Quinn won over the entire household within moments.
Melissande had never seen the like. He might have known everyone at Annossy all of his life and simply been encountering old friends. By the time the evening meal was served, every soul at Annossy seemed to be enraptured with its new lord—save Gaultier. That knight watched Quinn steadily, as if he suspected him of being less than he appeared to be.
Melissande wondered whether her Captain of the Guard knew some detail about her new husband, and resolved to find out.
She was keenly aware that her hired warriors were nigh matched in number by Quinn’s party, and certainly so if the boys who rode as squires with Quinn and his comrades were counted as warriors themselves. She did not doubt that they were each and every one adept with a blade
