Medieval 01 - Untamed

green silk faded. Turning away from her handmaiden, Meg removed the mantle, set it aside, and began untying the ribbons on the silk undergarments Dominic had given to her along with the slippers embroidered in gold thread.
    Eadith tested the heat of the water in the tub, found it satisfactory, and turned to help Meg.
    â€œSuch delicate cloth,” Eadith said as she removed the top. “And such pretty designs, like the priest’s Bible.”
    Meg said nothing. The thought of Dominic giving gifts to Marie made Meg both uneasy and angry.
    â€¦ I will go to his bed for as long as he wants me. He is master in this keep, not I. Nor are you, my lady. No woman is .
    With a sideways glance at her unhappy mistress, Eadith went about laying out the soap and perfume, unguents and creams that were part of Meg’s Glendruid ritual. Privately Eadith thought it all a great waste of time. On the other hand, Dominic’s knights had shown a pronounced preference for the Saracen-raised woman, and she bathed almost as often as Meg. Perhaps there was more to the matter than Glendruid fetish and heathen Saracen ways.
    Golden bells sang sweetly as Eadith twisted Meg’s braids into a crown on top of her head and secured the hair with combs of emerald and gold—more of Dominic’s presents.
    â€œSuch lovely combs,” Eadith said.
    â€œYes,” Meg said, but there was little pleasure in her voice.
    â€œThey look pretty against your hair.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œThomas gave me some silver combs. He said they suited my hair.”
    â€œDo you care for Thomas?” Meg asked. “You talk of him often the past week.”
    Eadith shrugged. “He is kind enough for all his size.”
    â€œShould I ask Dominic to offer a marriage?”
    â€œNay,” Eadith said. “Thomas hasn’t enough wealth to keep two squires, much less a wife. Unless Dominic is going to give his knights estates…?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWell, I doubt it,” Eadith said, sliding in another glittering comb. “Even when his other knights arrive, he’ll have few enough men to defend the keep and manors as it is. If the knights are off defending their own land they won’t be able to defend his.”
    â€œTrue enough.”
    Eadith slid in a final comb. “Do you know when the knights will be coming? The steward is in a knot over the amount the men eat as it is.”
    Meg grimaced. The steward complained of the quickly vanishing stores to her every time he saw her.
    â€œGwyn said there was much talk in the south of the sea’s wildness,” Meg said. “Perhaps the knights are still in Normandy awaiting passage across.”
    â€œAt least a fortnight, then.” Eadith stepped back. “Into the bath with you.”
    Meg took off the golden slippers, handed them to Eadith, and got into the steaming, herb-scented water. With a sigh of pleasure, she immersed herself up to her chin, stilling the musical cries of the bells except for those remaining in her hair.
    â€œâ€™Tis a wonder Glendruids don’t have scales and fins,” Eadith said, watching Meg give herself to the water.
    Laughing, Meg moved her hands to make the water swirl.
    â€œDo you need aught else?” Eadith asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI’ll leave you to your chanting, then.”
    Meg’s mouth curved with amusement at Eadith’s stolid disapproval of Glendruid ways.
    â€œIf I’m not back when you need me,” Eadith said, “raise a cry. Your two-legged hound is just down the hall. He’ll fetch me.”
    The reminder that Dominic’s squire was always a short distance away made Meg’s mouth flatten. The “small falcon” had been released from the mews, but was hardly free. When Dominic wasn’t with her, Jameson was always within calling distance.
    Does my husband really distrust me so much?
    The answer was as immediate as it was inevitable.
    Aye. Why else hasn’t he made me his wife in truth as well as in name? His body certainly is capable. But until my monthly flux passes, he won’t trust that whatever grows in my womb is his .
    Only love would have that kind of trust, and he loves me not .
    Slowly Meg’s unhappy thoughts dissolved in the soothing heat and fragrance of the water. She closed her eyes, inhaled the complex, scented herbal steam rising from the water, and began softly chanting the ancient ritual