‘Where are you going?’ Owen demanded.
‘The precentor is in the hall,’ said Alisoun. ‘Dame Lucie thinks it safer that we come to the shop. Up above. To break our fast.’
‘Escort them,’ the captain told Jasper. ‘I will see to Master Adam.’
Alisoun touched the captain’s arm. ‘I sensed a watcher when we were at the midden. Hiding behind the wall.’
He glanced toward the end of the garden. Nodded. ‘Jasper saw one standing in the cemetery. Keep Dame Marian away from the windows.’
In the workshop, Marian stopped at one of the work tables, bending to smell the roots being cleaned, picking up a jar and sniffing the contents. ‘It is like Dame Justina’s corner in the infirmary.’
Jasper, who seemed unable to stop staring at Marian once she had pushed back her hood, stepped up to explain each item, going into detail about the ingredients, and which were from the garden. Embarrassed for him, Alisoun pushed past them and carried the basket of food and the jug of Magda’s honey water up to the guest room toward the front of the house, setting it all up on a small table. She had just stepped back into the workshop when a man’s voice called out from the shop, ‘Are you open?’
‘I must have forgotten to latch it,’ Jasper said softly. ‘Leave your boots down here and be as quiet as you can as you go up the steps.’
Alisoun drew Marian out of sight as Jasper stepped through the beaded curtain. ‘How might I help you?’
‘I need a salve for my horse. A new bit is chafing him.’
‘I have just the thing.’
The sound of Jasper moving the stool to climb to one of the higher shelves. Alisoun realized she was holding her breath. She reached for Marian as the woman began to wander and put a finger to her lips. Marian stood still.
‘Heard Captain Archer took in the minstrel’s lad,’ said a second voice. ‘Tossed a man off the minster roof, they say, then sang like an angel. A queer tale. True?’
‘I am an apprentice here in the apothecary. I know nothing of such things.’
‘Oh, but you’re Jasper de Melton, I think. The minstrel’s lover saved your life when you were just a slip of a boy, so they say.’
‘Be careful what you believe,’ said Jasper. ‘Here we are.’ A thud as he set the heavy jar down on the counter with more force than was his wont. He was angry. ‘A penny’s worth should be plenty.’
‘You’re a tight-lipped lad,’ said the first.
‘You will find that so for most of us in the city when strangers stick their noses where they don’t belong. You do have a penny?’
A muttered curse, the sound of a coin bouncing off the jar. And the door slammed shut.
Alisoun peered through the curtain. Jasper locked the door and hurried toward them. She stepped away just in time.
‘I heard.’ She touched his arm. ‘Who were they?’
‘Don’t know. I’ve not seen them before.’ He frowned. ‘You smile?’
‘You amazed me, Jasper de Melton.’ She kissed his cheek.
He grinned, pulled her close for a moment, kissing her back.
‘They are away,’ Marian called down.
‘Keep her from the window,’ said Jasper. ‘I need to tell the captain, describe their dress. Break your fasts up above – but do it in my bedchamber. It’s over this room not the shop. I must open the shop when I return.’ He kissed Alisoun’s hand. ‘Be safe,’ he whispered.
‘You, too.’ This odd life suited Jasper. And her.
After moving the table across the landing to the larger room, placing it near but not too near the window overlooking the garden, Alisoun and Marian eased down onto a bench, side by side, and stared out at the dreary winter drizzle for a moment.
‘You must be bursting with questions,’ said Alisoun.
It won her an unexpected smile as Marian turned toward her, straddling the bench.
‘That must have been easier in men’s clothing,’ Alisoun said.
A laugh. ‘I confess there were times I enjoyed it.’ Her smile transformed her face, her eyes dipping up at the corners, pale eyes twinkling, not unlike Magda’s. ‘But yes, I do have questions.’
‘While we break bread, I will tell you what I can.’
Marian nodded and bowed her head, whispering a prayer of thanks for the food. She glanced up at Alisoun’s Amen. ‘You are not a pagan, like your teacher.’
‘No.’ Alisoun helped herself to bread and cheese.
Marian poured some of Magda’s preparation into two bowls. Knowing what Magda had added, Alisoun set hers aside, wanting no unexpected bleeding while the captain and Dame Lucie needed her.
After a few bites of bread and cheese and more than a few sips of the honeyed water, Marian said, ‘I can tell that Jasper is worried I have brought trouble to your doorstep.’
‘Not you alone. Ambrose as well. But he knows that Captain Archer and Dame Lucie accepted the charge to hold you here.’
‘Jasper knows Master Ambrose.’
‘He knew his friend, who saved his life. I am not sure he knew Ambrose well.’
‘How did the monk know to bring me here? Master Ambrose meant to introduce me to the captain and Dame Lucie. Had he told the monk? Did he know I was in the chapter house?’
‘Ambrose had nothing to do with that. Brother Michaelo brought you here on the order of the precentor at the minster.’ She saw the woman’s doubt and could not blame her. ‘I can understand why you might wonder. But once you know more about this family you will see why both men had the same thought for your safety.’
‘And it is the precentor who is now at the house?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did he guess my sex?’
‘No. But Brother Michaelo did, and judged it best to follow the order though he knew we had been nursing the children. Your secret is safe with all in this household, and the monk.’
‘Bless you.’ Again, that radiant smile. She had a delicate beauty, the fair hair and ivory skin, the slender wrists. But her voice had a strong resonance, throaty, much like Gwen’s, a reminder
