“So we meet. The wife and the mistress.”
Shock etched itself on Aurélie’s features, though she quickly chided herself that she should have expected as much. The woman was beautiful, almost exotic, with her fiery hair cascading freely over her bare shoulders. Her lively green eyes were animated, her lips moistened to the shade of a peach. Her gown was not only revealing, but elegant. She was not working to settle Hyatt’s possession, but beating the servants.
Aurélie felt no superiority when facing Hyatt’s vixen. Something inside her shrank convulsively. He had need of wifely talents as the keeper of the provender, but surely this woman could entertain him in his leisure time.
“Shall I send you a servant who knows how to tend the young?” Aurélie asked.
The woman threw back her head and laughed. “Please, madame, send a servant who can help mine. I have three to serve me, but I need another. Hyatt has one son now, but there will be many.”
“There are needs in the hall. It may take some time to find the right woman,” Aurélie said, turning to help Baptiste to her feet.
“Then leave this wench. I will teach her myself … or beat her for her mistakes.”
“Nay, madame, she comes with me. By Hyatt’s order, she is to be left alone. She serves under my care, or not at all.”
“Hyatt’s order? He will let me have her.”
“If he wills it, she will return. Otherwise, Baptiste stays with me. And I shall find a servant for you when I can.”
“When you can? You must think yourself mighty here, lady.”
Aurélie turned to walk away. How could she be so cruel? But then Aurélie did not expect pity for her grievous losses. Especially from Hyatt’s mistress.
“I hear you are barren,” the woman chided. “Should you like to see my son? Hyatt’s firstborn?”
Aurélie continued toward the stair without responding to the woman’s wicked jeering. She pulled Baptiste along with her to safety. She heard the woman’s door slam by the time she had led Baptiste to the top of the stairs.
“Did you hurt the woman’s child?” she asked gently.
“Nay, my lady. I was about to add cool water to the boiling kettle when she became enraged and slapped me. I do not know how she could think I would hurt the child.”
“Stay with Perrine, or keep yourself near me. You cannot please her—do not try.”
“My lady, she is so evil. How did you keep from slapping her?”
Aurélie smiled ruefully. Her own justice in this hall had been swift and sure. She had not often had to resort to physical punishment, but poor Baptiste remembered well that Lady Aurélie did not condone such disrespect. “My poor lamb, you cling to useless memories. I only appear to be the mistress here, but I am a servant like you. My role is to serve Sir Hyatt’s whim and I have already seen what he does to people who abuse what he owns.”
“I do not believe he values her. She is a shrew.”
Aurélie touched the girl’s sore cheek with a loving, grateful caress. “She is here, sweet Baptiste. Sir Hyatt would not keep her close if it were not his desire. Believe me, he values her. Tread carefully.”
* * *
Aurélie’s second meal in the hall since Hyatt’s coming was a strange experience for her. Lord Lavergne occupied the seat on one side of the conquering knight and Aurélie was placed in the other. The woman, who she had learned was named Faon, occupied a lesser place at the end of the lord’s table. But oddly, the woman seemed in lively, entertaining spirits. She had dressed herself elegantly and laughed and joked with Hyatt’s men. Aurélie was confused by the woman’s acceptance of this role, but she kept her questions to herself.
Lord Lavergne was not so gracious. “Hyatt, I perceive a grave mistake in keeping this woman, your mistress, in residence at De la Noye.”
“Oh? Do you?”
“Aye. It should prove a poor example for other men, leaving them to think that they might freely take any number of women that suits them. Many, I suppose, will join mistress and wife in the same family.”
Hyatt chuckled ruefully. He looked between Faon and Aurélie. “If they think they can, who am I to forbid them?”
“This strange situation disgraces my daughter,” Lavergne pushed.
Hyatt raised a questioning brow. “I could have sent her fleeing the English armies in rags. Now there, my lord, is a disgrace.”
“But Hyatt …”
“Enough of your judgments. It is my problem. I shall handle it.”
