She was no longer expecting the figure which emerged to be dressed in a nun's habit, but nothing in her life thus far had prepared her for what she now saw.
The woman was a dwarf, no more than three feet high, with a massive head, so that it looked as if the head of a giant had been placed on the body of an infant. She was dressed in a long, loose scarlet robe, which though stained and a little threadbare, must once have been as costly as any gown of Lady Anne's. Heavy gold bracelets squeezed around the bulging muscles of Ma's arms. Her oiled black hair was coiled up like a snake on top of her head and fastened with long gold pins topped with jewels that glowed blood-red in the candlelight. Ma's yellow-green eyes, bulging like a frog's, ran an appraising glance up and down the length of Elena.
'Well, we know she'll not pass as a virgin, not now that she's been stretched by the baby. How old are you, girl?'
Elena was gaping at Mother Margot in such shock that for a moment she couldn't grasp the question, never mind remember the answer. Finally she managed to whisper, 'Sixteen.'
Mother Margot glanced up at Talbot hovering in the doorway. 'She looks much younger, that'll please some, those that like them looking innocent at the start of the night anyway.'
Talbot eyed Elena shrewdly, as if he was appraising the quality of a horse. 'Bit on the scrawny side if you ask me, Ma, most want a bit of flesh they can grab on to, still there're some that like them boyish-looking. You want me to get her started?'
Ma Margot shuffled forward and walked around Elena, then reached up a hand and without warning pinched her swollen breast. Elena gave a sharp cry of pain as milk soaked the front of her kirtle.
'No, not yet. For now she can earn her keep as a maid, till we hear from Raffe. He may have something special in mind for her.' She looked up at Elena. 'I'll give you something to dry up that milk. Our customers don't want reminding there are consequences to their sin. They like to think the good
Lord created breasts for their pleasure. If they wanted milk they'd sleep with a cow, or their own mothers. Isn't that right, Talbot?'
He snorted. 'I reckon some of them do just that.'
Elena's face was burning. She had been trying to pretend, trying to cut her mind off from the truth, but even little innocents like her can't keep thought out once it has wormed its way in. Master Raffaele, the one person she had trusted, had sent her to this place ... this ... she couldn't even think of the word for it, but there was no mistaking what they did here. How could he have betrayed her like this? How could she have been so stupid as ever to believe he would protect her? She should have known from his anger the night she had been dismissed from the manor, and again by the violence he had threatened when he sent her down into the pit, that he hated her. He believed that she had killed her son. This was his way of punishing her, but why? Why this? Why hadn't he simply left her to hang?
She turned and ran to the door, but Talbot stood barring the way.
'Let me go! You can't keep me here!'
Her only thought, for she had nothing that resembled a plan, was to run from this place as fast as she could. She tried to push past Talbot, but though he made no attempt to restrain her, he would not move from the doorway. Ma Margot caught her by the wrist, twisting it at the same time, so that before Elena could do anything to resist, she found herself being forced to her knees. Ma pushed Elena's arm up behind her, hard enough to leave her in no doubt that this tiny woman was capable of snapping a bone as easily as a twig if she chose to.
'And just where do you think you are going to run to?' Ma said, ignoring Elena's whimpers of pain. 'Do you think I didn't know that Osborn was searching for you, long before you set foot through the door? I know when a beggar farts in this town, before they've even smelt it themselves. You're wanted for murder and furthermore you're a runaway villein. By tomorrow, criers will