A Mortal Bane(111)

“No! I would never deprive you. Anyway, it is not cost, it is time. I cannot get away to come here more often, and I do not only want to lie with you, although you have made me a man again when I thought that power was gone from me. Sabina, I need you where I can come and say a word to you and hear you answer me with the kindness that is part of you. Let me establish you above my workshop. You would have every comfort there—I swear it.”

[page]“I do not know,” Sabina said sadly. “It is true I do not like being a whore. If I sinned with one man alone, I would not be excommunicate, but I would have to leave Letice and Ella, whom I love. They are true sisters to me, which I never had. Oh, I do not know. I will talk to Magdalene and hear what she says.”

“I will pay to free you. Anything…almost anything.”

There was a brief delay; Magdalene guessed that Sabina had kissed her client. Then she heard Sabina say, “I am not a slave, or bonded, but I cannot decide. Try to be patient with me.”

He sighed. “I must go. I will be patient. There is no one like you, Sabina.”

When Magdalene heard the back door close, she came out into the corridor and drew Sabina into the kitchen. “Listen to what goes forward in the bathing room,” she murmured, “and tell me what you hear.”

Sabina’s ears were far keener than her own, and Magdalene went back to the common room so that the man would not find them all clustered together if he came out suddenly.

“Nothing unusual,” Sabina said softly when she, too, had come into the common room. “Perhaps Ella was not laughing as much as usual, but I heard her speak and she did not sound frightened nor was she crying.”

Magdalene sighed. To keep her hands busy, she had cut a section of deep crimson ribbon to the right length for the headband the mercer had ordered. In a low voice, she told Sabina about the visitor, her suspicions about him, and her anxiety because Dulcie had not returned with Bell. All the while, she used a decorative stitch to hem into place the blunt arrow formed by the turned-in corners of the ribbon, into which she had fixed another very narrow, matching ribbon for tying at the back of the head.

They had fallen into an uneasy silence until a door slammed open and the stranger’s voice said, “Enough, girl. Empty out the bath or whatever else you want to do. I need to talk to the mistress of the house.”

Sabina bit her lip. Magdalene stood up.

“That girl is an idiot!” the man exclaimed as he entered the room. He was wearing one of the bedgowns kept in the bathing room for guests and carrying his sword and clothing. He looked from Magdalene to Sabina. “I need someone to whom I can talk,” he said. “Is this one an idiot, too? Why is she closing her eyes?”

“Sabina’s eyes are closed because she is blind,” Magdalene said. “Ella is simple but not an idiot, and she has a great enthusiasm for her work. Most men like her very much.”

“Well, I do not. I paid for a whole night, and I will strangle that one if I must spend it with her. So this one is blind, is she? I’ll bet she has good ears. I’ll try this one.”

Magdalene drew breath to offer him his money back and invite him to leave. Before she could speak, Sabina shook her head and rose, putting out her hand. Her staff was not in its leather socket attached to the stool, however, she had left it in her chamber as she sometimes did when she did not intend to leave the house. Misunderstanding, the stranger seized her hand and yanked her toward him.

“Go and comfort Ella if she needs you,” Sabina told Magdalene, and then turned her head toward the man who was pulling at her. “I am ready, sir. About what would you like to talk?”