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Not helpful at all, her tone complained.
Then she switched back to a seductive purr. “Have a think. Is there anything you might have left out?”
I made a show of thinking it over, then shrugged. “That’s all.”
“And what about Maid Marian?”
The question came out of nowhere, and I nearly jolted. A good thing Lady Thornton had paced behind me at that moment.
“What about her, m’lady?”
“I understand she’s a guest of the abbey.”
My lion growled inside. If this bitch has a spy in the abbey, I’ll kill him.
I played dumb, of course. “Is she? That would explain that fancy horse in the stable.”
“Is that where you work?”
I shook my head. “I work in the brewery and in the garden.”
And never, ever the library, my lion wanted to add, as if that would help.
A good thing my human side was being interrogated and not him.
“Ah, a man who works with his hands,” she hummed, running a hand over my back. Lower, lower…
I did my best not to flinch, or sigh in relief when her hand slipped away again. But that brought her face-to-face with me, and she stopped, much too close.
I stood perfectly still while Lady Thornton waited for her beauty and power to do their work. A realistic enough expectation, because she was beautiful — except for that pinched expression of hers — and potent, like poisonous mushrooms that lured you in by mimicking the edible kind.
Her dubious charms pinged off my imaginary armor like dull arrows, falling harmlessly to the ground. I focused on the mounted badger head behind her, taking its cue not to blink.
With a frown and an audible hmpf, Lady Thornton resumed her ominous walk.
“Back to Maid Marian…” she started.
“The most beautiful woman in the land,” I supplied. “Or so I hear.”
Her shoe scraped over the stone floor. “So I keep hearing, too,” she said bitterly.
Well, maybe don’t scowl as much, I wanted to say. And try to be nice.
“But is she cunning? Ambitious? Powerful?” Lady Thornton demanded.
Yes, yes, and yes, I decided, though the questions were rhetorical. Also, Marian’s ambitions were in a whole different category to this snake’s.
But I kept my answer to a neutral, “I suppose you’re a better judge than I.”
“Of course I am. But I am also in need of a second pair of eyes, and yours would be perfect.”
I went stiff. Perfect for what?
“Tell me everything you have seen or heard since her arrival in the abbey,” she demanded.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything — except the horse, if it is hers — and the only word I’ve heard of her visit is what you’ve just said. I’m sorry.”
“Think carefully, my dear lion,” Lady Thornton all but hissed in my ear. “Think about how useful you could be to me, and I to you.”
