Deception's Pawn (Princesses of Myth) Read Online Free Page A

Gormlaith could reply: “Don’t do that, Maeve! The last person who tried taking her food lost three fingers.” She snapped her teeth together for emphasis and tittered.
    “Ignore her, Gormlaith,” Ula drawled. “She’s just envious.”
    “Why—” Gormlaith panted, trudging onward. “Why would she—ever—envy—me?” The last word brought her to the top of the wall, where she sank to the ground.
    “Because some of the lads like you,” Ula replied in her cool, distant way.
    “For warmth in winter and shade in summer.” Dairine smirked. But I saw the poisonous look she shot at Ula.
    “You don’t have to tell me I’m fat,” Gormlaith said glumly. “I know.”
    “So what?” I spoke up. “You heard Ula: You’ve got admirers who like what they see when they look at you.”
    “You wouldn’t need me telling you that if you ever liftedyour eyes and looked back ,” Ula added. “But whenever we’re near any man of Dún Beithe, from Lord Kian down to the stableboys, you stare at your feet or your hands or—You’re doing it again!” She pointed an accusing finger at Gormlaith, who had her gaze steadfastly fixed on the rapidly vanishing food in her bowl.
    “She probably caught sight of one of the sentries,” Dairine said. She lifted her head and darted searching looks all around, like a hound avid for the hunt.
    “That one?” I waved to the far side of the ringfort, where a lone man stood scanning the countryside. Even at that distance we could all see that his hair was heavily streaked with gray.
    Ula made a scornful sound. “I recognize that one. He’s got grandchildren. If he catches any of us staring at him, he’ll come over and start boring us to death with battle stories.” She popped one last piece of bread into her mouth and announced: “I’m done. Let’s go.”
    I was still eating, but when the other girls hurried to follow Ula from the top of the wall, I felt compelled to join them. All the way down it was take a step, take a bite, take a step, chew, take a step, gulp, take a step, and nearly choke on a half-chewed scrap of meat until I reached the bottom.
    We gave our empty bowls to the servants and hurried to find Lady Lassaire, who was waiting to guide us through an embroidery lesson. She took one look at me and her delicate lips stretched into a quizzical expression. “Why Maeve, my dear, what’s happened to your lovely dress?”
    Everyone stared at me. I looked down and saw that my bodice was covered in crumbs and smeared here and there withgrease. That was what came of my attempt to eat while making a rushed, awkward descent from the ringfort wall. For the second time that day, I felt mortified.
    One of the women attending Lady Lassaire chuckled and leaned toward her neighbor. “All decked out in a coat of breadcrumbs, ha! Didn’t I tell you that they do things differently in Connacht?”
    “Moriath, shame on you!” Lady Lassaire turned on the outspoken lady so fiercely that we all jumped as though we shared guilt for her rudeness.
    “My—my lady, what did I …?” she faltered. Could she truly believe that there was no harm in uttering such an insult?
    Suddenly I understood what had happened: Lady Moriath looked to be the eldest of Lady Lassaire’s attendants, with white hair, a wrinkled face whose lines showed a history of much laughter, and gray eyes that had lost their sparkle to the fog that sometimes came with age. If her eyes were failing, perhaps her ears were too. She meant to whisper a jest to her friend , I thought. She didn’t intend to offend me or my people. No matter how embarrassed I am, I can’t let her suffer for that.
    “Well said, Lady Moriath!” I exclaimed gaily. “Well and kindly said, trying to make excuses for me, and for this. ” I casually brushed away the crumbs as if it meant nothing to me to be caught in such a messy state. “It is true that we do some things differently in Connacht, but I’m afraid this isn’t one of them; it’s