heard her descending the stairs, they turned.
The leader’s gaze was potent. He stared at her for a moment or two until she shifted in her place and the prioress came to her rescue.
“Ah, here she is now. Sister Silene, this is Captain Galeren MacPherson and his men.” She introduced them. Silene greeted the men with a polite nod and the slightest of smiles. When she was done, her gaze returned to the captain. He smiled, revealing a deep dimple in his right cheek. He didn’t need it to make him sublime. His eyes soaked her in. She looked away, severing the compelling connection because it made her feel…odd.
“I understand ye have some fears, lass,” he said, growing serious, which was, unfortunately for her, just as dangerously alluring.
She blinked at the prioress, who knew it, too.
I will be strong, she vowed silently.
“Let me assure ye,” he continued, “we will keep ye safe and do ye no harm. Ye have my word. Prioress?” he asked. His voice was like silk against her ears. “My men and I are weary and would beg yer mercy fer a few hours of rest here before we start over again.”
The prioress’ alabaster skin went even whiter. “Here?”
“Aye. Just fer a few hours to rest in a bed. Mayhap eat somethin’ hot fer supper.”
He smiled. Poor Mother.
Some orders did not allow men while others housed men and women together. Theirs had no rules against it.
“Captain,” the prioress said, then took a breath to compose herself and stand against his splendid countenance. “I’m sorry, but I do not want to put the sisters through being around you and your men. ’Tis bad enough that Sister Silene must be put through it. I will pray for her against you.”
Well, Silene thought, she had recovered quickly. The problem was Silene didn’t think it was a fair or kind prayer—and she didn’t agree with it. As a matter of fact, she thought they should be allowed to rest. The sisters should be allowed to be tempted and tried. ’Twas part of real life.
“Verra well then,” he said. His smile waned until it faded altogether by the time his gaze returned to Silene. He was insulted. She could feel it coming off him in waves.
She didn’t want the captain to dislike her because of Mother’s rash judgment. She softened her gaze on him for just an instant lest the prioress should see and feel betrayed.
“We will be leavin’ then.”
Silene looked at the prioress with pleading in her eyes. A few more hours to be here—to be home.
“Very well, Captain. Just a few more hours,” the prioress relented. For Silene’s sake.
Silene knew it was for her sake when she smiled, and the prioress smiled with her.
“You and your men,” Mother said, turning back to him, her smile turning to distaste and distrust. “You and your men will stay in the northern quarter of the house. You will all eat in the great hall before the sisters have their supper. You will retreat until they are finished eating. You will leave after that.”
One of his men muttered something about her list of orders.
The captain tilted his head an inch and glanced around him at his four men, who shifted uncomfortably in their spots.
The captain was still insulted by the prioress’ words and her behavior, but he agreed to stay.
He said he was weary but the way he stared at her when she smiled at the prioress almost had Silene convinced that he was staying because he understood that she didn’t want to leave her home yet.
The men were shown to the north quarter by two lay women. Silene attended prayer but she was distracted often with thoughts of Captain Galeren. She had never seen a man like him before. She’d only seen a few, of course. Messengers, guardsmen, priests. His fine frame had bewitched her. She said penance until it was time to eat.
She’d finally had some hours of peace until she saw him again.
The sisters were waiting for their time to eat. She heard some disturbing whispers traveling throughout the wide corridor. The whispers were about the prioress serving the men yesterday’s food. The fresh meal would be served next.
Silene’s belly knotted. She didn’t want to think of the prioress’ stingy behavior.
She ate very little and thought of how the captain had looked while he ate here, laughing with his friends. She was glad Mother had let them stay.
She used her time in the great hall to bid her sisters farewell. Agnes wept