Prologue
1392
England
“Isaw her, Mother!”Eve Chandos stared up at her mother through wide eyes.
The Great Hall was crowded with visiting nobles and knights for the Yule celebration. Rich velvet skirts and polished black boots encircled Eve as she stood at her mother’s feet. At five summers, she barely reached her mother’s waist. Conversation rose and fell, echoing through the large room.
Eve put her small hands around her mother’s legs, trying desperately to get her attention.
Her mother ignored her, speaking to another lord that Eve did not know and immediately dismissed as unimportant. She tugged on her mother’s red silk skirt. When her mother patted her head of rebellious curls without even glancing at her, Eve knew she would never get her mother’s attention. She pulled her hands from around her and stepped back.
She looked up at all the people around her. They looked like giants from her five-summer perspective. How would she ever be able to get her mother’s attention? Plus, her father had warned her to be good. That these people were important.
Eve stuck out her lower lip. She met the eyes of one of the boys standing beside the adults. His boots were polished, his breeches and tightly tailored green tunic with golden embroidery. His blue gaze was locked on her sympathetically.
Eve was not used to having her attentions fall on deaf ears. She turned and scanned the room. She couldn’t see anything but long, colorful skirts and breeches. Her mother and father had thrown a great gathering in honor of the Christ Mass and Yuletide.
But they wouldn’t listen to her! She saw the angel! The angel that was the bright star over the baby Jesus’s manager. And no one would listen to her!
She moved through the room, expertly maneuvering through the Great Hall and the gathered people. She had seen the angel! And she wanted to be close to her, she wanted to see a real angel. She exploded out of the confining room and into the empty corridor to find her twin sister, Eden, waiting for her at exactly the spot she told her to wait. She took her hand. “Mother said we could go.”
“Really?”
Eve nodded. She grasped Eden’s hand. “Oh, Eden! She was beautiful! Her dress was white and all sparkly. And she had long hair.” She lifted her hand as high as she could. “She was way above the pond, flying!”
“Are you sure it was an angel?” Eden asked.
Eve nodded. She was sure. More than sure. “We have to hurry.” She led Eden to the large double doors of the keep. She stared up at the great wooden doors, frowning. She would never be able to pull them open. They were too big and too heavy. But the kitchen door was not!
She reentered the Great Hall, swerving and ducking through the throng of guests, pulling her sister after her. Eve’s tiny feet crunched on the rushes covering the floor as she raced through the room. When she reached the kitchens, a wave of hot air blasted her face from the large hearth where dinner was being prepared, but that didn’t stop her. She had to sidestep many of the busy servants as they carried drinks and food into the Great Hall. They didn’t even notice her.
She stopped behind the cook, hoping for a hand out of honey-sweetened tart. But the man was too busy to acknowledge her.
Stomping her foot and clenching her fist, Eve continued toward the kitchen door. She reached for the handle when one of the servants grabbed her wrist.
“Where are ya goin’ love?”
Eve looked up to see Maria, the cook’s aid, staring down at her with kind brown eyes. Her dark hair was tied back with a scarf around her head. Eve was happy someone had finally paid attention to her. She looked back at Eden, clutching her sister’s hand, then back to Maria. “We’re going to see the angel.”
“The angel, hmm?” Maria guided them a step back into the kitchen with a hand on their backs. “Can’t wait until Mass?”
Eve noticed the empty basket under Maria’s arm and realized she was going into the inner ward for supplies.
Maria turned and opened the door. She held it open for Eve and Eden. “Be quick about it. Neither of ya have a cloak. Yer father would flail you.”
Eve grabbed Eden’s hand and dashed out into the night, ducking beneath Maria’s arm.
“Don’t be out long!” Maria warned.
Eve and Eden raced through the snow of the inner ward toward the outer ward, giggling. Eve lifted her face to the sky. It was snowing!
Gabriel Bedford stood on a small balcony and stared out over the moonlit castle wall at the valley before the castle. It was cold, and the snow was falling heavy. He liked the way the big flakes looked against the night sky. Plus, he could breathe, and his breath came out in a white puff like a dragon’s breath.
It was better than being inside and having the lords and ladies say again and again, “I remember when you were this big!”
He was eleven summers! That was almost a man! Gabriel sighed. His breath escaped in a white cloud. In the distance, in the valley over the castle wall beyond the moat, he saw a line extending across the pristine snow. An animal, he thought. Maybe a fox. It had marred the pure snow with its track, dividing the castle and the forest.
