The Love Knot Read Online Free PDF

not awaken, even when he paused to drink from his water flask and eat an oatcake from his travelling rations. She had been sick again at the ferry but not as badly, and a little of her colour had returned.
    'Will Catrin be allowed to stay with me?' Richard demanded as he washed down his portion of oatcake with a swig from Oliver's flask.
    'Of course she will.'
    The boy gave him such a hard stare that Oliver was moved to cross his breast and swear on his honour. 'But you have to do what they say.'
    Oliver pursed his lips. 'I have sworn an oath to the Earl of Gloucester to be his man, and to the Empress Mathilda that I will uphold her as my rightful queen, but my oath to your mother to see you and Catrin safe is equally as binding on my honour.' He risked tousling the boy's dark hair as he retrieved his flask and looped it around the saddle. 'Don't fret. I promise I won't wash my hands of you the moment we reach Bristol's gates.'
    The hard stare remained, and as Oliver clicked his tongue to the grey, he remembered Richard saying by firelight that promises came easily.
    *
    Catrin was woken by someone bellowing in her ear. 'Avon eels, mistress! Fresh caught, not an hour old!'
    Her eyes flew open to be confronted by a glistening, slithering mass that filled a rush basket not a foot from her face. The raucous voice belonged to a stout woman clad in a frayed homespun gown, who was thrusting her wares at passers-by and extolling their virtues. Catrin shot upright and recoiled. Pain lanced through her skull and her stomach turned at the sight and smell of the fish.
    'Avon eels, master, straight from the river!' The woman ran alongside the stallion, shoving her basket beneath Oliver's nose.
    Catrin stared round, first in the dazed bewilderment of the newly awakened, and then in the dawning realisation that they had arrived in Bristol. The noise and bustle of the port and town that Robert of Gloucester had made his headquarters struck her like a physical blow. She rubbed her forehead. Her cheek was numb, and when she touched it her fingertips discovered the circular indentations left by hauberk rings.
    'Find a basket to put them in and I'll have a dozen,' Oliver told the woman and glanced over his shoulder at Catrin. 'Awake I see. Did the potion work?'
    'My head is like a bell tower after Easter Sunday and I could still sleep for a week,' Catrin replied, 'but at least I can think again.'
    'Are you capable of holding a basket of eels?'
    The woman returned in triumphant possession of a small rushwork pannier in which she deposited twelve shining, slippery bodies.
    'Do I have a choice?' Catrin asked as he paid for them.
    'You could refuse.'
    Catrin cast her eyes heavenwards and grabbed the pannier. 'Give them to me.'
    'God bless you, sir, and your lady wife. Them eels'll make a dish fit for a king!'
    Oliver thanked the woman with amusement in his voice and rode on. Catrin avoided looking at his purchase and averted her head so as not to inhale its essence.
    Oliver laughed darkly. 'Those traders,' he said. 'The wonder is that they ever live to tell the tale. Did you hear what she said?'
    Catrin's face burned. 'Yes, but she just made a mistake.' 'A mistake?'
    'About us being husband and wife.'
    'Oh, that.' He gestured dismissively. 'No, I was talking about the eels. Old King Henry died after gorging himself on a plate of bad ones. They weren't just "fit for a king", they killed a king and started this entire bloody war. You could even argue that a dish of lampreys cost the Pascals their inheritance, since my brother Simon was overthrown and killed for supporting the Empress Mathilda.'
    'And you still want to eat them?'
    He pulled a face, acknowledging her point. 'They're a gift for a friend,' he explained. 'But yes, I'll still devour them, despite the ill-fortune visited on me and mine. Etheldreda makes the best eel stew in Christendom - there's no resisting.'
    'Oh,' Catrin said. She was filled with a mixture of relief and disappointment to