Page 2 of Centerpiece

“A priest’s dignity was insulted,” the bailiff huffed.

Dark eyes seemed to sharpen.Agreeable would have been pinned to the door by them if he hadn’t already been there.He swallowed and finally stopped his legs from trembling but had no answer, even if he could have spoken without being heard.He splayed his hands helplessly.

“Wouldn’t your thief have run off by now?”the man called out again.Agreeable gazed at him in confused astonishment, noting absently that those eyes were a deep red-brown.In daylight, they would be beautiful.The man might loop red ribbon through his curls and then it wouldn’t matter if he was not broadly, plainly handsome; he would be a jewel.Not that his looks seem to be a concern to him at the moment, his attention on Agreeable, his words directed to those beyond the door.“To the forest or some other near-lawless place?”

He had an accent like someone who did business in the capital or some other city full of nobles and trouble.

“This one makes friends, in town and elsewhere.”Betram laughed.The bailiff did as well, hearty chuckles that made Agreeable shut his mouth.

He had not looked away from the man but was nonetheless startled when the man was suddenly before him and very close.Agreeable was urged to the side before he had time to truly react, and stayed there, frozen and foolish, when his tall, dark-eyed, strangely mild captor stood in front of the door he had just opened, blocking all view of the room from the hall.

“I believe I saw some of the commotion,” the man remarked, not a hint of anything in his soothing voice.“I thought the thief was caught at the time.”

“Accused a priest of it!”The bailiff was outraged.“Then ran while everyone was leaping to stop the priest!”

Agreeable would swear his tall captor’s lip twitched, perhaps amused, perhaps trying not to comment.He didn’t spare Agreeable a glance, but Agreeable shrugged to indicate that he’d had no choice in the matter.And the priest had been fine.Even the bailiff had only been worried over his dignity.

Agreeable’s captor, or maybe, possibly, hopefully, his savior, raised his chin and murmured, “I certainly hope justice will be done, and wish you both well in the search for it.”He closed the door before Betram or the bailiff could react, then held up a hand, silencing Agreeable who was too stunned to speak anyway.He tipped his head, clearly listening to make sure they were alone before he finally lowered his hand.

He didn’t give Agreeable a chance to think of what to say.“Why accuse the priest?”

“I was being chased,” Agreeable explained with only a small moment of stuttering hesitation.He realized he was gazing into the man’s eyes and forced his head down.“I needed a distraction.The priest was mostly a shroud of brown cloth some distance away.He could have been anyone at first glance.”When there was no response, Agreeable looked up.“I knew they’d let him go once they saw his face.A few moments of trouble at most.And priests are supposed to forgive.They say so all the time.”

One side of the sensible, generous mouth twitched up again.But only for half a moment.“Did you steal the coin?”

Agreeable was already shaking his head.“No.”

The lip twitch did not return.“But you know who did.”

Agreeable noisily caught his breath, glanced away, then glanced back up.“I didn’t see it happen,” he hedged.

“Who was the coin from?”A strange question.Agreeable wasn’t sure that mattered, but had no choice but to answer.

“A different priest, I believe.”He mumbled it, then chewed his lower lip.

Dark eyebrows flew up.“Where did a priest get coin enough to steal?”

Agreeable scoffed like the fool he was.But the man was a stranger to the area, so perhaps Agreeable ought to explain.Still, as he peered up, he tried to make his words harmless, true though they were.“The priests have a large property here.They sell their excess crops to the Count.He favors them.”

The man frowned, a ferocious look for a jewel.It set Agreeable’s legs to trembling again.“The priests are supposed to give their excess to those in need.”

He truly wasn’t from the area.Agreeable nodded, then also shook his head.“If you consider it like that, we—they, the thieves, I mean—were just taking back what should have been theirs to begin with.”

The man narrowed his eyes, and his lips twitched up only to blossom into a full smile for one fleeting moment.

“Then the coin was taken to purchase food?”His voice held something in it that said he knew very well that was not the main reason the coin had been taken.

Agreeable gave him one, then two, suspicious looks, but answered.“For whatever is needed.Likely some ale too.Or are good times only for those who own land?”

That did not earn him a smile, but though he waited, the man showed no sign of outrage.

He glanced to the side, giving Agreeable a moment to breathe.“It’s market week here for the neighboring towns, but I noticed the market was...subdued.”He paused and stared back at Agreeable, who probably looked as lost as a fish in a field.“That means quiet.”The man rolled one wrist.“I expected more sellers and a bustling town.”

“Oh.”Agreeable was only slightly embarrassed to have not known the word but resolved to use it in the future if he could.Subdued.Wouldn’t he be the fancy one?“It costs too much.There’s pretty things in the market but who’s the money to buy them?Or spare goods to trade?”

The man stepped back.Agreeable, as he had expected, was indeed pinned to the door by lovely eyes alone.His legs trembled again.It wasn’t with fear.

“If the priests are not sharing, then the local lords should be.They take vows when they claim their titles before the King.”

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