coming, but she will be there before midmonth. He may prepare for the marriage ceremony then,
'I know,' he responded wearily.
She chuckled. 'I shall make a list of my demands, none of which are negotiable, brother.'
He nodded. 'Whatever you want, Gwyn,' he said.
The abbess turned again to her niece. 'Your first lesson, my child, is in how to address me. When I speak to you, you will conclude your answer with the words
'Aye, my lady abbess' came the reply.
The nun smiled. 'Excellent!'
I like her, Rhonwyn thought to herself. She understands me as no one ever has understood me.
The abbess reached out, picked up a small bell on the table and rang it. Almost immediately another woman, dressed in the same fashion, entered the room.
'Yes, my lady abbess?'
'This is my niece, Sister Catrin. She will be staying with us for the next few months, preparing for her marriage to the lord of Haven Castle. She is a true innocent, raised in an isolated place by a group of pagans. Give her a chamber in the guest house. Rhonwyn, you will stay there until I send for you. Bid your father farewell now, my child.
Rhonwyn turned to the prince and bowed politely. 'My lord.'
'I shall return for you in the spring,' he said.
Rhonwyn laughed wickedly.
The abbess's lips twitched with amusement as she saw the color flood her brother's face.
'This is different, Rhonwyn,' he told her through gritted teeth. 'This is a matter of my honor.'
Rhonwyn nodded her head slightly in acknowledgment, and then followed Sister Catrin from the abbess's receiving chamber.
'She has your temper,' Gwynllian remarked, amused.
'I hope you will find it as humorous when you must deal with her,' he shot back. 'Now write your damned list of demands, sister.'
'On reflection I realize it is not necessary to write a list. I can tell you exactly what I want. First, you will pay the expenses for your daughter's schooling. We are not a rich house. You will go to Hereford and purchase a generous supply of fine materials so we may garb her properly for her marriage and subsequent life. You will take a pattern of her feet and have proper shoes made for her. You will purchase veils, gloves, a good jeweled girdle, as well as some small but fine pieces of jewelry. She is your daughter, Llywelyn, and if you are the prince of Wales, then the lady Rhonwyn is a noblewoman of the first ranking.
'And while you are in Hereford, you will go to the Convent of Saint Mary, on the east side of the town. They are a very small house and always in great financial distress, I am informed. They possess a saint's relic that 1 want, brother, for this abbey. It is a fingernail paring from St. Cuthbert himself and is kept in a bejeweled golden box on the altar in their church. Pay what you must,
'You want me to go into England and negotiate for a saint's relic with a nun? Before or after I purchase lovely fabrics, fine pieces of jewelry, and the other geegaws you desire for my daughter?' he snapped. 'Name your price, Gwynllian, and I will pay it, but I will not go myself! I have much work to do keeping the peace.'
'You will have no peace, brother, if you do not deliver your daughter to be wed to the Englishman; and you cannot bring her to them as she is. They would refuse her, and say you had insulted them and compromised the treaty. We are not so isolated here that I do not know Prince Edward will prove a dangerous enemy to you once he is king. I told you there would be no negotiation between us in this matter. Rhonwyn may remain here while you go and bargain for my relic, O prince of Wales. When you return with it, I will begin her tutelage, but not a moment before then.' She drew herself up to her full height and stared directly at him. 'The longer you delay, Llywelyn, the less time I have to turn this mutton you have brought me into a sweet little lambkin.'
'You are the damnedest woman,' he complained to her. 'You always were impossible, Gwyn, and I suspect that Rhonwyn is just like you.' He laughed. 'Very well, I will go myself and dicker for your saint's discarded fingernail. If necessary,' he told her darkly, 'I will steal it, but you shall have it, sister, and then you must keep your part of our bargain.'
'Do not steal it, Llywelyn,' she warned him sternly. 'If you do, I cannot display it. I am not capricious in my desire for this relic. I would draw pilgrims to Mercy Abbey to ask the saint's blessing. Such a relic will prove profitable to us.'
'It did not to St. Mary's in Hereford,' he remarked.
'That is because they could claim no great miracles of it,' the abbess replied with a small smile. 'I am certain the saint's fingernail paring will be more content with us and work to the glory of God and Mercy Abbey, brother. In fact, I sense it in my heart.'
He laughed roughly. 'You are a devious woman, Gwynllian, and I thank God you were not born a man. Owain, Daffydd, and Rho-dri, our brothers, were easy opponents, but you, sister, would have been stronger than all three of them. I am not surprised you are abbess here.'
She smiled archly at him. 'Always remember, Llywelyn, that I am your equal. Our brothers were not.'
'Are these all your demands?' he asked.
'I will also want a virile young ram, twenty ewe sheep, and a bag with a donation of ten gold coins. I will take either bezants, ducats, or florins, but their weight must be true. Make certain none of the coins has been clipped. These are all my requirements,' she finished. Her dark eyes were dancing with pleasure at his look.
'You will beggar me, sister! The sheep I can obtain, but where the hell am I going to get so much gold for you? It is too much!'
'No negotiation, Llywelyn,' she reminded him.
He swore a particularly vile oath, and the abbess laughed as he glared at her.
'1 haven't heard those words in many years, brother,' she mocked him. 'I had almost forgotten they existed.'
'My daughter had better be able to compete with any princess alive when this is over and done with, sister,' he warned her.
'She will,' the abbess promised. Then she softened a bit. 'It is already dark, brother. May I offer you and your men shelter for the night?'
'Nay,' he snapped. 'If I stay a moment longer with you I may be tempted to kill you, Gwynllian. There is a moon. We'll ride on. I said my farewell to Rhonwyn, and now I bid you adieu.' He bowed briefly, and then stamped from the receiving chamber.
The abbess smiled softly as the door closed behind her brother. His brief visit had proved highly fortuitous for the abbey. He would do all she had asked him because he needed Rhonwyn for a treaty bride. Then Gwynllian grew more thoughtful. It was an enormous task she had been set, and she had to complete it successfully. Then suddenly she realized her brother had not taken Rhonwyn's foot pattern. Ringing for a nun, she sent the woman quickly after her brother so he could complete the task and get her niece decent shoes in Hereford.
She glided from her receiving room and across the abbey quadrangle to the guest house. There she found Sister Catrin seated with Rhonwyn. She dismissed the nun and joined the girl by the brazier.
'Well, he's gone. I've exacted a very high price from him for my help. You are going to have to work very hard, my child.' She chuckled. 'I could always get the better of your father and our other brothers. You know none of them, do you?'
'Nay, my lady abbess. At Cythraul, Morgan told me that the prince had overthrown and imprisoned his elder brother, Owain, and his younger brother, Daffydd. The youngest brother, Rhodri, is not an ambitious man, it was said. He sounds like my brother, Glynn.'
'If Wales is to be united, there can be but one ruler,' the abbess answered her niece. 'Your father finds it hard bowing his knee to any, even almighty God. He only knelt to the English because by doing so he obtained what he
