Back to Chapter 44
It was agonizing for Laun. She did not want to be there. She saw the looks from the people she did not know and the expectations as they looked at Ithian, waiting.
The servants had cleared the first course of plain foods. It had been a time for people to talk, to get to know the people around them, if they didn’t already. Laun had wanted to make sure that there was that time at the beginning of the meal, since the rest was going to be all distraction.
Laun was between Ithian and Falmir. At times, both of her hands were being held lightly by them. She saw the glances down the table by Engrid, and by the mother of the noble daughters.
Laun really did not want to be there.
The goat that the farmer had sold them had been brining for two days. It had gone over the coals that morning. It was being carried into the tent by the two strongest men of the entertainers while two of the women contortionists rode on their shoulders. The time for pleasantries was over. Falmir lost the advantage over the meal when he had not forced Ithian to stand and ask for Laun’s hand witnessed by all assembled in the tent. Laun had kept a conversation going between the two men, but switching between them if she saw any way it could be turned to Ithian standing for the announcement.
Adelmar came in through the tent, bumbling and doddering his way through. He made a little speech welcoming all to the Hawkwell manor. Laun called out that she had already done that, to the twitters of the nobles around him. »Read More