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Authors: Nicole Galland
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nunnery while you’re gone, I’d have more freedom there.”
“Lienor,” he said unhappily, reaching out an arm to stop her, but she sailed past him and broke into a run, arms raised to keep from tripping on her sleeves, a hand held up to her crown of flowers so it would not fall off. She ran as if she would try to take wing up into the brilliant blue, or else— more effectively— hurl herself into the shallow Doubs. “Somebody stop her!” Willem called out to the cluster by the river, and Erec obligingly leapt from his horse and darted toward her across the field. She tried to stop and spin off to the side, but he was quick and agile and extremely pleased to have an excuse to close his arms tight around her.
“Let go of me,” Lienor hissed at him when he had wrestled her to a standstill. “Your breath smells of spoiled mustard.”
“You are being disrespectful to my vassal, your lord and brother,” Erec said. He spoke quietly, mostly because it gave him an excuse to keep his head near hers. Lowering his voice still further— which required bringing his pimply face even closer to her porcelain one— he added, “Do not forget it is the emperor’s messenger you misbehave in front of, cousin.”
“Damn the emperor,” she snarled, but too quietly for Nicholas to hear.
“Cousin!” Erec snapped.
Lienor hurled her headdress furiously to the stubbled ground. Hearing her brother approach them from behind, she said it again deliberately for his benefit. “Damn the emperor. And damn his fussy little messenger. And most of all, Willem, damn your precious Jouglet. Tell him I’ll spit in his face the next time I see him. Tell him I’ll lock him away because of some scheme that I dream up for my own entertainment— “
“What about Jouglet?” Erec asked, confused. He knew he should offer to hand her over to her brother’s physical custody, but he decided not to make the offer because she smelled too good.
Willem made a dismissive gesture. “We don’t know why Konrad sent for me, so Lienor has decided Jouglet must be behind it for some reason.”
“You tell that stupid little fiddler I’ll bury his face in mire the next time I see him. It’s all well and good for you, you’re going out to have an adventure. It’s bad enough I cannot share in it, but I will not be miserable so that you may enjoy it.”
With the patience of a grandfather, Willem said quietly, “Lienor, shall you and I have this discussion inside in private? It is inconceivable to me that you would subject the emperor’s messenger to such ungentle behavior.”
She made an awful face at him, then sighed heavily with resignation. “You and I alone,” she agreed and nodded toward the gate. “In there.”
“Yes,” he said, and gestured for Erec to release her, which Erec did quite unwillingly.
* * *
They sat facing each other across the table still set up from dinner, each clearly displeased with the other. Their mother anxiously hovered nearby, watching but not speaking. “I’m not a child anymore,” Lienor began in a low voice.
“Then stop behaving like one,” Willem said reasonably. “Anyhow, it’s because you are a woman that it is not safe for you to be unguarded.”
“Hypocrite!” she snapped. “You like it well enough that the Widow Sunia is unguarded, don’t you?”
For a moment Willem was too startled to speak. “It is precisely because I know what women may do when left to their own— “
“But I’m nothing like her, I am not a whore, ” Lienor announced defiantly.
“You will not refer to Lady Sunia in such a manner,” her brother informed her curtly, wondering how she had heard about that.
“You help to guard her farms, and she repays you by giving you access to her bodily orifices,” Lienor said impatiently, unimpressed.
Willem blushed, not for the fact of it, but for unexpectedly hearing it from his delicate little sister’s delicate little lips. “The private life of the Lady Sunia is
“Lienor,” he said unhappily, reaching out an arm to stop her, but she sailed past him and broke into a run, arms raised to keep from tripping on her sleeves, a hand held up to her crown of flowers so it would not fall off. She ran as if she would try to take wing up into the brilliant blue, or else— more effectively— hurl herself into the shallow Doubs. “Somebody stop her!” Willem called out to the cluster by the river, and Erec obligingly leapt from his horse and darted toward her across the field. She tried to stop and spin off to the side, but he was quick and agile and extremely pleased to have an excuse to close his arms tight around her.
“Let go of me,” Lienor hissed at him when he had wrestled her to a standstill. “Your breath smells of spoiled mustard.”
“You are being disrespectful to my vassal, your lord and brother,” Erec said. He spoke quietly, mostly because it gave him an excuse to keep his head near hers. Lowering his voice still further— which required bringing his pimply face even closer to her porcelain one— he added, “Do not forget it is the emperor’s messenger you misbehave in front of, cousin.”
“Damn the emperor,” she snarled, but too quietly for Nicholas to hear.
“Cousin!” Erec snapped.
Lienor hurled her headdress furiously to the stubbled ground. Hearing her brother approach them from behind, she said it again deliberately for his benefit. “Damn the emperor. And damn his fussy little messenger. And most of all, Willem, damn your precious Jouglet. Tell him I’ll spit in his face the next time I see him. Tell him I’ll lock him away because of some scheme that I dream up for my own entertainment— “
“What about Jouglet?” Erec asked, confused. He knew he should offer to hand her over to her brother’s physical custody, but he decided not to make the offer because she smelled too good.
Willem made a dismissive gesture. “We don’t know why Konrad sent for me, so Lienor has decided Jouglet must be behind it for some reason.”
“You tell that stupid little fiddler I’ll bury his face in mire the next time I see him. It’s all well and good for you, you’re going out to have an adventure. It’s bad enough I cannot share in it, but I will not be miserable so that you may enjoy it.”
With the patience of a grandfather, Willem said quietly, “Lienor, shall you and I have this discussion inside in private? It is inconceivable to me that you would subject the emperor’s messenger to such ungentle behavior.”
She made an awful face at him, then sighed heavily with resignation. “You and I alone,” she agreed and nodded toward the gate. “In there.”
“Yes,” he said, and gestured for Erec to release her, which Erec did quite unwillingly.
* * *
They sat facing each other across the table still set up from dinner, each clearly displeased with the other. Their mother anxiously hovered nearby, watching but not speaking. “I’m not a child anymore,” Lienor began in a low voice.
“Then stop behaving like one,” Willem said reasonably. “Anyhow, it’s because you are a woman that it is not safe for you to be unguarded.”
“Hypocrite!” she snapped. “You like it well enough that the Widow Sunia is unguarded, don’t you?”
For a moment Willem was too startled to speak. “It is precisely because I know what women may do when left to their own— “
“But I’m nothing like her, I am not a whore, ” Lienor announced defiantly.
“You will not refer to Lady Sunia in such a manner,” her brother informed her curtly, wondering how she had heard about that.
“You help to guard her farms, and she repays you by giving you access to her bodily orifices,” Lienor said impatiently, unimpressed.
Willem blushed, not for the fact of it, but for unexpectedly hearing it from his delicate little sister’s delicate little lips. “The private life of the Lady Sunia is
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