And if she didn't accompany Simon, she wouldn't be able to watch his back. A hunt would provide many an opportunity for accidents.
Ariel turned back to her cauldron, unsure which of the two reasons carried the most weight. "Very well. Edgar will be able to care for them as well as I."
Simon nodded and left the kitchen.
Ranulf paced the Great Hall, his eyes glittering with malice as he waited for his sister to respond to his summons. Ariel hadn't appeared at breakfast and he'd sent a servant to fetch her. Had she found the dogs as yet? Or was she even now searching for them?
"Good day to you, Ravenspeare."
Ranulf spun on his heel. An insincere smile flickered over his thin lips. "Hawkesmoor. You didn't join us for breakfast."
"No, I broke my fast abovestairs," Simon said easily. "Then Ariel and I went for a stroll. She's changing her dress at present but assures me she'll be down in a few minutes." He glanced around the crowded hall, returning greetings with a nod and a smile. "It's a beautiful morning for a hunt."
"Aye," Ranulf said shortly, hiding his puzzlement.
"A rather later start than you had intended, I believe?" Simon raised an eyebrow. "A consequence of late nights and deep drinking, I find."
Ranulf, whose head was throbbing as if Thor's hammer were pounding behind his temples, glowered and said nothing. He caught sight of the servant he'd sent in search of Ariel, making his way across the hall toward him.
"I can't find Lady Ariel… I mean, Lady Hawkesmoor… mlord. She in't in the stables." He looked anxiously at his master. Failing in an errand was not wise in Ravenspeare Castle.
"I think you'll find her in her chamber," Simon suggested. "Did you have a particular message for my wife, lad?"
The lad tugged his forelock and looked at the earl of Ravenspeare, uncertain whether he should respond or not.
"Get out of here!" Ranulf flicked at the boy with his fingers, and the lad scuttled off. "I was wondering where she was," Ranulf said. "I expect my sister to appear at mealtimes. She knows that perfectly well."
"Ah, but your sister's position in the household has changed somewhat," Simon pointed out gently. "She has other duties and obligations now." He smiled. "To her husband… I'm sure you take my meaning."
Ranulf flushed darkly and, without another word, strode away. He joined his brothers, gathered at the foot of the stairs.
Simon smiled grimly to himself. The earl of Ravenspeare was not best pleased, and he would be even less so when he encountered the wolfhounds roaming around again, as they surely soon would be.
Ranulf took a cup of ale from a passing servant and glowered into its contents before drinking. Ralph's eyes were so swollen and bloodshot they were almost invisible. Of the three brothers, only Roland looked relatively fresh, but he had a poor head for drink and the wisdom to embrace moderation.
"Perry's Copse is prepared," Roland said in an undertone. "Oliver checked it this morning. Which of us is to lead him?"
"I will," Ralph declared somewhat thickly with a sneering attempt at a smile. "I'll lead the Hawkesmoor to the pit, never you fear."
Ranulf regarded his young brother with a degree of scorn. "In your condition, man, I doubt you'd be able to see your way to Perry's Copse."
Ralph flushed angrily. "I spend more time on the estate than you do, brother. I could find my way to anywhere blindfold."
Roland laughed, not troubling to hide his contempt for this boast. "If it were Ariel, I'd agree," he said. "The only time you ever ride around the estate with your eyes open, Ralph, is when you're in search of a bitch to service you."
Ranulf laughed as coarsely as his brother. "True enough, but grant you, Roland, that the lad goes as often on such an errand as any rutting stallion in a field of mares." His laughter was abruptly cut off as his eyes went to the stairs.
Ariel came running lightly down to the hall. She was wearing her old green riding habit, but Doris had taken a flatiron to it, and her white shirt was crisply laundered, her boots polished.
"Good morning, my brothers." She curtsied, every line of her body radiating mockery, as she greeted the three lords of Ravenspeare. "You passed a restful night, I trust."
"Where are your dogs?" Ranulf demanded. "You're not usually without those damn hounds at your heels."
Ariel's eyes flashed, then she said coolly, "Oh, they're in the stables with Edgar. You gave order last night that they should be kept away from you, so I thought it best if they didn't join the hunt. You wouldn't look kindly upon them if they interfered with the deerhounds, I daresay?" She tilted her head to one side as if in question.
Ranulf himself had lured the dogs to the poisoned carcass. He had left them sniffing and drooling around the meat. It was not possible that they were healthy, shut up in the stables. What the devil had gone wrong?
Tight-lipped, he spun on his heel and stalked out of the hall into the courtyard where the hunt was waiting to set out. He comforted himself with the reflection that the hounds were an insignificant problem so long as that drunken sot Ralph had done his work properly. If he had done, the earl of Hawkesmoor would not emerge alive from Perry's Copse this day, once he was lured within its tight dark confines.
"That is most satisfactory news, Mrs. Masham." Queen Anne nodded at her new favorite. "Such a lovely wedding it must have been." She slurped greedily at a bowl of oysters stewed in ale, disdaining the spoon, her fat little fingers curled around the silver bowl as she lifted it to her mouth. Juice dripped down her chin.
Mrs. Masham folded the letter from which she'd been reading an account of the wedding of the earl of Hawkesmoor and Lady Ariel Ravenspeare. She offered the queen a linen napkin. Her Majesty ignored the offering.
"Lady Dacre is a most reliable correspondent; remind me to present her with a little trifle of my appreciation when she returns to London." Anne examined a mounded blanc-manger of capon and rice. She nibbled one of the garnishing almonds as she dug her spoon into the dish. "This seems quite flavorful." With her mouth full she drank deeply of the fortified wine in her crystal goblet and reached her fingers into a dish of peasecods. She sucked the delicate peas from the pods, beads of sweat settling into the folds of her wobbling chins.
Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, turned her head away with a grimace of distaste. Although she had been dismissed from her post as Lady of the Bedchamber in favor of Mrs. Masham, the queen had not yet dismissed her from attendance. Deprived of the power that had made that close personal attendance tolerable, Sarah found it hard to disguise her physical revulsion for her sovereign.
"What kind of reward did you have in mind, Your Majesty?" she asked. "A lace handkerchief, perhaps? A fan?" Her voice dripped malice. Queen Anne was renowned for her stinginess. But the malice was lost on the queen, who considered the suggestions as she continued to suck peas from their butter-soaked pods.
"A handkerchief is a good idea," she pronounced, turning her attention to a dish of honey and almond sweetmeats. "Select one from my armoire, Mrs. Masham. One of last year's. But make sure the lace is not torn." She crammed a sticky mouthful between her glistening lips and was for a few moments silent as her mostly toothless gums wrestled with the sweet. She took another swig from her goblet to help the process.
Sarah removed Her Majesty's dirty salver and replaced it with a clean one, handing the dirty one to a very junior lady-in-waiting. "Perhaps a wedding gift for the new countess of Hawkesmoor would be in order, madam," she suggested in sugared accents.
The queen looked up haughtily. "I was under the impression that I had already gifted the bride." Her Majesty was no longer eager to accept suggestions from the duchess of Marlborough.