Within a very short measure of time, Annelise tired of inventing answers to perfectly reasonable questions. Enguerrand asked after every detail, finding the flaw in every quality of the palace. She had explained the lack of an ostler with a vague wave, saying that the man must be slumbering. She excused the lack of squires with the suggestion that they would be along momentarily. Enguerrand’s knights had been clearly skeptical as they set their own squires to the task of unsaddling and brushing down their steeds.
She used her husband’s tale of quick and silent servants who stayed out of view when they returned to the palace to find a sumptuous meal spread for them in a chamber Annelise had never used before. She could only hope that her urge to see to the comfort her guests was strong eno
