pleases you, does it?”
“Nay, but you do.” He gave her a quick kiss and seemed about to say more, but the horse had stopped and Wilfrid was approaching on foot.
Eirik dismounted. “Stay here,” he ordered tersely, already walking over to Wilfrid, who began talking animatedly to him in low whispers which she could not overhear.
When Wilfrid finished, worry etched Eirik’s features. And alarm swept over Eadyth in foreboding. Eirik turned to her once again. “Stay here, Eadyth. I will return shortly.” He started to walk away.
“Nay, I will come with you.”
He spun on his heels and snapped impatiently, “I said to stay here, and I mean what I say.” He was soon gone from sight.
Just like that, he dismissed her, ordering her about like one of his chattel. Eadyth fumed. Because he had breached her and drawn a sigh or two from her lips, he now thought her besotted and lackbrained with lust for him. Like all his other wanton women.
“Not bloody likely,” she muttered, dismounting awkwardly from the huge beast which stood contentedly grazing on a lush patch of grass. She made her way over to a small group of cotters’ wives with two small children and an infant, huddling near one of the huts. Like her, they were all barefoot.
“I am Lady Eadyth of Ravenshire. What is amiss?” she asked an older woman with graying hair beneath a neat cap. The woman began to weep, something she had been doing for some time already if her red-rimmed eyes were any indication.
“The demons killed all our cattle. Oh, surely, Satan sent his very own. ‘Twas inhuman the way they tortured the animals so.”
Eadyth shuddered with apprehension. The despicable affair smacked of Steven’s hand. “Did you see it happen?”
“Yea, we did, and a more horrible sight I have ne’er seen in all me days.”
“They plucked the animals’ innards out whilst they were still alive,” a young boy spoke up, “and they threw the bloody parts to their vicious dogs. Like wolves they were, the men and the dogs. And they held ol’ Bess down and let one rabid beast feast on her afore she even died.” The boy’s big brown eyes glistened with tears.
“Hush, Howag,” the older woman said, not unkindly.
“How will we survive the winter?” a young woman wailed. “The master sez we cannot even eat the flesh, fer it be tainted by the dogs.”
“Your master will take care of you. He will replace the cattle and repair your damaged property,” Eadyth assured them, lifting the crying infant from the woman’s arms. It smelled of soiled swaddling cloths and sour milk, but she did not mind. She had not held a babe in her arms since John was young, and it felt uncommonly good. “The best thing we can do is start to clear up the mess here whilst the men take care of the dead animals.”
“But will the master agree to what ye say?” the old woman asked. “He has ne”er taken such interest in us afore.”
“I say that it will be done,” Eadyth said in a clipped voice, “and my word is enough.”
The woman looked skeptical at Eadyth’s assuming so much command but said nothing more.
Eadyth surveyed the clearing, clucking with disgust at the broken plows and overturned wagons that the vandals had destroyed wantonly in their retreat. Already she could smell the acrid odor of burning flesh as Eirik and his men set afire the slaughtered animals. Such a waste!