Page 85 of A Most Forgettable Girl

“You did not seem terribly friendly toward him last night at supper. It was not just I that noticed it.”

Gunnilde was startled. “Really? I had no idea that I might seem unfriendly!”

Hal cleared his throat, “Well...” he said feebly.

“I have been nothing but polite to Sir Ned!”

“Icily polite.”

“We are not on such terms that I should be warmer,” she responded coolly.

“But you’re nice to everyone,” Hal pointed out. “So, it looks most particular when you’re so cool with him.” He took a deep breath. “Is there anything that I should know about? Only, Kit thought I should ask you in case he has ever overstepped or done aught amiss.”

“Nothing of the kind!” she protested, turning bright red. Unfortunately, she could see her reaction had stoked rather than quieted Hal’s vague suspicions.

“Because if he has ever acted in any way untoward, then I should know about it,” Hal said direly.

“It is just...I happened one time to overhear some less-than-complimentary remarks he made about me,” Gunnilde confessed.

“Remarks?” Hal paused, his eye kindling. “What kind of remarks?”

Gunnilde was alarmed to see his reaction. She did not want Hal brawling with a fully grown knight! “Oh, it was naught, really,” she assured him. “Merely Sir Ned felt that Eden was deliberately throwing me into his path at Vawdrey Keep and he found it a little wearing.”

“Oh.” Hal paused. “And was she?”

Gunnilde felt her face get hot. “Yes, perhaps,” she admitted in a small voice.

“Ah.” Hal relaxed. “I suppose I can hardly take exception in that case.”

“No indeed,” she agreed faintly, avoiding his eye.

“It’s only because I am currently acting as his squire that I speak to you about this, Gunnilde,” he said. “Otherwise, I would not care if you consigned the fellow to the pits of hell.”

Gunnilde pondered this and saw her brother’s point. “I did not mean to make things awkward for you, Hal,” she said truthfully. “I will...try and be more civil to Sir Ned.”

“Lord, don’t do that!” Hal begged. “You’re already terrifyingly civil. Instead, why don’t you aim to be a little easier in his company.”

Gunnilde fought down her instinctive response. “Very well, brother,” she said instead.

“There’s a good girl.” Hal clapped her on the back. “I’ll leave you now,” he said, for they had reached the Queen’s apartments.

28

No sooner had Gunnilde entered the Queen’s chambers than she was accosted by Viscount Bardulf.

“Ah, Lady Wycliffe. Thank the gods. I was preparing for unmitigated boredom for the next hour. Come and sit with me.”

He was dressed today in a bright green tunic trimmed with gray fur. Gunnilde especially admired his dark orange hose, and a very flashy gold chain he wore from shoulder to shoulder all set with large green stones. They surely could not be emeralds, could they? She sank down onto the cushioned bench next to him.

“Now, tell me what you have been about,” he said, propping himself on one elbow. “For it is very dull here this morning. The Queen is yet to make an appearance.” He shot her a sideways glance. “These days if she is not sequestered with the King in his apartments then she is shut away with The Bartree. It is too bad, really, none of her other ladies are given the opportunity to distinguish themselves. No doubt she will emerge when she is ready.”

“Yes,” Gunnilde agreed wistfully. “There was some mention of my being made a woman of the bedchamber when I first became one of her ladies-in-waiting, but I have not dared to try and muscle my way in there for fear Mistress Magnatrude would surely give me short shrift indeed.”

“You should try,” he told her promptly. “Just march in there and start folding the Queen’s stockings. What, pray, could Mistress Bartree do about it?”

“March me right back out again with my earlobe pinched between finger and thumb,” Gunnilde responded promptly.

He laughed. “You could be right. But really, faint heart never won fair maiden. Speaking of which, how goes your wooing? Apace I hope.”