Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,47
eagerly for Marianne’s liking. His head was still down, she did not need any witchcraft to see that, and right now she felt sadistic enough to not care for his shattered soul.
Every servant within eyesight scurried out of the way of her violent sneer, closed fists, and stomping feet as she marched up the stairway and burst through the doors of William’s solar, mouth open, ready to scream again.
He was not there.
She stomped her foot, the roar that escaped her shook her body.
A commotion behind her brought her back to her senses long enough for her to look behind her. The squire boy fell over and stared at her like she was possessed. Olma eagerly assisted him back to his stumbling feet.
She ignored them and went to the window, looking out passed the courtyard for any sign of where William could be.
Her eyes found him like a hawk that found a mouse while flying above. He played along the side of the stables, jumping and dancing clumsily away from another bigger man. They both swung their swords about, only William did a more terrible job of it.
Ah yes, she thought, he had mentioned something about sharpening his skills to her.
Marianne hardly cared. Nor did she care of what it was William saw that was so important about playing around like a child when he had the nerve to attach this meddlesome boy to her leg.
She fled from the solar, and flew down the stairs, nearly knocking over a maid carrying flour. Her two watch dogs followed behind her.
Marianne lifted her gown when she charged outside and into the mud, following the sound of laughter that she had not heard before when she was certain he was hiding from her.
“I’m improving!” William boomed, laughter in his voice. He continued his circular dance around his instructor, swirling his wooden sword about with his right hand, daring his instructor to come at him with his stance.
The man had a deep voice. “Lucky, you mean.”
“Not anymore!” Marianne screeched.
All laughter ceased as all eyes shot to her. Marianne did not stop, not even when she caught Blaise in her peripheral vision as she moved in on William. She stopped only when she stood up directly in front of him so that he could have a clear vision of the loathing in her eyes, her nose high enough that it nearly touched his while his breath warmed her face.
Angrily, she pointed his finger behind her to where she was sure the squire boy still stood unless he had fallen over again.
“What is that?” She ground through clenched teeth.
William looked at the squire, looked back at her and smiled. “That is James. He is to be knighted soon.”
“And pray tell, what is he following me for?”
It infuriated her that her temper did not have the same affect on William as it had on James, his unflinching demeanor silenced her long enough to hear what he had to say.
“My dear, he is to ensure that you do not take leave of your senses again and charge off towards the forest at the first sign of a broken heart.”
“I did not charge towards the forest!” Marianne stamped her foot. She rode casually to free her thoughts. “Nor did I have a broken heart!” She had merely been upset at the time. “And how is it that he is to be knighted? He cowers like a beaten dog.”
William ignored her previous claims of not charging towards the forest. “If he does cower like a beaten dog ‘tis only because you scream like a savage.”
Blaise, having suffered enough in silence, threw down his wooden sword. “I believe my training for the day is complete, if anyone has any need of me, I shall be riding.”
“Do not be riding Benedict! That is William’s horse!” Marianne shouted at his retreating back, remembering William speak of his dislike for Blaise to ride his prized horse without permission.
Blaise abruptly stopped, turned, and glared. But he looked behind her to where William stood and left without another word.
Marianne was glad for his decision to leave and did not look at him with regret when he chose to do so, even if it was the product of her temper.
The man instructing William had lowered his sword and found something much more interesting to stare at off in the distance.
For the first time she stopped to realize that there were guests about who could see her in this state. It occurred to her that perhaps she really did