The candles were burning low when the women escorted Alienor to the nuptial chamber, their giggles and whispers doing little to ease her trepidation of what the night would bring. Somehow she had managed to hold her chin high throughout the meal. To her relief, no one seemed to have noticed the great dog sitting on her feet, much less his consumption of her dinner. The goat tethered at her side apparently had no taste for the meat. It had preferred to nibble at the flowers arranged upon the board. How strange that she and her new spouse had any taste in common!
Although the meal seemed endless, it was also too soon that she found herself on the marriage bed. She sat on the rich green cloth covering the wide bed, hands clenched in her lap. The bed curtains were drawn back and tied to the b
