Chains of Folly Read Free Page B

permitted some remarkable sexual convolutions, which captivated a number of devoted clients. And perhaps some of them were captivated by the fact that Letice was mute and, they thought, could tell no secrets. About that, they were wrong.
    Diot’s bright emerald eyes met his, their expression hard and calculating. He had brought Diot to Magdalene’s house out of one of the worst stews in Southwark. Diot, who had once been a lady…as Magdalene had once been a lady. Bell’s mind winced away from that fact. He did not really want to know how or why Magdalene had become a whore, but she seemed much too calm in the face of violent death.
    As for Diot, she was very beautiful, tall and lush with a skin smooth and lustrous despite being very white. Her hair was a rich brown with enough red in it to be called auburn, thick and waving and hip-length. His lips twisted wryly; he could guess what brought Diot from the manor where she had possibly reigned as mistress to the stews of Southwark. She was promiscuous by nature.
    Nonetheless, Bell liked her. Diot made no secret of the fact that she craved—not one man, which was common to most women, but all men. Her bold green eyes assessed every man in a way that could not be mistaken. And although she was smooth as silk, a polite lady with her clients, with him she was blunt and honest.
    Bell had to swallow hard as he picked up his belt and sword and moved toward his seat. It was not only Magdalene’s beautiful, fragrant body that he missed. The truth was that the loss of her exquisite beauty and the joys of bedding her had become the least part of his torment. One of the greatest pleasures of being Magdalene’s accepted lover had been the warm friendship of the other women of the Old Priory Guesthouse.
    Lonely. Bell suddenly realized he had been lonely for years because he was trained and educated above the level of most of his equals. He could not find true companionship among men who thought of nothing but wenching, drinking, and gambling. Not that he did not enjoy those pursuits in those men’s company, but there was something missing.
    Diot patted the seat beside her, and Bell swung his leg over the bench and sat, propping his sword between the leg of the table and the edge of the bench. His mother, he thought, would have a fit if she ever learned that he had found his family pleasures again among the women of a whorehouse. He bit his lip to hide a grin. Bread and cheese was on the table and he drew his eating knife and speared a piece.
    “So,” Diot said, “Magdalene told us that the king dismissed the bishop of Salisbury from all his offices and demanded that Salisbury and his relatives yield their secular castles, but between Ella interrupting every moment and Magdalene herself trying to make ready to receive our clients and answer their questions, I am afraid I did not take in the whole tale nor the reasons behind it.”
    “The reason is simple enough,” Bell said after swallowing the cheese. He broke off a piece of bread and stared at it thoughtfully. “Stephen was convinced, largely by Waleran de Meulan, that Salisbury and his relatives were planning treachery, that they had stuffed and garnished their keeps, and intended to use them in support of Robert of Gloucester, who would try to wrest the throne from Stephen and place his half-sister Matilda on it. The old king had forced the barons to swear to make Matilda queen.”
    “And I always thought Henry was a realist.” Diot snickered. “Imagine Henry believing men would support a queen once he himself was gone.”
    Bell shrugged, swallowed a piece of bread he had broken off with more cheese. “They would assume, of course, that Robert would rule, and Robert is loved and respected by many. If Robert of Gloucester leads Matilda’s forces, Stephen does have some cause for worry.”
    “Some, but I know that William—” Magdalene’s voice faltered as Bell’s face darkened and then she went on “—was not best