Chapter Fifteen
Dinner was already being served when CC and Andras entered the dining room. CC tried to ignore the frowning looks the monks shot her, but she felt a little like an errant Catholic schoolgirl who was being sent to the headmaster's office. Obviously, she was in trouble for missing communion.
CC struggled to keep her expression neutral as Abbot William stood and greeted Andras with effusive warmth, offering the knight his ring, which Andras kissed without hesitation. Although he ignored her, CC curtseyed respectfully to the priest before taking her seat.
A servant hustled over and filled her plate with a steaming lamb stew that made CC's mouth water. Another servant topped off her goblet with sweet white wine. CC drank deeply, enjoying the cool liquid.
"I noticed you refused to take Holy Communion, Princess Undine." The priest's voice was a whip.
CC furrowed her brow in confusion. "Refused? Why would I refuse Holy Communion, Abbot?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry you misunderstand. I discovered a beautiful statue of the Holy Mother, and I was simply overcome with emotion when I noticed its state of disrepair." CC met his cold gaze evenly, and she made sure her voice carried.
"I know how busy you must be, Abbot, so I am sure you had no idea that the Mother of God was being neglected."
The priest's face darkened, and his jaw clenched.
CC squeezed Andras's arm and smiled up at him. "I knew the abbot didn't realize the awful state of that statue."
"It was indeed fortuitous that you noticed it," Andras said.
CC brightened her face and laughed girlishly. "I have an idea! I will take special charge of the Blessed Mother's statue. While I'm here, it will be lovingly tended and restored to its original glory."
When Abbot William started to speak, her brilliant smile silenced him.
"There is no need to thank me." She beamed. Then CC deliberately mimicked the words he'd spoken to her the day before. "For this I seek a reward that cannot be found in this world."
The priest's eyes narrowed, but his lips smiled. "Of course, Princess. That is very"—he hesitated as if choosing his words carefully—"generous of you."
"I have noticed that there aren't many women here, so I suppose it's not surprising that the Holy Mother has been accidentally neglected." She looked at Andras and widened her eyes. "Maybe that's my purpose in coming here. Maybe the Holy Mother guided me to this shore, not just to save me, but to save her statue." And, she added silently, maybe if the knight believed she had been specially blessed by the Virgin, he would be less inclined to seduction and more inclined to respect.
Andras looked impressed. "Yes, Undine. I am quite certain the Holy Mother is watching over you."
The priest's voice sliced across the table. "It is good for a person to know one's purpose."
CC studied him over her goblet. "I agree completely with you, Abbot William."
The look the priest sent her was clearly adversarial. She met it with a forced smile.
"Father, I have been considering the move that lead to my checkmate last evening…" Andras began, oblivious to the tension between his old teacher and the woman at his side.
As the abbot's attention shifted from her, CC suppressed a sigh of relief and concentrated on her second helping of stew. She needed food to ground her and to stop her head from reeling. So many things had happened in such a short amount of time. Despite the confidence Gaea showed in her, she felt a little like the Dutch boy who'd tried to stop the leak in the dike with his finger. And her medieval dike was feeling very, very leaky. Little wonder she was overwhelmed. She'd traveled a thousand years into a mythical past, exchanged bodies with a sea creature, met a goddess, kissed a merman… CC's stomach butter-flied at the thought and she had to remind herself to chew.
Now she had to deal with the obvious hatred of a powerful abbot and the amorous attentions of an incredibly handsome, macho knight. And, of course, there was Sarpe-don. CC thought about the goddess's words that day in the garden and again scolded herself that she hadn't thought to mention Sarpedon's manifestation earlier in their conversation. But she had received her answer in the chapel. Sarpe-don couldn't possess her as long as she was under Gaea's protection. With one hand she absently fingered the amber amulet. She must be careful to stay near land, even when she reverted to her mermaid body, no matter how alluringly the sea called.
Her quiet contemplation was broken by the noisy clanging of boots against the floor of the dining hall. CC looked up to see one of Andras's men quickly approaching their table. He stopped and bowed sharply to the knight.
"Forgive me for interrupting you, Sir Andras."
