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Genevieve is the boy’s mother.”
    After that, they both turned back to their work. But though her hands were busy, an aching heaviness tugged at Alana’s heart. And yet, some small measure of comfort filled her heart. Her father had now joined her mother to live with the angels above; mayhap they were together in heaven as they could not be on this earth. And though she mourned her father’s death, at least Sybil was alive.
    And while there was life, there was hope.
    The next hours passed in a blur. The Normans took their supper and the sisters served them. Alana made countless trips from the kitchens to the hall bearing great platters of food and ale. Her arms and shoulders ached from the weight; Sybil looked just as drained.
    The Normans were a thoroughly unruly lot. She tried to dodge the greedy, grasping fingers that tugged at her skirts and bosom yet was not always successful. She longed to slap their hands away, yet she did not dare for fear of finding herself clubbed to the floor. She had watched in horror as one poor girl spilled a tray of sweetmeats at the feet of a burly soldier and suffered that very fate. Alana gritted her teeth and sought to ignore them.
    The night grew old and torches burned low. She was on her way to fetch more ale when her elbow was firmly seized. She found herselfspun around nearly full circle. With a gasp she recognized the knight she had first encountered in the forest—Raoul.
    Gleaming black eyes roamed her face and body, brash and bold. His regard made her skin crawl. “Tell me, my lovely one. Did Merrick please you?”
    She strained to free herself. “Let me be!”
    He caught her narrow waist and tugged her close. “’Tis whispered by all the Norman maids that he’s endowed like an ox—and with the stamina of one, too! ’Tis why they swoon at his feet. Ah, but I would have pleased you far better, had you let me.”
    Alana could not help it. Her gaze veered straight to Merrick, who sat at the high table. He was staring straight at them, the slant of his mouth grim and unsmiling. Glancing back over his shoulder to see where her gaze resided, Raoul scowled. When he realized their exchange had not gone unobserved, he freed her, but not before he pinched her arm. “We shall see, eh?”
    With a sigh of relief, Alana scurried away. As the night marched forward, she cast more than several anxious glances toward Merrick, but he paid her no heed. As for the Normans, their appetite for food was exceeded only by their greed for drink. Yet little by little the roar of voices and boisterous laughter that filled the air began to thin. At length, many of the Normans stumbled away. Others lay slumped at the table or sprawled on the benches that lined the walls. Drunken snores filled the air.Alana paused, slowly lowering a pitcher of ale to the table. It struck her then…
    She had not seen Merrick for some time now. There was no one to see. No one who would know should they choose to leave…
    Sybil came up to her, smothering a yawn. “We need not stay any longer. I’ve been given a pallet in the servants’ quarters belowstairs,” she said with a grimace. “You may take the one next to me.”
    “You are right,” Alana whispered in an odd voice. “We need not stay any longer.”
    Sybil glanced at her sharply.
    She seized her sister’s hands. “Sybil, there is no one to see if we should choose to flee this keep! No doubt the sentries are as sotted as the rest of these men.” Excitement gathered ripe and full in the pit of her belly. “We can escape from the Normans—from Merrick! There is no better time than now!”
    Sybil’s gaze swept the hall. “Merrick is not here,” Alana said with a shake of her head. “No doubt he’s gone to seek his bed.”
    But Sybil was uncertain. “Alana,” she began. “I am not certain that—”
    “Sybil, think! Do you want to remain a slave forever?”
    A brief spasm of pain flickered over Sybil’s face. “Nay, but…Oh, mayhap you are