“Yes, sir?” Ethelwyn asked.
“Wyn!” Egelric smiled. “There you are. I was just about to ride out to Nothelm, and I wondered whether you had any business of the non-amatory variety that I could handle for you… though if you have some of that kind too…”
“I don’t have any business of any sort at Nothelm. But are you certain you can ride again?”
“I had better make up my mind to do it. I’m not ready to be an old man just yet.”
“I can go for you, sir. It’s no trouble.”
“It is a trouble, so I thank you for the offer. But I really do want to see my daughter. Last time I saw her she was already full to bursting, so if she still hasn’t had her baby, I can’t imagine what she looks like now.”
“I can come too, if you only want to see your daughter, and I can ride about on your business for you. Are you going to Sir Sigefrith’s?”
“No. And why do you always ask me that? I shall give Thorric your compliments if I see him. Unless you do have some amatory business there after all?” Egelric grinned wickedly.
“No! It’s the one place I should rather not go. I was very rudely treated there the last time.”
“By Thorric?”
“No, by the guard and then by some maid with red boots.”
“Did she kick you with them when you tried to fondle her, or what?”
“No, that was the guard that did that. She was only very impudent.”
“We prefer to call that ‘saucy’ around here, and find it cute.”
“I do not find it so.”
“Now, Wyn, she was probably only flirting with you, and you were too stiff-necked to look kindly upon her.”
“That was not flirting. I know flirting. That was… laughing inappropriately.”
“By which you mean ‘laughing at you’. I see. Hallo there, young pup,” Egelric said to Wulf, who had just wandered in. “Just the man I wanted to see.”
“What did I do?”
“Nothing yet. Your Da needs you to lace his boots. You’re finally at that age where you’re starting to get useful for menial tasks.”
Ethelwyn laughed.
“Are you going out?” Wulf asked.
“I’m going to see His Grace and then see Iylaine,” Egelric said.
“And Malcolm too?”
“If I can.”
“I want to go too,” Wulf whined.
“Not today, pup. It’s getting late, and it’s cold, and I’m in too much of a hurry for your dawdling.”
“But I want to see Malcolm!”
“You shall see plenty of Malcolm in a few days when we go to Nothelm for Christmas.”
“How many days?”
“Damn! What day is it today?”
“In six days,” Ethelwyn said. “Not quite a week.”
“Oh,” Wulf sighed.
“What about you, Wyn?” Egelric asked. “Can we convince you to come this year?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re especially invited, you know.”
“That is very kind of Her Grace, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Necessary! It’s not necessary for any of us to go. We go because it is more fun than shivering by ourselves in this lonely castle. And His Grace still has some of that ‘interesting’ cider.”
“All the more reason to stay home,” Wyn said. “I shan’t let you trick me twice that way.”
“We shall have to find another way to trick him, eh, pup?”
“We can tie his bootlaces together when he’s sitting down,” Wulf suggested.
“Is that what you’re doing to me down there?”
“No!” Wulf laughed. “I didn’t think in time.”
“But you had better come,” Egelric said to his steward. “Lili is nagging me to talk you into coming, and I would appreciate it if you would put a stop to it by telling her you will.”
“Will you array all the ladies against me?” Ethelwyn groaned.
“I think Bruni was wondering too…”
“That does it!”
“You mean you’ll come?”
“No, I mean… that does it!”
“Let me tell you a little secret, Wyn, though I fear it will only convince you that a wife is more trouble than she’s worth: Lili has her mind made up to marry you to her friend Ana, and the sooner you consent, the easier it will go for all of us.”
Ethelwyn was stunned. “I would do a great many unpleasant things for my lady, but not – that!”
“Now, I cannot allow you to call Angharat of Thorhold an ‘unpleasant thing’. But I’m warning you, Wyn. I recommend you come with us and get your dose of Ana now, at Christmastime, when there will be a great many other people and distractions. If you don’t, I am certain Lili means to invite her here, and then it will be all Ana, all the time.”
“Are you ‘warning’ me to help me or to help my lady?” Ethelwyn asked dubiously.
“I am trying to help myself,” Egelric sighed. “Once you agree to come with us, I shall have done my part, and I shall be allowed to sleep in peace. That’s enough jerking at my laces, pup,” Egelric said. “Hmm! Very approximatively done,” he said after inspecting his son’s handiwork.
“Does that mean it’s good?” Wulf asked.
“It means I am very proud of you. And, Wyn, how do you mean to have any of these unless you get married?” he asked as he hugged Wulf. “Who will tie your laces when you’re an old man with a bad back?”
“I shall hire a boy,” Wyn said.
“You can hire me!” Wulf offered eagerly. “If you’re paying with real money.”
“I shall pay my boot-lacing boy with his own weight in dried beans and peas, twice monthly.”
“Oh.”
“Is it not possible for my lady to procure herself a gentlewoman companion without hitching her to me first?” Ethelwyn grumbled.
“Second will be fine, too,” Egelric said, “or even third. But if I know my Lili, she’ll get you hitched before the last.”
But he has a massive chin on him, which reminds me why I have kept a full beard on Egelric all his life.
Chapters
Wulf is a cutie with his big brown eyes and little elf ears.