"Gilbert, have you news of Princess Undine's family?" Andras asked.
CC held her breath.
"No, Sir Andras." The squire glanced around the room and lowered his voice, obviously reluctant to speak further. "I do have a message for you from the mainland."
Andras looked apologetically at Abbot William and CC.
"I regret I must ask you to excuse me."
"Of course, my son, we would not think of keeping you from your rightful duties." The abbot fluttered his fingers in the direction of the exit.
"I should not be long detained." Andras stood and bowed to them. He and the squire hurried from the room.
The knight's absence left a definite hole in the conversation, which the abbot filled with chilly indifference. Except for an occasional disdainful glance, he pretended CC didn't exist.
CC kept her eyes averted from him and tried to focus on finishing the delicious mutton stew. She wouldn't allow him the pleasure of seeing her bolt through her meal and rush from the room like a terrified child. She remembered his reaction to her fear when she had seen the specter of Sarpedon. Fear fed the priest.
She chewed slowly and sipped her wine. She had been in difficult situations before. Like the time she was a young two-striper and the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Comm Center had come down with a violent stomach flu, thirty minutes before he was to give an instructional briefing on changing procedures for their newly installed computer system. Between dry heaves he had ordered CC to give the briefing. Two hundred people had filled the base briefing room that day, and she was pretty sure that one hundred and ninety-seven of them had outranked her. She'd done fine. No, she'd done better than fine; she'd been awarded a commendation for her ability to perform under pressure.
She wasn't a shrinking flower easily intimidated by powerful men. She wouldn't let him see her fear. No, as before, she'd do better than that. She wouldn't let one mean-spirited priest intimidate her. Gaea had told her that he should be pitied, and it was ridiculous to be intimidated by someone she should feel sorry for.
Eventually her stew bowl was empty and her stomach was pleasantly full, and CC couldn't stifle a yawn. This time when she felt the priest's censoring gaze she met it.
"I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me, Abbot William. The day has exhausted me, and I'm afraid I won't be able to wait for Sir Andras to return. Could you please give him my apology and tell Isabel that there is no need for her to come to me until morning? I know how busy she is."
If CC could run a complex military communications system, she could certainly figure out how to untie the lacings of her dress herself, and she really didn't want to keep appearing to Isabel as selfish and bothersome.
"It is understandable that you are fatigued. Women were made as weaker vessels." His voice was laced with undisguised hostility, and his smile was a patronizing facade. "I will await the knight. I can assure you that he will not be concerned with your absence. He does so enjoy our chess matches."
Good lord, he made it sound like the two of them were rivals.
"I'm glad he does. I hope you two have a nice evening," CC said with as genuine a smile as she could force on her tired lips. "Good night, and, again, thank you for your hospitality." CC curtseyed and hurried from the room, aware that the priest's reptilian gaze followed her unblinkingly.
She paused under the arched exit. It was late evening, and high, winglike clouds obscured the fading light, casting the little courtyard that separated the dining hall and her wing of the monastery into shadowed darkness. CC stepped onto the soft grass and rolled her shoulders, determined to relax now that she was away from the priest's oppressive presence. She inhaled deeply the cool, moist air. It smelled like rain. The thought of water, even if it just came from the sky, lightened her spirits. She yawned and stretched, wishing she had a book she could curl up with for a little while before falling asleep.
She was halfway across the courtyard when a noise startled her. It was the deep sound of a man's chuckle, but it held no humor. Instead it vibrated with sarcasm. CC stopped. Blinking, she peered through the darkness, unable to distinguish between shadows and shapes.
"Undine."
"Is that you, Andras?"
One of the shadows moved and became a man. He was standing near the well. As he spoke, he walked towards her.
"Did you think you could hide from me?" His voice had an unnaturally hollow sound, as if he were speaking to her from a great distance instead of mere feet.
Something was very wrong. Fear curled taut in her chest, and she had trouble breathing.
"Why would I hide from you?" She tried to keep her voice calm and matter-of-fact. "I just asked Father William to make my apologies to you. I'm afraid he was right about me doing too much too soon. I am very tired."