Read Online Music for My Soul by Lauren Linwood - Free Book Online

bewitched ?

 
    Chapter 6
    Madeleine couldn’t have spent a happier two months. She genuinely liked all members in the troupe of mummers she had fallen in with, thinking of them now as family. Being with this large group gave her a taste of a life unlike she’d ever known before. She said a quick “Hail Mary” to thank her Dear Lord for sending Gwenith into her path.
    The June heat was oppressive, though, and it wasn’t even noon yet as she rested from her duties in the shade of a tree. Madeleine reached around, lifting her long braid high, and used it to fan the back of her neck. The slight breeze gave her momentary relief. She dropped her hair and started to turn, but she stopped in her tracks when her braid remained aloft. For a moment, icy fear swept through her. Images of Henri crowded her head, and blinding panic pushed all else from her consciousness.
    Then she slowly relaxed as a familiar laugh floated on the air behind her. Whirling, her braid now freed, she caught a glimpse of Royce, a fellow member of the mummers’ troupe, ducking behind the mature oak tree that had provided her shade for the past ten minutes. Silently, she crept toward the huge, gnarled trunk and melted into its side.
    She moved quietly around the tree, stretched across the far side, then reached out and goosed him in the ribcage. He let out a yelp and wheeled around.
    “You don’t play fair, Madeleine,” he said, his eyes teasing her.
    “And you do, Royce? Shame on you.” She shook her finger at him comically, much as she remembered from her childhood how Cook had done when a scullery maid displeased her.
    The thought of home and her youth gave her pause and she felt the smile slide from her face. She fell silent, an aching lump lodged in her throat.
    Royce must have noticed the change in her, for he took her elbow in his hand and moved her quickly along.
    “Come, wench, we have need of sustenance. I can smell the hot chewets floating along the breeze.”
    Madeleine stopped. “Now I know you jest. There’s been no breeze all day.” He looked at her imploringly. “But I seem to have caught a whiff of those meat pies all the same. Lead the way, Master Royce,” she commanded in her most noble tones.
    They strolled along a row of booths and purchased two steaming chewets, their meat savory and hot. They passed stalls filled with salt, soap, honey, and cheese, the pungent smells intermingling with the sweat of crowded human flesh.
    Royce had them settled against an ancient oak at the far end of the meadow, where they ate in amiable silence.
    Madeleine counted her blessings, starting first with sweet Gwenith, already as close as a sister could possibly be. They’d spent practically every waking moment together since joining up on the London docks with never a cross word between them. Madeleine loved her friend’s head of wild, red curls and her impish smile, but her outer beauty only scratched the surface. Gwenith’s sunny nature had a way of keeping Madeleine’s spirits up, no matter how much work needed to be done. These past two months had flown by in the presence of Gwenith’s optimism and good cheer.
    Her second blessing was time spent with Gwenith’s boy, even if Young Master Evan was a scamp of the first degree. Madeleine often wondered how Gwenith managed to keep up with Evan’s antics. Her friend had far more energy than most to be able to stay abreast of Evan’s roguish ways. Still, she counted the boy as a treasure close to her heart.
    Maybe she could turn Evan loose on Henri. With that thought, she stroked the smooth pebble in her pocket. A girlish giggle popped out at the thought of Henri running in fright from the small boy.
    “And what might you be thinking on, Madeleine?” Royce asked. His voice was gentle and his eyes had lost their usual playfulness. Royce reached out and took her hand.
    Madeleine was startled by the depth of emotion she found in Royce’s gaze. These past few weeks traveling with the troupe