“There also be Nellie, me younger sister,” Hattie replied.
“That would be me,” Nellie piped up from across the room. “I be right glad to meet ye, m’lady.”
“And I, ye,” Aeschene said, offering the woman a warm smile.
“Then there be Maggy,” Hattie said as she rounded the table. “She be a bit shy,” she whispered.
“M’lady,” came a soft whisper from the far side of the room.
“Maggy,” Aeschene replied.
“Then we have Loreen, of course. I swear by God’s teeth that if I have to fetch her, she’ll be gettin’ a skelpin’ she will not soon forget.”
Marisse giggled at the woman’s threat. “If I dunnae get me hands on her first,” Marisse mumbled.
Aeschene was about to tell them there would be no skelping as long as she was chatelain, when the door opened, bringing with it a rush of cold air and the sound of hurried footsteps.
“And there she be,” Hattie said. The footsteps stopped quickly.
Aeschene felt Marisse stand taller and almost bristle at the sight of the woman. “Loreen,” Aeschene began. “I be glad to see ye. I hope ye are feelin’ better.”
“I am nae,” came her weak yet false reply.
“This will not take long,” Aeschene told her. “We need to discuss the trenchers ye’ve been sendin’ to me.”
She could feel the anger emanating off the woman but was undeterred. “I am certain ye had nothin’ but good intentions in mind when ye began to mush me food. But I can assure ye, and everyone here, that I be not a bairn, nor do I suffer from any ailments or infirmities. I can also assure ye that Marisse does not need to feed me. I am quite capable of takin’ care of myself.”
“But ye’re blind,” Loreen muttered under her breath.
Ignoring the insult, at least for the time being, Aeschene said, “Bein’ unable to see does not a frail, ill, weak person make me. Marisse helps me to get about, so that I dunnae run into things or trip over things I cannae see. She is also me friend. When she tells ye to do or not to do somethin’, ’tis the same as if I told ye,” she paused to let the words sink in. “Dunnae ever bring me food such as ye have been doin’. Do I make myself clear?”
Loreen was silent for a while longer than was necessary. “Yer lady asked ye a question,” Marisse bit out.
Oh, how Aeschene wished she could see Loreen’s face. To look into her eyes and gain some kind of understanding. “Loreen? Do I make myself clear?”
“Aye, m’lady, ye do.”
To the rest of the room, Aeschene said, “If anyone has any questions on what I can or cannae do, let ye ask them. But ask me. Dunnae assume things. I will be happy to answer any inquiries ye might have.”
“Be it true ye were blinded because ye tried to put a curse on someone?” Alyce blurted out. Loreen immediately elbowed her and told her to be quiet.
Aeschene could not help but laugh, but Marisse gasped at the question.
“Nay, that be no true. I was born with good vision. But a few years ago, it began to fade. I can assure ye that I have never tried to put a curse on anyone. I be not a witch.”
The room felt silent for a moment. “Now, if ye will be so kind, Hattie, as to give us a new trencher, Marisse and I will be on our way.”
Hattie hurried to fetch another trencher and handed it to Marisse. “Thank ye kindly,” Marisse said.
Aeschene slipped her fingers into the loop and bid everyone a good eve. After leaving the kitchen, she asked, “How long was my husband standin’ in the doorway?”
Marisse giggled. “He arrived not long after we did.”
“Where be he now?” she whispered.
Another giggle. “Hurryin’ ahead of us. He’s just slipped back into the keep.”
“Me thinks there was much more Loreen wanted to say, but did nae, out of respect or fear of Richard.”
Marisse agreed. “I dunnae trust her,” she said. “No’ as far as I could toss her.”
“I can only hope ’tis ignorance that motivates her, and not hatred.”
Chapter Ten
Admittedly, Richard admired the manner in which his wife handled the incident. She didn’t go screaming like a banshee and calling for heads to roll. Neither did she go crying like a wounded lass. Nay, she handled the entire thing with quiet aplomb and dignity. In her own quiet way, she let Loreen, as well as the rest of the kitchen staff know that she would not cower or beg for their approval. She was demanding their respect, but in a most positive way.
He himself had been fully prepared to storm off to the kitchens and demand apologies from whoever was responsible. But Aeschene had gotten up from the table and left, without so much as a by your leave. Worried she would either make a fool of herself or him, he had followed behind.
But she had done neither of those things. The only one who was left looking like a fool was Loreen. It surprised him to learn she was the culprit in this little affair. He’d known her for decades, had even been betrothed to her, not once, but twice. Later, he would have a private discussion with her, to find out why she had insulted Aeschene by mushing up her food.
The rest of the meal was relatively uneventful. Raibeart and Colyne were eerily quiet, as Black Richard had ordered them to be. Rory, Lachlan, and Daniel sat at the opposite end of the table, having their nightly conversation regaling their finesse and awesomeness on the battlefield or with the lasses. There were times he wasn’t sure which subject they were speaking of, for they were just as passionate about the lasses as they were with fighting.
Imperceptibly, he studied his wife as she ate. Occasionally, she would give a nod to whatever Marisse said, or whispered. Her unseeing eyes did look toward the different voices. More than once, her cheeks turned a most endearing shade of red, due to Daniel’s boasts about some of the women he’d bed over the years. Daniel was speaking low enough that Richard was having a difficult time hearing everything. But apparently ’twas enough to make his wife blush, and draw her lips inward to stave off a smile.
“Richard,” Colyne said after finishing his second helping of venison. “Will ye tell us a story this night?”
Aeschene glanced up at her husband, her brows drawn inward with surprise. “Ye be a story teller?” she asked.
“On verra rare occasions,” Black Richard replied. “But me thinks the hour grows late.” He was lying on both accounts. On a near nightly basis, after the evening meal, he would sit by the fire, surrounded by his brothers and men. The adults would settle in with a fine flagon of whisky and Richard would regale them with stories, either by request or one that might tickle his fancy.
Silence filled the air, and it said much. Aeschene looked at the people around the table uncertainty plainly evidenced in her eyes.
“Colyne, if yer brother does not wish to tell ye a story, I would be honored to.”
Intrigued, Black Richard raised his brows in surprise. His hope had been that she would take her leave, allowing him to take a walk around the keep, in order to think. And he had much to think about. First and foremost in his mind was what the bloody hell to do with her. They had yet to consummate the marriage. While he was physically drawn to her, with a deep seeded need he hadn’t felt in many years, he was as yet uncertain how to act upon it. Mayhap they should discuss the matter first. She was, after all, an innocent young woman. The last thing he wanted was to go at her like a raging bull.