Magic in His Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

people from leagues around had swarmed the abbey. So many pleaded with Sister Claire for a last glimpse of Mother Abbess that the doors were thrown open and all allowed to enter.
Mon dieu,
Sister Claire had decided to completely ignore the ban on males within the abbey, and so entire families were given free rein. Too many mourners spent the night in vigil with the nuns, and so too many prayers had been accompanied by the harsh rasp of snoring.
    Nicole truly couldn’t blame the tenant farmers and villagers for wishing to bid farewell to one of the most fair and compassionate overlords they might ever know. Nor could she hold these simple people to the same rules of suitable behavior that she’d learned as a child in a noble household, the same rules practiced here in the abbey.
    And perhaps, now well after dawn, heart sore and body weary, she simply couldn’t muster the tolerance necessary to contend with too many people in too little space. She needed sleep, and a bite of bread to calm her protesting stomach, and knew she couldn’t have either for several hours yet.
    Nicole glanced at Sister Claire, who hovered near the bier where the body of Mother Abbess awaited burial in the great maw of a hole that had been dug in front of the abbey’s altar.
    Sister Claire had been Mother Abbess’s assistant for longer than Nicole had resided in the abbey. The nuns would surely elect her to the position of abbess. Did the woman have doubts about her ability to assume the burden of responsibility for the welfare of her fellow nuns and of the many people who depended upon the abbey for their livelihood?
    Nicole swiped at her eyes, moist from grief and lack of sleep. Sweet Lord, she would miss Mother Abbess. Her kindness, her steadfastness, and her sometimes irreverent humor had enlivened conversations until the very end.
    That Mother Abbess enjoyed a drinking song hadn’t surprised Nicole. Rhodri chose his songs well, comforting Mother Abbess in a way no prayers and no priest could.
    Mother Abbess no longer needed comfort. Indeed, all these prayers for the repose of her soul weren’t necessary. On one breath the woman died and, forswearing another breath, she’d gleefully greeted Sister Enid before the two of them fled swiftly through the veil between earth and the heavenly kingdom beyond.
    Without a glance back. Without a word of farewell.
    Spirits, Nicole acknowledged drolly, had no use for the living unless they required the living to perform some service. Having lived a long life, rich in service, Mother Abbess required naught of the living and left behind her mortal life as swiftly as she could. Leaving Nicole bereft. What good was the ability to hear the dead if not to receive a final, private fare-thee-well?
    Nicole knew she shouldn’t be upset with Mother Abbess for doing what a spirit ought to do—sever earthy bindings and depart for the glorious beyond. Still, Nicole had yearned for a private parting word from the woman she’d adored.
    With a sigh, Nicole admitted that more than Mother Abbess’s swift departure, more than the lack of sleep or food, more than a snoring farmer, what had bothered her most throughout the night was Rhodri’s ill-timed arrival at the abbey.
    Certes, there would be changes at Bledloe Abbey. Sister Claire simply didn’t possess Mother Abbess’s commanding presence. Not that Nicole thought the nuns would suffer for it, but life at the abbey would be… different.
    Sister Claire might require more frequent attendance at chapel, perhaps rein in the freedoms Nicole enjoyed in the infirmary. Without Mother Abbess as an advocate, Bledloe Abbey might feel more like a prison than a pleasant place to reside until the king decided what to do with her.
    Damn Rhodri! Why had he appeared the very moment when her life was about to suffer an upheaval, making her vulnerable to Uncle Connor’s offer of refuge?
    But then, she truly didn’t have a choice of whether or not to leave. No matter what her