Tags:
Fiction,
Historical fiction,
General,
Historical,
History,
Medieval,
Great Britain,
Wales,
Wales - History - 1063-1284,
Great Britain - History - 13th Century,
Llywelyn Ap Gruffydd
temper!"
.**.
Iff-'
20
"I am glad you find this so amusing, Bran," Nell said scathingly. "Does it amuse you, too, that I lay awake each night till dawn, seeking to convince myself you were still alive?"
Bran's smile faded. "I know the risks I took," he admitted quietly. "But I had to do it, Mama."
After a long pause, Nell nodded. "Yes, I suppose you did," she conceded, no less quietly, and to their sympathetic spectators, the morrftait was all the more poignant for what was left unsaid. Nell hugged her son, clung tightly. "I
should warn you," she said, "that if you ever scare me like this again, your homecoming will be hot enough to be held in Hell Everlasting." And although she laughed, none doubted that she meant every word, least of all, Bran.
As they entered the hall, the rest of the de Montfort servants and retainers surged forward, engulfing Bran in a noisy, chaotic welcome. One young woman in particular seemed so happy to see Bran that at first Hugh thought she must be his sister, Ellen. But a second glance quickly disabused him of that notion, for Ellen de Montfort was said to be very fair, and this girl was as dark as any gypsy. By the exacting standards of their society, she was no beauty, for not only was her coloring unfashionable, she was short and voluptuous, and theirs was a world in which the ideal woman was a tall, slender blonde. But
Hugh could not take his eyes from her, perhaps because her allure was so very exotic, so alien. She looked verily like a wanton, like a Saracen concubine, he decided, and then blushed bright-red when Bran introduced her as Dame
Juliana, his sister's lady-in-waiting.
Suddenly face to face with the object of his sinful lust, Hugh found himself hopelessly tongue-tied. At times it seemed to him that his male member had a lifeand a willof its own; he'd even given it a name, Barnabas, in rueful recognition of its newly independent ways. But never before had it focused upon a woman of his own class, a lady. Unable to meet Dame Juliana's eyes lest she somehow read his mind, he averted his gaze from her face, only to find himself staring at her very ample bosom, and blushed anew, this time as high as his hairline.
"I suppose I ought to have warned you, Juliana, that the lad is a mute!"
"Bran, hush!" Jabbing Bran with her elbow, Juliana held out her hand, and it took no more than that, a touch and a smile, to vanquish Hugh's discomfort. He smiled too, shyly, as the bedchamber door burst open.
"Bran!" At sound of his name, Bran swung about, then staggered backward under the onslaught. The girl in his arms was the prettiest creature Hugh had ever seen, with burnished masses of reddish-gold hair, emerald eyes, and flawless, fair skin. She was tall for a woman,
21
as lissome and sleek as a pampered, purebred cat, and when Bran called her
"kitten," Hugh thought it an inspired endearment. If Juliana aroused male lust, this girl stirred gallantry in even the most jaded of men, and as she spun in a circle, heedless of her dishevelment, her flying hair, Hugh fell utterly and helplessly under the spell of Simon de Montforf s daughter.
Watching as Ellen laughed, sought to smother Bran with sisterly kisses, Hugh could think only that Llewelyn ap Gruffydd must be one of God's greatest fools.
THEY passed that first night at Nell de Montforf s small house, Hugh bedding down in the great hall with the other servants while Bran stayed up till dawn, talking with his mother and sister. He'd slept late the next day, then startled Hugh by insisting that they take up lodgings in the village. The move made no sense to Hugh, and he was still puzzling over it several hours later, while helping Noel to unpack Bran's belongings in an upper chamber of
Montargis's only inn.
"If we'd stayed at the nunnery, it would have been easier for our lord to visit with his lady mother and sister, so why"
"Jesu, what an innocent you are!" Noel slammed a coffer lid down, giving Hugh a look of withering scorn. His initial