Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

leeching and all those other things Lady Alice tries to teach you.”
    I got to my feet, dusting the dirt off my knees and hands, looking down my nose at the smaller man, doing my best to intimidate him even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good—Ulric had known me since I was a wee babe puling in her swaddling clothes. “And what business is it of yours, good sir?”
    He grinned, his teeth black and broken. “You can come over the lady right enough, when you like. Now, what I’m wanting to know is whether you have your mother’s leave to be here in the garden, or if you’re supposed to be up learning the proper way to be a lady.”
    I kicked at a molehill. “I was excused . . . to use the privy. You know how bad they are—I needed fresh air to recover from the experience.”
    “You’ve had enough, judging by the weeding you’ve done. Get yourself back to the solar with the other women before your mother has my hide for letting you stay out here.”
    “I . . . er . . . can’t.”
    “And why can’t you?” he asked, obviously suspicious.
    I cleared my throat and tried to adopt an expression that did not contain one morsel of guilt. “There was an . . . incident.”
    “Oh, aye?” The expression of suspicion deepened. “What sort of an incident?”
    “Nothing serious. Nothing of importance.” I plucked a dead leaf from a rosebush. “Nothing of my doing, which you quite obviously believe, a fact that I find most insulting.”
    “What sort of an incident?” he repeated, ignoring my protests of innocence and outrage.
    I threw away the dried leaf and sighed. “It’s Lady Susan.”
    “What have you done to your mother’s cousin now?”
    “Nothing! I just happened to make up some spiderwort tea, and mayhap I did leave it in the solar next to her chair, along with a mug and a small pot of honey, but how was I to know she’d drink all of it? Besides, I thought everyone knew that spiderwort root tea unplugs your bowels something fierce.”
    Ulric stared at me as if it were my bowels that had run free and wild before him.
    “Her screams from the privy were so loud, Mother said I might be excused for a bit while she sought one of Papa’s guards to break down the privy door, because her ladies were worried that Lady Susan had fallen in and was stuck in the chute.”
    The look turned to one of unadulterated horror.
    “I just hope she looks on the positive side of the whole experience,” I added, tamping down the molehill with the toe of my shoe.
    “God’s blood, you’re an unnatural child. What positive side is there to spewing out your guts while stuck in the privy?”
    I gave him a lofty look. “Lady Susan always had horrible wind. It was worse than the smell from the jakes! The spiderwort tea should clear her out. By rights, she should thank me.”
    Ulric cast his gaze skyward and muttered something under his breath.
    “Besides, I can’t go inside now. Mother said for me to stay out of her way because she is too busy getting ready for whoever it is who’s visiting Father.”
    That wasn’t entirely true—my mother had actually snapped at me to get out from underfoot and do something helpful other than offer suggestions on how to break down the privy door, and what could be more helpful than tending the garden? The whole keep was gearing up for a visit from some important guest, and I would not want the garden to shame her.
    “Get ye gone,” Ulric said, shooing me out of the garden. “Else I’ll tell your mother how you’ve spent the last few hours rather than tending to your proper chores. If you’re a good lass, perhaps I’ll help you with those roses later.”
    I smiled, feeling as artless as a girl of seventeen could feel, and dashed out of the haven that was the garden and along the dark overhang that led into the upper bailey. It was a glorious almost-summer morning, and my father’s serfs were going about their daily tasks with less complaint than was normal. I stopped by the stable to check on the latest batch of kittens, picking out a pretty black-and-white one that I would beg my mother to let me keep, and was just on the way to the kitchen to see if I couldn’t wheedle some bread and cheese from the cooks when the dull thud of several horses’ hooves caught my attention.
    I stood in the kitchen door and watched as a group of four men rode into the bailey, all armed for battle.
    “Ysolde! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you up in the solar tending to Lady