Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton Read Free Book Online Page B

of knights and guards.
    ’Twas his fondest hope that an opportunity for escape would present itself somewhere on the road. If not… Rhodri preferred not to ruminate on the difficulty of getting both himself and Nicole out of the royal castle in Oxford.

Chapter Four
    N icole awoke, cocooned in a soft woolen coverlet atop a down-stuffed mattress. Dim light from the narrow window barely reached the corners of the bedchamber’s gray stone walls.
    Familiar with her surroundings, Nicole tried to enjoy the simple pleasure of waking in a bed more comfortable than her cot at the abbey, until the sound of someone rustling the rushes on the floor told her she wasn’t alone.
    Blinking away sleep, she rose up on an elbow to identify the intruder.
    “Ah, you are awake, my lady!” Lucy, a slender, well-endowed maidservant whom Nicole had known for several years, set a platter of food on the small oak table under the window. “’Tis sorry I am about the abbess, may she rest with the Lord. She was always kind to me, an undemanding soul.”
    Nicole swallowed hard to dull a sharp pang of fresh grief.
    The last time she’d visited Oxford Castle, she’d slept in this same chamber. Mother Abbess had occupied the bed, and Nicole and Sister Claire had taken pallets on the floor. That had been this past winter, before Mother Abbess’s health began to fail.
    “My thanks, Lucy.” Determined not to wallow in grief, she glanced at the platter. “Have all broken fast already?”
    “Long ago, my lady. ’Tis after nooning. The earl said to allow you to sleep as long as you might, but I knew you would not want to sleep the whole day away, so I brought victuals and ale. Did I do wrong?”
    Sweet mercy, after nooning? But then, having been awake from sunrise to sunrise and far beyond, by the time she’d arrived at Oxford Castle late yester noon, she’d been hard pressed to keep her eyes open and her legs from collapsing.
    And she understood Lucy’s concern. The servant had taken liberties she truly ought not.
    “You did right to wake me, Lucy. The earl will not hear of your transgression from me.” She eased her legs toward the edge of the bed, wincing at her entire body’s stiffness. “I swan, I would be in less pain had I walked all those leagues from the abbey. The cart’s driver had no notion of how to avoid ruts. My bottom will be sore for a sennight!”
    Lucy gave a mew of sympathy. “Do you wish me to brew you a potion? Willow-bark tea, mayhap?”
    “Your offer is kindness itself. My thanks.”
    “The bread is from this morn’s baking, and the ale is the village brewer’s finest.” Lucy paused by the door, putting a hand on a gown of light blue that hung on one of the pegs. “This is one of Lady Julia’s castoffs. If it does not fit you aright, I shall send for the seamstress to make the needed changes.”
    Nicole saw her white shift on the same peg, partially hidden by the gown. On another peg hung her cloak.
    “Where is my habit?”
    “The earl ordered it sent to the laundress to clean before it is returned to Bledloe Abbey.”
    Nicole clutched the coverlet a bit tighter. “I should like the robe returned to me. Can you fetch it?”
    Lucy’s brow scrunched in confusion. “I can try, my lady, but beg pardon, why would you want it? The laundress is readying an entire chest full of Lady Julia’s garments for your use. Most should be in good order by this eve, and certes, Lady Julia would not disapprove of your use of them.”
    Julia de Vere, the earl’s niece and a dear friend of Nicole’s sister, Emma, now resided at the earl’s castle in Essex and wouldn’t begrudge Nicole the use of her old garments. Nor did Nicole oppose wearing castoffs. The earl’s presumption, however, proved most irritating.
    “I hope to convince the earl to allow me to return to Bledloe Abbey. I should rather do so in the habit in which I left.”
    Lucy tilted her head. “You wish to go back?”
    Her wishes aside, Nicole knew she