Read Online Lady Knight by L J Baker - Free Book Online

found the single, undecorated chamois glove lying on the chest near the
table. She picked it up and turned it in her hands. “This cannot be yours.”
    “I must return that today,” Eleanor said. “It belongs to Lady Riannon. She’ll
not remain in good charity with me if I keep her possessions.”
    Cicely could not have dropped the glove faster had it been a hot coal. Eleanor
had prayed for some animation from the girl but felt only irritation at this.
She dismissed her women with an impatient gesture.
    “I know this is an uneasy time for you,” Eleanor said, “which is all the more
reason to practice good manners. Lady Riannon is to be your sister. It honours
neither your natal family nor the family of your betrothed husband if you make
no effort to be amiable.”
    Cicely paled.
    Eleanor found herself again torn between putting her arm around the girl and
giving her a good shake. She rose and took a cool hand between hers.
    “I know you’ve spent the last five years believing your destiny bounded by a
grove,” Eleanor said. “And this has been a wrench for you. But, sweeting, you
were born and bred to be a noble lady. The gods had their reason for diverting
you to a life of devotion for a time, but you’re not unprepared or unequipped
for what you are to become.”
    Cicely bit her lip and nodded.
    “Your mother must have taught you the way a lady comports herself,” Eleanor
said. “You’re expected to behave in certain ways to people of all stations. No
matter how we shrink from a leper, you’d not give alms meant for him to a more
appealing beggar, would you?”
    “No!”
    Eleanor nodded. “You’re not only bound by conventions, sweeting, you can use
them to your advantage.”
    Cicely frowned. “How?”
    “Courtesy can be your mask and your protection. Give each their due, but keep
your private feelings and thoughts to yourself. Good manners cost nought but a
little effort and will reward you well with high and low alike.”
    Cicely chewed her lip and nodded. “Now I understand how you can seem to be so
easy with her.”
    Eleanor cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
    “Lady Riannon. I couldn’t imagine how you could do it. Laughing and jesting with
her.”
    “Lady Riannon is not, I grant you, the easiest person to talk with. She’s no
leaky pot spilling words whether you would hear them or no. But the rewards
amply repay the attempt. She’s one of the most interesting people I’ve met. She
might be overly strong on reserve, but none could fault her courtesy. Nor is her
intellect deficient. I’d not have you deceive yourself into thinking that she
does not notice how you avoid her. It’s greatly to her credit, not yours, that
she takes no offence. Remember, she is to be your kin.”
    Cicely lowered her gaze. “I’ll try.”
    “I’ll have Hugh saddle your mare, then. You’ll ride with me and enlarge your
acquaintance with the woman who’ll shortly be your sister.”
    Cicely cast her a desperate look. “I… I’ll remember the leper.”
    Eleanor paused as she reached for Riannon’s glove and cast a frown at her niece.
    “Her hideous scar,” Cicely said. “And… and how unnatural a creature she is. Not
a proper woman. Yet not a man. I’ll remember what you said about pitying the
leper no less for how he looks.”
    Eleanor snatched up the glove and rounded on her niece. “I cannot be hearing you
liken Lady Riannon to a monster?”
    Cicely shrank back and clutched the prayer beads hanging from her girdle. “She…
she scares me.”
    Eleanor’s flash of temper died as quickly as it had flared. It occurred to her
that the person least needing any champion to defend her was Riannon of Gast.
Nor would giving Cicely a sharp slap encourage the girl to grow a backbone.
    “I grant you that she can be daunting,” Eleanor said. “But, betwixt ourselves, I
believe that she does not look so grim purposely to frighten. Lady Riannon’s
façade of politesse is simply so much