The Traitor's Daughter by April Munday Page B

talk as they ate. Hugh was
aware of the servants staring at Alais. However well-trained they were, they
knew it was a sin for a woman to dress as a man and they were scandalised. It
could not be worse if she were sitting there naked. Hugh quickly put that
though away. It would not do to dwell on something like that. He did not want
to make Alais feel any more uncomfortable, so he said nothing to the servants,
but resolved to do something on his return. Alais had noticed the servants’
reactions, for she squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. She blushed, as well,
and Hugh thought how pretty she looked. Then he realised that he had something
else to worry about and his anger grew. Alais caught him staring at her and he
turned his head away in embarrassment and frustration. Until this morning, he
had been looking forward to this time with Alais. Now he thought it would be
torture of the cruellest kind.
    Although he knew it was making her uncomfortable he
could not stop himself staring from time to time. He found himself wondering
what his reaction would be if he saw Alais and did not know that she was a
woman. No one would be closer to her than he was now. With her hair under her
hood as it was now, she would bear distant scrutiny, but someone sitting by her
at meal-time must surely recognise her for a woman. He and Edmund would have to
make sure that they were always between her and any strangers. He sighed loudly
and realised that both Edmund and Alais had turned to look at him. He frowned
at them and they quickly turned their attention back to their food.
    After an eternity the meal ended. The servants fussed
around them clearing and tidying and then they were ready to leave. They walked
out into the overcast morning to their waiting horses. Hugh took it upon
himself to help Lady Alais mount. He wanted her to know that he was more
concerned about her needs than anything and that he knew it was no small thing
that she was doing. She was going to a strange place, with an inadequate escort
of two strangers and dressed in a way that would scandalise all who knew what
was happening. Certainly everyone at Liss would know that she had travelled in
his clothes. He would have to make time to explain to Father Alonso what had
happened, but it was Sir William’s reaction he feared the most. How would his
father feel about the wife he did not really want coming to him dressed as a
boy? Perhaps it would be best if they stopped just out of sight of the manor
house so that Alais could change into her own clothes. That would definitely be
best, even if it was another addition to the list of things to worry about.
     
    At last they set off. Hugh was angry and knew that his
anger made him a poor companion. He felt that Alais was angry with him for
causing her to sin and Edmund was keeping his distance for reasons he did not
yet know. It would not be a secret that Edmund would keep for long.
     The weather had turned colder and rain threatened. He
had looked forward to this time with Alais, even though he knew that it was
wrong. Now he was wasting it with his anger, but he could not change it. The
journey was endangering all their lives and even though that had been his own
choice and to a lesser extent, Edmund’s, it was not Alais’. She had gone from
one dangerous situation to another and the risk of danger would not end when
they reached Liss.
    Alais, too, was miserable. He knew she was uncomfortable
in his old clothes and he wondered which humiliation was the greater, the one
that his father had put on her, or his own. At least he had the consolation
that he had had no choice. This was the best way to keep her safe. He wished he
could have agreed to her plan to return to Leigh, but then she would still have
had to make the journey to Liss alone in the future and she would have to face
his father’s anger.
    At least she rode well. Hugh rode beside her and then
behind her to convince himself that she rode like a boy. In that one thing