“At least you admit it is a problem. Have you asked your wife for her preference?” Hyatt refused an answer. Instead, he banged his empty tankard on the table and a page rushed forward to bring him ale. “Daughter?” Lavergne pressed.
Aurélie sighed. “Father, you must leave these things to Sir Hyatt. He will not condone your interference,” she said quietly.
“Do you accept this arrangement, Aurélie?” her father asked her.
“Father, I have accepted a great deal worse.”
“The woman should be sent away from this hall. Back to her people. This will breed trouble. Your wife could tend your son …”
Aurélie’s surprised eyes focused a long moment on her father. She couldn’t believe what Lavergne dared. “Father, please …”
“Well, you would do it, would you not? Tell him. He is your husband now. You are entitled to some authority in such matters.”
She looked warily at Hyatt, surprised to find that there was a tolerant amusement in his eyes as Lavergne pleaded his case.
“Well, Aurélie … tell him your preference.”
“Father, I have no children, but if I did, I would not wish for them to be taken from me. Leave this to Sir Hyatt, and place none of this problem on my shoulders. Now be still, lest she hear you.”
“Why would I care who hears me? I …”
“You,” Hyatt interrupted, “must carefully recall that there is a difference between an ally and a vassal. A very large difference. And I am not your vassal.” He quieted his voice. “Take your daughter’s advice, my lord. Leave the matter to me.”
The discussion at an end, Hyatt resumed his meal, eating heartily and hurriedly. Lavergne was finally quiet. When Hyatt had finished, he rose and went to speak with Girvin. While her husband and his knight were in conversation at the other end of the room, Aurélie turned to her father.
“My lord, you must heed Hyatt’s words. Believe me, you do little to help me when you come to my colors in such a way.”
“I have a right to …”
“My God, you are more difficult to teach than I have been. We have no rights here, Father. Hyatt has made it clear that he will not tolerate any question as to his rule. If he chooses ten whores to place at the foot of my bed, I have nothing to say. Do not try to match him again.”
“How can you abide such indecency? I have raised you above the likes of these base habits.”
“I have buried my husband and seen my men-at-arms turned into stable hands. Believe me when I say that none of what you raised me for has been mine this past fortnight.”
Lavergne’s eyes dulled sympathetically. “Does he treat you badly?”
She looked down. “There is very little joy in this marriage.”
“And this business with his whore, Aurélie? This surely hurts you deeply.”
She raised her eyes and looked at her father. “Father, I do not love Hyatt. Why would I care?”
“He is your husband!”
“He is the lord of the hall. If I am dissatisfied with his habits, where do I plead my case? To King John? To the Black Prince?”
“To me. I am your father; I am his ally now.”
She shook her head. “One more word from you, Lord Lavergne, and you will be sent from De la Noye on the back of a mule. Hyatt has no need of your alliance.”
She rose slowly to fetch a pitcher and fill her father’s cup. She carefully poured the ale. “While you enjoy the food from this table, Father, I bid you remember, you do not eat from
Giles’s storehouse. Nor from mine. Everything you touch belongs to the Englishman now … until some French army comes to wrest it away from him. Should that happen, I fear there would not be much for either of us to enjoy. Hyatt would likely fire the keep before he would turn it over to anyone.”
She returned the pitcher and sat beside him again.
“Do you hate me for this, Aurélie? Did I do you wrong, giving you to him?”
“I know you meant to help, Father. Nay, I do not hold any grudge against you or anyone else. You thought to restore my position and my home to me. Yet I do not forget for one moment that I polish Hyatt’s cups, roast his pork, keep his house. And you must accept this, or we shall have more trouble.”
She stole a wary glance toward Hyatt and found that as Girvin spoke to him, Hyatt’s eyes were upon her. She ended the conversation with her father after one glance at Hyatt’s suspicious frown. He did not trust her. Of course he should not, for she would undermine him if she could. But did he not realize how totally he had intimidated her? If she could think of the slightest way to plot against him, she would. But alas, he gave no sign of any weakness. She had spoken the truth when she said that he held his conquest firmly.
