Honor & Roses by Elizabeth Cole Read Free Book Online

loudly, almost falling. The sound was enough to pull most gazes toward her.
    “Stop,” she warned the men. Her voice was too soft to carry, so she repeated herself in a stronger tone. “Stop at once. Do you hear me? How dare you bring violence into this hall!”
    Rafe looked back at Alric, but spoke to Cecily. “He’s insulted me once too often. My apologies, Lady Cecily, but this is a matter between men.”
    Alric said nothing, only watching Cecily with those dark eyes.
    Cecily, seeing that her plea had no effect, crossed her arms. “As the lady of the manor, I forbid any fight or bloodshed on this night.”
    Theobald sat back in his carved chair, his gaze falling on the two men, and then Cecily. “Listen to my niece, for she is higher in rank than either of you knights. And she has requested that you not duel.”
    “I demand that you not duel,” Cecily corrected. “What madness could possibly lead you, who both survived a five year campaign that has taken comrades of yours to God, to come all the way back home to spill each other’s blood? And in front of women and children? We have laid a feast in your honor, to welcome our men home. This is how you would repay us?” Cecily’s voice grew darker and angrier as she spoke. Her fury was as genuine as it was surprising to nearly everyone who watched her.
    Rafe apparently saw a number of advantages to acceding to Cecily’s demands, because he stepped back from Alric and simultaneously lowered his dagger. “If this is your wish, my lady, then so be it.”
    Cecily sighed in relief, her rage disappearing as quickly as it had come. She smiled at Rafe. “I thank you, sir.”
    “So quick to back off,” Alric muttered. But Rafe only smirked.
    “I would never offend a lady by forcing her to watch a scene of violence,” Rafe said, bowing low to Cecily.
    Cecily smiled at him, then looked over at Alric.
    He scowled, but said, “I will obey. But don’t think yourself absolved, Rafe.”
    Cecily watched anxiously until Alric sheathed his blade. The two knights glared at each other, but the immediate threat was over.
    “So much for peace,” Pavia noted in a voice low enough that only Cecily heard. “What has come between them, I wonder?”
    “It’s a pity,” Theobald said casually, once the normal tone of conversation resumed. “I always wondered who the better man would be.”
    “And this is how you find out, Uncle?” Cecily returned. “What sort of omen would it be for our own knights to kill each other?”
    “Still,” Theobald mused, watching the scene with a thoughtful, almost worried expression, “those two will someday come to mortal blows. I feel it in my bones.”

Chapter 6

    Cecily excused herself once the main meal was over, though the entertainment would continue long into the evening, thanks to the musicians earning their pay in the corner of the hall. The vast quantities of ale and wine consumed were starting to take effect on the guests. The noise grew to a din, laughter mixed with songs and lewd comments. Couples began to slip away into the shadows.
    She was quite done with it, and yearned to get out of her finery and into more practical clothing. Just escaping the overheated, smoky hall was a relief. She hurried through the sparsely lit passageways to her chamber.
    There, Agnes helped her out of the elaborate gown, and put away all the gold jewelry. But when she gestured for Cecily to remove her shift as well, Cecily said no.
    “Where’s my green dress? I need to go to the gardens before I retire.”
    “Again! You spent all day there.”
    “There’s more work to be done, and it can’t wait till morning,” Cecily explained. “I won’t be long.”
    Her companion huffed in disapproval. “You should just sleep in the gardens for as much as you’re out there.”
    “But then the fair folk will come take me away,” Cecily teased her nurse.
    “Aye they would!” said Agnes. “Carry you off to their hills, and we’d never see you