The Year of our Lord 1256…
“Sitting comfortably, art thou?” smirked Robert Fletcher. He bit into a tender piece of goose, letting the bone swing lazily from his fingers whilst he regarded his younger cousin, Maerwynn. She was grumbling under her breath, as she tried to get comfortable next to him at the high table, her bottom still throbbing from where his large hands had recently made contact.
“Serves thee right!” he stated, taking another bite of the succulent goose. “’Twas a fool’s errand thee ran, Maerwynn! Thou were lucky ‘twas I that found thee!”
“Lucky!” exclaimed Maerwynn, clearly vexed. “My derriere fails to agree with thee, Robert! Thou were ever the one to spoil my games!”
Robert laughed and slapped his thigh. “And thee were ever the one to get into trouble! Forsooth, cousin Maerwynn, when will thee learn to behave?”
Maerwynn kicked him sharply under the table and smirked when she witnessed the pain register on his face. “When thee lets me alone, cousin, and not afore!” she sneered, “I truly wonder what Elspeth sees in thee!” She scrutinised him from head to toe, thinking about her best friend, Elspeth, who wanted to marry him. “It cannot be thy good looks, as thou hath none, neither thy brain, as that seems to be addled. Mayhap, thou hath a big weapon in those britches of thine?”
Even though he was used to his cousin’s wicked ways, for once Robert looked genuinely shocked at her outburst. He dropped his goose bone and waggled his finger in her face. “By the rood, cousin, if we were anywhere but in the great hall, I would spank thee yet again! Those were no words for a lady to utter!”
She giggled and took a gulp of her watered-down wine. “Mayhap, I am no lady!”
Robert raised an eyebrow and shook his head, muttering under his breath. “Indeed!”
He watched her, as she chose some food from the platters laid out on the high table, marvelling at her beauty but at the same time worrying about her future. The sooner she was married, the better. At eighteen, she was ripe and ready for a husband; she needed taming and supervision. Her father, Lord Suffolk, was far too busy travelling between the court and his castle to keep an eye on her, and with her mother dead these last six years, Maerwynn was beginning to run wild. She was verging on the point of becoming too wayward to even attract a husband. A fact he had just had to spank her for.
Robert had caught her up on the parapet with a catapult, aimed with perfect precision on his younger brother, Gerwain, as he trained with the other knights in the lower bailey. Just as she had pulled the leather strap back, Robert had grabbed it out of her hands. He would have let her off with just a warning, but when she heatedly argued her point with him and tried to snatch it back, he had lost his patience. This was not a rare occurrence, either… in fact; suffice it to say that it was becoming a regular event.
Mayhap, the upcoming Yuletide Tourney would bring forth a husband for his winsome cousin. As long as she could behave during the week’s festivities, then perchance a wealthy knight would offer for her hand in marriage. He raised his goblet to hers, as she sat back down beside him and smiled.
Maerwynn frowned. “Wherefore dost thou smile so, cousin?”
“Is a man not allowed to smile?”
“Not thee, nay!” she snapped. “When thee smiles so, it bodes badly for someone, and as thou seems to be grinning at me, then I suppose I am the one who is going to befall bad fortune. Is that not so?”
“Nay, cousin, nay! Thou thinks too badly of me. I was merely smiling, as I thought of the upcoming Yuletide Tourney. ‘Twill be a grand occasion with plenty to eat and drink and make merry.” He downed the last of his wine and stood up, before delivering his final words, which he knew would vex her. “And, of course, cousin, there will be knights aplenty for thee to choose thy future husband!”
“Wherefore, thou…!”
She raised her hand to slap him, but he easily dodged her. “Uh-uh, cousin! Remember where thou art!” He looked around the great hall at the many faces and bowed mockingly to her. “Until the morrow, Maerwynn!”
Maerwynn chose not to reply, and instead cut into her bread viciously, wishing it was Robert she was ploughing her anger into. He was always saying something to vex her. She needed no husband and was happy just as she was, within the castle walls and doing just as she liked. Wherefore should she want to marry and submit to a man, see to his every need and desire, when she could be lady of this castle. No. Life was perfect just the way it was; she saw no reason to change