Hyatt left Girvin’s side to speak to others in the room. He braced an arm with one comrade, partook of a toast with another, and paused to inspect the repairs that a page had made on a bridle. It was a long while before he returned to the table, but he did not sit. He stood behind Aurélie and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Have you eaten your fill?”
“Aye, Hyatt.”
“You leave so much on your plate. You will become too thin.”
She turned to look into his eyes. She couldn’t help but think of Faon, whose soft, round curves must be more to his liking. “My appetite will return, given time and fewer wars.”
“Good enough. Bid your father good night.”
Aurélie merely nodded toward Lord Lavergne once and then went with Hyatt toward the stairs. She was grateful that there were very few of her own people in the common room, and those few present were frantic in their service to the demanding knights. It was better that only Hyatt’s people could judge his impatience to take her to bed, since she did not care what they thought of her. In her resignation, she had forgotten Faon.
“My lord,” the woman’s voice interrupted, causing them to stop on the third step.
Hyatt turned toward her.
“My lord, I have need of another servant, and your lady wife will not give me one.”
“Oh?” Hyatt questioned.
“I had ordered a maid to help me in the care of your son, but your lady wife took her away and will not allow her to serve me. I have explained my need, but she refuses.” Faon placed her hands on her hips and looked up at the twosome. “She makes her decisions in your name, Hyatt.”
Hyatt crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against the staircase wall and looked suspiciously between Aurélie and Faon. Aurélie met his gaze without a tremor. “I have offered to look for a woman to help, but there are so many needs in the hall, it has been difficult to find the right one.”
“Return the girl to me,” Faon said, smiling victoriously at Aurélie.
“Sir Hyatt, ’tis Baptiste she wishes, and the girl knows nothing about tending to children. I’m certain her work would not please Mistress Faon.”
“I will attend to that,” Faon said. “I do not like it when I am chastised by your lady wife, Hyatt. It places me in a poor light among your people. You said you would not have me ridiculed.”
“I did not …” Aurélie stopped herself. She chewed her lip in indecision, realizing she would be treading on shaky ground by either defending herself from Hyatt’s lover’s accusations, or by criticizing Faon’s actions. “Perrine,” she finally said, her eyes brightening as the thought came to her. Perrine would not allow herself to be abused, as Baptiste had. She could smoothly duck an angry slap and would not be easily frightened. She unconsciously placed her hand on Hyatt’s arm, excited and pleased by the clever way she could keep Baptiste safe. “Let me give her Perrine, milord. She knows much about caring for children. She would serve better than Baptiste.”
Hyatt frowned. “You have only one attendant, and you would give her to Faon?”
“I will have Baptiste,” she said victoriously.
“She is only a child. She will be of little help to you.”
“She will learn. Please, milord? I do not need so much.”
Hyatt’s frown darkened. “The girl will not be very useful in our bedchamber, Aurélie. She quivers and shakes each time she passes me in the hall. She sets me on edge.”
Aurélie laughed suddenly, an amused ripple that brightened her face. Her smile, which had been rare indeed in the past week, was captivating enough to melt even the armored heart of the warrior. “Oh Hyatt, she is frightened of men. When she discovers you mean her no harm, she will be at ease as my servant. You’ll see. Please?” She tilted her head and lifted a brow. “ ’Tis better than what you will endure with Perrine’s motherly fussing. At least Baptiste is shy.”
Hyatt sighed. “I dislike problems between women.” He looked pointedly at Faon. “You now have four servants. Treat them well or you shall have none. And bring as few complaints to my ears as possible.”
He took Aurélie’s arm and began to climb the steps again. Aurélie looked over her shoulder at Faon and met with the woman’s venomous glower. Aurélie felt as if she had won. Hyatt had not actually taken her side over his mistress’s, but she was learning that there were some things she could wheedle out of even this stubborn knight. She allowed herself a winning smile and took great pleasure in the way Faon huffed away from the stair.
