the cobbles, slippery from a recent shower of rain, but even as I drew close the men started to run lightly up the steps toward the open door of the chapel.
The last thing I wanted was to be forced into sidling up to the earl at his devotions.
‘My lord!’ I cried.
All three stopped, and turned, as one.
A ray of sunshine suddenly broke through the low clouds and illumed the three of them: Stephen, Pengraic … and the king, Edmond.
I couldn’t move. I was frozen by the vision on the steps. They all had their gaze on me. Stephen’s face was creased in a wide, open grin. Whatever the earl felt was locked away tight behind his impassive façade. The king … Edmond looked at me with a warm regard, and it suddenly struck me that what I feared in the proposed marriage to Saint-Valery was not Edmond, or what he asked, but Saint-Valery and a lifetime of regret at his side.
The sun’s ray bathed the three men in a golden, ethereal light, and I knew God had handed me this moment. It caught me in the thrall of premonition, and I realised then, in that instant, that my life would be bounded by the knight, the earl and the king, and no other.
What I did not know then was that this was the last time I would ever see these three men together.
‘Mistress Maeb?’ said the earl, and somehow I freed myself from my thrall, and walked up the steps toward him.
‘Your gloves, my lord,’ I said, handing them over, then I dipped in courtesy toward Edmond, nodded at Stephen, and turned my back on them and walked away.
I walked easy, for somehow, in a manner I could yet not discern, my entire life was settled in that one golden moment.
Whatever happened now was in fate’s hands, and no manner of struggling would change a thing.
CHAPTER TEN
The next day Evelyn woke me. She’d been up early to go down to the kitchens, returning one of the bowls I had used for a poultice.
‘Maeb! Maeb!’
I opened my eyes grudgingly. Mistress Yvette was back tending our lady this morning, and I’d been allowed to sleep until Evelyn and I joined them in chapel for our morning prayers.
‘Maeb! I have heard news — of a plague. Everyone is talking of it.’
I sat up, wondering what I should say.
‘I have heard such terrible things. Sweet Mother Mary, Maeb, is this what you had heard in the solar?’
I nodded. No point in trying to deny it now.
‘And why we are fleeing back to Pengraic?’
I nodded again.
Evelyn was white, and she sat down on the bed as I rose, washed my face and dressed.
‘Is it as terrible as the rumours say?’ she said.
‘I don’t truly know, Evelyn. I have only heard of it in the vaguest way. I know it is why Edmond has fled here, and why we head for Pengraic.’
‘The soldiers … the encampment. Is there treachery? Unrest?’
‘Unrest, I think, but I know little more.’
‘Sweet Mother of God,’ Evelyn muttered again.
‘We shall be safe in Pengraic Castle,’ I said, hoping it might be enough to comfort Evelyn.
‘Maybe. But I worry for my daughter.’
‘I am sure she shall be well, Evelyn. The plague is in the south-eastern counties, far, far away from de Tosny’s lands north of Glowecestre.’
Evelyn nodded, but her face was tight, and I knew I had not eased her worry at all.
I spent that day with Lady Adelie and Mistress Yvette in the countess’ chamber. The earl was nowhere to be seen. The day was uneventful save that shortly before our noon meal Ranulph Saint-Valery attended upon my lady.
Me, rather.
It was a somewhat awkward meeting. Saint-Valery had come to press his marriage suit and to discover how the land lay so far as I was concerned. I supposed he had not worried over this, as few might have foreseen me refusing such an outstanding offer.
I was wrong. Saint-Valery was actually somewhat nervous.
He entered and bowed to the countess, asking after her health and that of the child she carried.
They exchanged pleasantries, then Saint-Valery greeted Mistress Yvette, then turned to me.
‘Mistress Maeb, I beg your forgiveness for this intrusion. I … ah … my lord earl tells me that he has informed you of my, um, offer.’
From the corner of my eye I saw Lady Adelie look at me somewhat sharply.
I inclined my head. ‘You do me much honour, my lord. Will you sit?’
I moved a little along the bench on which I sat, to give him room, and he perched somewhat stiffly at the other end of the seat.
There was a small silence.
Saint-Valery gave a nervous smile. ‘Mistress Maeb. I doubt you could be more surprised over the suddenness of my offer than I was myself. You made a great impression on me that night at Rosseley. I have not been able to put you from my mind since.’
‘My lord, it was but a night — an hour or two, perhaps. Yes, it seems strange to me that on such short acquaintance, and with my complete lack of dowry, that you would make such a generous offer.’
‘You seem suspicious, mistress.’
‘I am,’ I said. Lady Adelie was back to glancing sharply at me. ‘I cannot think why you have made the offer, my lord. I have little to recommend me.’
Saint-Valery’s eyes widened slightly. ‘You have a great deal to recommend you, Maeb. May I speak plainly, for I have little time before Iride out. The offer is genuine, Maeb. You may look for the courtly subterfuge, but there is none.’
My face must clearly have registered my disbelief.
‘There is no other voice behind mine,’ Saint-Valery said. ‘No shadow overlaying mine. Discard whatever rumour you may have heard.’
Both his eyes and voice were steady. I no longer knew what to think. I was still caught in the vision I’d had the day previously of the three men illumed in the shaft of sunlight, and I could not bring myself to believe Saint-Valery would play any significant role in my life. The knight, the earl and the king, yes, but not the poet.
‘I must leave court this afternoon to travel to the queen at Elesberie,’ he said. ‘You leave tomorrow for the Welsh Marches. All of our lives are uncertain now. Perhaps this winter, when all is settled and the
