24/100 The blacksmith's wife' [28]

The earl himself came to solicit my presence citing some Court Leet summons from atop his horse.  

I curtsied, black-dragged hem suggesting slatternly submission, tight-laced bodice fresh-plumped engulfing flesh.

 ‘My lord?’   Eyes mocking-meek.

 ‘Your brother-in-law Mathias attests you hold illegally letters belonging to the state.’

‘He lies.’

‘He lies indeed, within my cellar.   You have the means of his release.’

‘Letters, for his safety?’

‘Letters mandatory.   His safety for …’

His eyes, having noted Gabriel’s absence, drifted downwards to my bosom.  

Sharply, ‘That of your unborn son?’

‘Son?    You threaten?   You know it is a son?’

I smiled.   ‘I know.’

This is part 28 of 'The blacksmith's wife'.   The whole is a prompt-led serial  which began on the Friday Prediction, in March  and continued, one hundred words at a time, for forty-one episodes.   One of my aims in this 100 days project is to complete the illustrations for each episode and publish the tale in book form.    The  story can be read in its entirety here.