The Skeleth Read Free Page B

flicked a glance at the table, stunned by the glint of more silver and gold than she had seen in the whole of her life.
    â€œMy lord.” One of Lord Aelfric’s household guards leaned out from where he stood beside the wall. He put one hand to the back of the largest chair. “John Marshal’s daughter—she’s here.”
    Lord Aelfric of Elverain sat hunched over the vellum scroll that he held in wrinkled hands adorned with silver rings. He did not turn to Katherine, nor speak, so she stood up straight again, and composed herself in the best dignity she could muster.
    One of the younger clerks spoke under his breath. “Didn’t someone say that this girl was supposed to be pretty?” His fellows took up snickering, until the chamberlain glared them all back to silence.
    Katherine shifted her weight onto her good leg and felt at the lump of the bandage under the skirts of her dress. She had feared that the slash that crossed her thigh would never heal right, but Tom had tended it so well on their way home from the mountains that it only ached when she climbed stairs or stood in one place for too long. All in all, it could have been much worse.
    â€œHas Squire Harold not yet returned?” Katherine took a look around her, as though the one person she had hoped would be in the room had somehow escaped her notice. She tried and failed to get Lord Aelfric’s attention. “Your son, my lord, is he still not back from the south?”
    The castle guard shot her a narrow look and answered in the place of his lord. “What business is it of yours?”
    Lord Aelfric chewed his lip, his gaze fixed upon the scroll before him. He had a long, sharp face, little softened by his beard. White hairs grew in tufts from his ears, while above his eyes his straggled brows preserved what little brown he still possessed. Light from the arrow-slit window shone through the scroll from behind and showed Katherine that the words written upon it were handsomely scribed, though few in number.
    Katherine waited for as long as she could stand it. She raised her voice just a little. “My lord, I ask you to take some thought for your horses.”
    Lord Aelfric cast a chilly glance up at her.
    â€œThe horses, my lord—the breeding mares from the farm my father keeps for you.” Katherine waited for a reply, but when none came, she could not stop herself from going on. “They are not well tended, here at the castle, and neither are their young. If the yearlings and foals are not turned out onto open ground soon, they will not thrive. They will not grow into horses fit for war.”
    Lord Aelfric returned to the scroll, as though nothing had been said. He seemed to be reading it over and over again.
    â€œMind your place, girl.” The castle guard spoke through clenched teeth. “You’ll speak when you’re spoken to, and not else!”
    After a time Lord Aelfric seemed to rouse himself. He fixed a look on Katherine. “Sit.” He gestured to the chair directly across from his own. The young scribe seated there gathered up his books and stood.
    â€œLeave me. All of you.” Aelfric waved a hand and the rest followed suit, pushing their parchments into piles and laying tasseled bookmarks in the ledgers before snapping them shut. The chamberlain poured handfuls of coins into velvet bags and stacked them tightly in a wooden coffer. Katherine lowered herself into the chair and let her head droop in a pose of deference.
    â€œMy lord.” The guard bowed as he followed the clerks from the chamber. He closed the door behind him.
    Silence fell thick between Katherine and her lord. She looked down into the polished brass of the scales and winced at what she saw. The reflected light brought out the weary circles under her eyes. She had put on her only good dress for her summons to the castle, but her hair was a knotted tangle that looked as though it had been arranged in the