Page 1 of Centerpiece

Part One

The first floor ofthe inn was not as crowded as it might have been for a more thriving market week, which was unfortunate both for the innkeeper and for Agreeable.Betram would miss the paying customers, but Agreeable had been hoping to hide among the crowd.He was known enough in this town to draw comments even before the ruckus in the market earlier and the bailiff prowling after him now.

With few other options, Agreeable pulled the hood of his borrowed cowl over his forehead, praying that and the prettily stitched crimson scarf tied over his hair would keep most of his face hidden.Then he skirted the half empty tables near the central fireplace to head to the back stairs that led to the rooms for rent on the two upper floors.

He nearly tripped on the first stair, startled by the pair of armed figures coming down toward him.Armed guards weren’t all that unusual, not during market week at least, but they usually wore some indication of who they worked for, be it a sheriff, a wealthy merchant, or a lord.These two wore no colored tabards or heraldry.But even with no signs of being the sort of well-trained and higher-earning guards to accompany nobles, they nodded politely to Agreeable and stood aside to let him pass.With manners like that, Agreeable would wager coin he’d never have that they worked for someoneverywealthy.

Perhaps the Count had decided to visit the market.If so, his guards should have been wearing yellow tabards, but all that really mattered to Agreeable was that these two guards were not working for the sheriff or the local bailiff.Although that might change at any moment.

Once the guards were out of sight, Agreeable darted up the rest of the steps to the second floor, twice stepping on his hem before he realized he ought to hold up his skirt as he had seen some women do.The fabric no longer swished against his ankles that way, but at least he wouldn’t fall.Out of sight of the guards, he poked at his chest where his rolled-up clothing served as a bosom, and then, hearing one of the guards swear and start back up the stairs behind him, ducked into the first room he came to.

The sun had set only moments before, but a fire in the room’s fireplace was the source of light, not the room’s single, though wide, window.Before the fireplace was a clean hearth, and near the window, a bureau set with towels and a washbasin.Several travel packs and a small chest were at the foot of the bureau, and along the far wall was a high bed, big enough for three at least and covered in fine bedding.

He had stumbled into the inn’s best room, Agreeable realized immediately, only moments before also realizing that the room had not been empty.

The guest who should have been downstairs helping himself to ale or a meal was in the shadowed corner nearly hidden from view by a corner of the fireplace mantle, in a chair Agreeable hadn’t immediately noticed, bent over as if to unlace his boots.

In the firelight, the man had a warm color to his cheeks and dark, dark eyes that stayed fixed upon Agreeable as Agreeable trembled like a rabbit against the door.Then the man stood, as tall and reaching as an oak, his near-black hair curling to fall around his ears and down against his neck.The curls gleamed by firelight almost as much as his eyes did.Together they were lovely, although Agreeable wouldn’t have said they made this fellow a handsome man.Many in the village where Agreeable had been raised regarded Eamon or Wilf as handsome, and they were burly, broad sorts with ready smiles and bodies meant for farmwork or fucking.All the same, Agreeable stared at this man, thinking with some distraction that this man did not look like someone who knew how to plough, but then also thinking that ploughing had come into his mind regardless.

The man’s dark, snug doublet and breeches were unadorned, nothing at all like what wealthy merchants or even the few minor lords or ladies that Agreeable had glimpsed in his life had worn.The man’s boots might have been dusty from travel but the rest of him wasn’t.Everything on the man’s back looked well-made and not well worn.

He was perhaps studying Agreeable freckled cheeks the way Agreeable was studying his neatly shaven jaw and upper lip, and then his lips alone, which were not too full but not too slender.A sensible mouth despite the generous curve to it, Agreeable decided, although he couldn’t have said why.At least the man wasn’t someone local.Someone here for the market, most likely.He wouldn’t know who had just stumbled into his room.

Agreeable unclenched his hands, allowing his skirt to fall to where it should have been if he were truly the sort of woman who took the teachings of the Church seriously and tried to dress like a priest or a priest-mage with skirts that almost brushed the ground.The Church didn’t even let women be priests, so he’d never understood why those women would bother.Plenty of women didn’t.But he really shouldn’t be wasting time thinking of it now.

He cleared his throat and remembered just in time to soften his voice, although he didn’t have to soften it much.

“Let me explain.”

The man didn’t even blink.Agreeable found himself reaching up for the ends of the scarf to run them nervously through his fingers.

“Or I could leave?”he offered, already turning around, only to jump when someone rapped on the door as he reached for the handle.

“Sir?”called the person on the other side.Betram the innkeeper, unless Agreeable was mistaken.“There’s a bailiff here looking for a thief who was seen in the market earlier today.Sorry to trouble you, sir, but he’s only wanting to know if you’ve been disturbed by anyone or noticed anything off.”

Agreeable slapped a hand over his mouth although his squeak was audible to the other man and possibly to the innkeeper and bailiff in the hall.He widened his eyes and looked across the room to the darkened corner.

“A thief?”The man answered to be heard through the door, expressing the correct amount of shocked decency in a mellow, pleasant voice.“My word.”He moved forward as he spoke, eyes never leaving Agreeable even while he continued to speak to those outside.“What was stolen?It must be serious to have the bailiff hard at work so many hours later.”

Agreeable opened his mouth, closed it, then dropped his hands in order to hold them both out and show they were empty.

It was true enough.It hadn’t been his deed today, only his luck to be the one seen as guilty.

“A handful of coins and a bag of spices from one of the market vendors.”

At that answer, the man stopped in front of Agreeable to peer down at him from what seemed a great height.The man was not broad, not overly so, but he did stand straight and he did have shoulders.Not that Agreeable would have tried to push past him.He was not one to fight.That had never been his sort of trouble.

Riley had been the one to take the coin purse; Agreeable had no idea who had taken the spices.None of the lads were cooks of any note, but maybe Wilf had wanted to please his ma.Or maybe someone else in the crowd had taken advantage of the confusion and nicked the spices for themselves.Why not, with a bunch of thieves or Agreeable to take the blame?

People had seen Agreeable in the market, so hewouldbe the one blamed.He had a reputation that some liked well enough, some thought funny, and some thought deserved all the scorn the Church could heap on him.So he was often noticed, even when just wandering the market to see the sights.The others too but him the most, and he was the easiest caught.The one who wouldn’t fight.

Perhaps that was why the others had left him there.Perhaps that was even why they’d brought him—an unhappy thought that Agreeable had no time to dwell upon.Anyway, what was there to be done about it?When this was over, if he got out of the soup, he would return to the woods to stay with them and never ask why no one had stayed to help him.That was his only real option if the bailiff didn’t decide to make the punishment more severe this time.Which he might.There had been some...mess.

“Was anyone hurt?”the man in front of Agreeable called out, still making no move to open the door.

Agreeable winced.

“Some stalls were knocked over.A good many bruises were had, I’m sure.”Betram seemed more thoughtful than angry.The bailiff, however, took the matter more seriously.Agreeable supposed that was what bailiffs ought to do.Couldn’t blame the man for that.

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