The Rose at Twilight Read Free Page A

young Saesnes like yourself to know about such things as banners and spurs.”
    “What is that, a Saesnes?”
    “Only an Englishwoman,” he replied.
    Annoyed as much by the unfamiliar term as by having had her knowledge challenged, she said stiffly, “You ought to have spoken of yourself properly, sir. A knight, particularly a knight banneret, does not call himself simply Nick Merion.”
    He grinned, the sudden change of expression altering his countenance dramatically, bringing light and merriment to his eyes and softening the harshness of his features. “I was told that highborn English girls are meek and soft-spoken, mistress, that they serve as near slaves in houses not their own until a marriage is arranged for them. At that time, or so I was told, they go from their foster home to their husband’s home with little change in the order of things. Where did you foster, that they allowed you to retain your sharp tongue to so ripe an age?”
    Alys stiffened and felt her stomach tighten painfully. “At Middleham, sir, for my mother was kin to Anne Neville. Later I was sent to Sheriff Hutton and from thence to Drufield Manor.”
    “Three houses? Could none of them tame you, mistress?” As he spoke, he turned and signed to his men to fall in behind them.
    Alys would have been perfectly willing to let him ride on ahead of her, but when he looked at her, clearly waiting, she urged her mount alongside his, saying nothing.
    “Well, Saesnes-bach ?”
    She wondered about the extra syllable, but the softness of his tone and the twinkle in his eyes kept her from demanding its definition. “I did not think you really required an answer to so impertinent a question, sir. ’Twould scarce become me to reply.”
    “Must I ask your woman to enlighten me?” he asked, gesturing toward Jonet, who rode directly behind them in the company of another of his men, a large one. He kept glancing at the plump little woman as if he feared she might tumble from her horse.
    Alys said, “Truly, Sir Nicholas, no one has tried to tame me. I was quite happy at Middleham. I removed to Sheriff Hutton two summers ago when King Richard commanded that his lady wife join him in London. That is all.”
    “If you were in service to the usurper’s wife, why did you not accompany her to London?”
    “I do not know,” Alys replied honestly, forcing herself to overlook his use of the word “usurper” to refer to Anne’s Dickon. “I was told only that my father did not wish me to go. The matter had been decided before I knew of it.”
    “Odd,” said Merion. “I had thought the ordering of a young woman’s future lay with the lord who fostered her. Whom did you serve at Sheriff Hutton? The Princess Elizabeth?”
    Alys grimaced. “She was not known by that title when she came to us, and I had been at Sheriff Hutton a good while before her. The Earl of Lincoln was in residence there, but the king was still my liege lord, and liege as well to Elizabeth and Neddie—which is how we do call the Earl of Warwick.”
    “Then why did you leave? I had thought you must have displeased the princess in some way, but mayhap that was naught but my reading of your tone when you spoke of her earlier.”
    Alys glanced around, but none of their large escort was paying them any heed, with the exception of Jonet, who was, she knew, listening avidly to whatever she could hear. “I displeased Elizabeth,” she admitted, “but she had no authority. My Lord Lincoln dislikes dissension, however, and thought it better for us to be apart.” She would not—indeed, she could not—tell him about the scenes with Elizabeth. She could tell no one. They did her no credit. She added hastily, “I had hoped to return to Middleham at that time to serve the Countess of Warwick, my Lady Anne’s mother, for she had always been kind to me, but I was sent to Drufield Manor instead.”
    Merion glanced at her but did not press her for more details about her relationship with