The sight that greeted her in the bedchamber caused her smile to fade as amazement took over. Two pages whom she had seen in the hall were hurriedly stacking Hyatt’s things in her room. They had even brought in the writing desk from the lord’s chamber. Hyatt viewed the chaotic scene and threw his arms wide. “Can you do no better than this in two hours’ time?”
“Pardon, my lord, but we should have it set aright shortly.”
“Come tomorrow after I have gone. I am not going to sit about and watch you …”
“Hyatt? What is it they are doing?”
“I told them to bring my belongings and some of the furniture into this room, since it is where I shall remain. But they cannot accomplish even the simplest …”
“But Hyatt, do you not desire your own chamber?” she asked.
“It is a luxury I cannot afford. Have you noticed the numbers we house?”
We? She almost started at the sound. He meant to stay with her, night after night? She was surprised speechless.
“The … the lord’s chamber is larger.”
“I have an aversion to Giles’s bed. And the room will hold ten men-at-arms. This will do nicely, when it is in order.”
“It will take only a few moments, with their help.”
Hyatt looked around the room, frowning his irritation. “How long?” he asked.
“Less than an hour, surely. But alone it will take me half a day.”
Hyatt whirled away from her and went to the door. “Have it done, then. You may instruct these morons before they do any real damage to my things.”
Aurélie smiled at him. He dealt very poorly with domestic problems. “I shall see to it, Hyatt. May I ask Perrine to help me before I send her to Mistress Faon?”
“Madame, I don’t care if you require Perrine for the next month. Faon does not need another servant and I know what game she plays. In fact, if it will get me sooner to bed, you may go to Faon’s chamber to get the help you need.”
“Thank you, milord, but I think we shall be able to manage.”
He looked into her eyes with intensity and she knew it was not for want of sleep that he was impatient. Strangely, Aurélie felt a swell of pride in his act of moving permanently into her room. And she felt certain victory in his denial of his mistress. She admit
ted to herself, however, that this was beyond her own understanding.
“It is a minor chore, Sir Hyatt.”
“Good,” he said softly. “See it done in minor time.”
* * *
Spring faded into summer and a meager planting was begun. There had been so much hardship and resettling to be done that those farmers who would have tilled the land were fewer than on the previous year. Yet the available labor and skills were so well organized that to Aurélie’s amazement, a larger portion of land was utilized. The weather warmed and would soon give way to a scorching heat, but De la Noye was becoming more settled, more resigned. Lady Aurélie suspected that there were a few peasants and serfs, if not her own men-at-arms, who would rather abide this Englishman with his strange ways than endure any more conflict … or return to the unsubstantial methods of Giles’s rule.
Hyatt worked them hard, overzealous in his demands and control, but improving results were already within sight.
An early evening fire was allowed to die as darkness fell and residents slept, for the winter chill had left for good. Aurélie had begun opening the heavy shutters at nightfall to let the June breezes freshen the bedchamber while she slept. She had lain beside her conquering knight for over one month. It did not seem possible.
Hyatt had forgotten to extinguish the single candle beside the bed and she took advantage of the light. It was not frugal to let the candle burn low, but she raised herself on an elbow and studied the features of the sleeping knight. In his state of rest his face had a boyish innocence, yet she of all people knew his implacable strength.
The coverlet rested at his waist and she marveled at the finely developed muscles of his upper arms and chest. His brown hair was overlong now and streaked by the sun, as was her own. Their labors were driven outdoors for the planting and breeding of the stock. This knight, she mused, had a definite love of physical labors. She had watched him, albeit from a safe distance, at work in practicing arms, overseeing the pasturing of animals, directing the assarting of the wooded land, and inspecting the maintenance of the castle. In every task he displayed a singleminded attention, a fervor and commitment.