Twenty-One

 

In the cellar, she sat down on a cask and laughed silently until tears streamed down her cheeks. So much for the brave and bold knights from her mother's stories – or even the show he'd put on for her that first morning. Perhaps she should not have kept him unconscious for two days, for she dearly needed a laugh.

Then again, if she'd let him wake earlier, he'd have been in a lot more pain. She'd used a fair bit of magic to heal him while he'd slept – magic the man did not believe in.

And strangest of all...he was the first man she'd ever met who wasn't eager to have a girl handle his man parts.

So much for spending Midwinter with the man. He'd probably shrink right up like a snail at the very thought.

Impulsively, she called out, "Are you finished, Sir Knight, or will you need a hand from me in finishing off?"

"I'm fine – fine! Just a moment!" he shouted back, in a fair panic.

She headed deeper into the cellar, to where her grandmother had kept the casks of medicinal mead, stronger than the usual stuff, and infused with healing herbs. Making more would take months, so she would have to be careful not to run out, but this would dull his pain better than the sleeping potions she'd given him before.

She wouldn't mind a cup of mulled mead herself, come to think of it. There were plenty of ordinary barrels she might tap. The knight would not mind a few minutes more to himself, either, she'd wager.

When she finally climbed the stairs, the knight said, "You sure took your time. I said I was finished a while ago."

Rosa shrugged. "I didn't hear you." She set the jugs on the table.

"I shouted loud enough for them to hear me in the village. Gods, what did you do to me? This hurts! I'd give my kingdom for some wine to dull the pain."

She poured him a cup of the medicinal. "Try this. Then you'll owe me your kingdom, Your Majesty."

He didn't take the cup. "I have no kingdom. Not even a horse, now. What sort of knight does that make me?"

"One who's going to drink his medicine so I don't have to listen to you complain." Rosa thrust the cup at him, then folded her arms across her chest until he'd drained it. "There. That'll knit your bones a little more, if the magic's still as potent as I remember. Maybe your ribs will heal by the end of the day."

The knight choked. "That's not possible!"

"With magic, almost anything is possible. For a price." A blood price, usually, though she did not tell him that. This wouldn't be the first time she'd spilled blood for a stranger, nor would it be the last.

His eyes narrowed. "You sound wise for someone who looks so young. How old are you?"

Centuries, she wanted to tell him, but suddenly she didn't want to play with him any more. "I've seen twenty-two summers, but magic brings its own knowledge with it, wisdom from ages past. And witches learn young that power must be controlled, or there will be consequences."

"You're younger than me. Younger even than Maja was when..." The knight closed his mouth abruptly.

"Was Maja your princess?" Rosa asked.

The knight snorted. "Maja was my sister. She died in childbirth."

"I'm sorry," Rosa said automatically, then added, "Did the child die with her?"

"No, the boy lives. In a royal court, ward to the queen, no less. My brother in law could not have done better for his son." The knight shook his head.

To mention royalty so casually, this knight must be highborn indeed. Ever so much higher than the Baron's family. And he hadn't said that his sister wasn't a princess – perhaps she'd married a prince, for her child to join the royal nursery. What must he think of her, and this cottage? Why, the man must be used to castles and golden plates. No wonder he hadn't wanted to take her clay cup.

She was lower than the servants who'd brought him breakfast in the morning. Speaking of which...

"I should do something with those eggs. Are you hungry, Sir Knight?"

"Chase," he said.

She mustn't have heard right.

"My name is Sir Chase. Call me Chase," he explained.

Rosa nodded. He surely understood proper protocol better than she ever could. "Breakfast, Sir Chase?"

"Yes! I feel like I haven't eaten for days. Why, I could eat a whole horse."

Did she dare mention his horse?

His face fell before she'd opened her mouth. He remembered, then.

"Just Chase. I'm hardly a knight at all without a horse. How the mighty have fallen." He shook his head. "Mistress Rosa, grateful though I am for your care and hospitality, I cannot repay you. The horse and what was in her saddlebags were all I owned in this world. Perhaps you should have left me to the wolves."

She recognised the despair in his tone. Her spirits had sunk that low at times, too.

"If you wish to offer payment, I'm sure you'll think of something suitable. I have helped far poorer patients than you, and they manage to find a way to show their gratitude. As for your horse...it seems to me the Baron owes you one, seeing as you lost yours in his service. Things are not so dark as they seem, Sir Chase. Your horse did not survive, but your saddlebags did. Your belongings are over by the window, and when you are well enough to leave your bed, you may have them back."

He half rose. "My cup? You have my cup?"

She rummaged through the bags until she found a metal cup. But when she drew it out, it glinted like it was made of gold.

Not just golden plates. Golden cups, too. This man was no ordinary knight.

"Thank you, Mistress Rosa. You don't know how much this means to me. It is all I have left of home, to remind me of them." His eyes turned pleading. "Can you stow it safely away again? I don't want it damaged."

She did as he bade her, wrapping it in the blanket that had covered it before.

She busied herself with breakfast, but bread and eggs were nowhere near enough to stop her mind from wondering what sort of man the gods had brought into her home.

Oh, he'd not harm her, she'd make sure of that, but whatever could bring a highborn knight, uncle to a prince, if he was to be believed, to hunt wolves in her woods, must be a curious tale indeed. A tale that he would tell her, she resolved, before the winter was over.

The least he could do after she saved his life.