Read Online Chambers of Death by Priscilla Royal - Free Book Online

Eleanor knew she would have to quiet her curiosity since neither the health nor the safety of her charges was at stake.
    “Such repayment will be sufficient. We have no need for more. My husband manages this land quite profitably, and the Earl of Lincoln shows his pleasure in useful ways,” Luce replied. “Now I must attend my husband who is resting after his arduous journey home.” With that, she turned abruptly and left the room.
    Perhaps she had no cause to pry into Mistress Luce’s soul, but Eleanor could not resist following her quietly and peeking around the door to see which direction the steward’s wife had taken.
    After the woman disappeared down the steps, Eleanor went to the window and waited until she saw Luce in the courtyard below, walking toward the stable. Unless Master Stevyn had chosen to nap amongst his horses, his wife was probably going to meet her lover.

Chapter Ten
    Although night is the time when imps lewdly dance in the guise of shadows and the Prince of Darkness fills wicked souls with the desire to do evil unto other mortals, it is also the hour of dreams, often bitter but on occasion sweet.
    Some claim that soft dreams are God’s way of reminding us that good may still rule during the season of Evil’s dominion. Others believe that such sweetness in the dark hours comes from Satan himself, cursed by the memory that he was once one of God’s most powerful angels.
    Whatever the truth might be, the dreams of those mortals, safely surrounded by the walls of Master Stevyn’s manor, were gentle enough that following night.
    Mariota fell into the deeper sleep of healing, her dreams perhaps reflective of hope that she might still live.
    The Prioress of Tyndal remembered only one dream in which Mistress Maud, who had taken over the sick watch, slipped from the room. A dream it most certainly was, she decided, for the physician’s widow was sitting by Mariota’s bed when Eleanor woke for prayer.
    As for Thomas, he fell asleep once again in the arms of Huet who seemed to hold him even closer than he had the night before. At some time in that night the young man left their mutual but chaste bed, and the monk awoke to regret the resultant chill. Then he too rose to chant the early Office and thank God that he had been blessed for once with no dreams at all.
    And what were Tobye’s dreams that night, sleeping alone in the warm straw of the stable, before a figure crouched over him and slit his throat?

Chapter Eleven
    Was it a scream that woke Eleanor, or the shouting from the courtyard?
    She sat up and stared through the darkness of morning toward a flickering light. Someone was standing in the doorway.
    “Have you heard, my lady?” Maud’s voice trembled.
    “What has happened?” Eleanor slipped out of the linen cover on her mattress and quickly glanced at Mariota.
    The girl turned over and mumbled but did not fully awaken.
    “I’m not sure,” the widow continued in a low voice. “Yet I did hear a cry of
murder
and knew you must be told.” She pressed a hand to her throat and leaned back to look outside the door toward the stone stairs.
    An old servant, puffing and red-faced even in the torch light, appeared at Maud’s side. “Stay within, for God’s sake,” she hissed. “There is evil about!”
    “Wait!” Eleanor said, hurrying to the entrance. “Explain what evil you mean?”
    “Tobye, the groom, is dead.”
    The widow remained expressionless for a long moment, then gasped. “What cause? I noted no signs of illness when I saw him yesterday.”
    “Murdered, my ladies, murdered.” With the promise of an interested audience, the servant began to elaborate, waving a dimpled hand in enthusiastic emphasis. “Blood splattered everywhere. Gutted like a deer, I’ve heard.” She bent forward, fingers cupped at her mouth as she whispered hoarsely: “Someone else said his privates were chopped…” Suddenly remembering that one of her listeners was a nun, the servant coughed, then