WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (reading an ebook txt) 📕

She started laughing. Andreas grinned as well, his free hand coming up to grasp the fingers at clutching his elbow. He squeezed them and she continued to giggle, only now it was because he was fondling her fingers and she was loving it. It was a delightful, flirty moment.

They were nearing the end of the bridge as it dumped into Southwark. This was a less populated part of the city, but the entire area was owned by the church. There was Southwark Cathedral, a massive place, and other centers and residences that were linked to the church officials, but the one place they didn’t have any jurisdiction over was an area called the Liberty of Winchester, which was an area that combined a low-rent district with merchants and open areas where minstrels and actors would ply their trades.

They came off the bridge and headed for this area. They could already hear music from the gangs of minstrels and entertainers. It was crowded with people, with children running about and dogs wandering, and people eating and enjoying the entertainment that was going on.

It was magical.

Gavriella kept straining to get a look at what was going on. She’d never seen such things in her life and it was all quite exciting. As they were entering the quarter, they passed by a man with a cart that was full of bronze pieces – little statues, jewelry, and even toys. There were also pieces of brass and as Andreas and Gavriella walked past, the man suddenly jumped out in front of them.

“Your lady needs something beautiful to wear, my lord,” he said. Immediately, he held up a bracelet with red stones and yellow metal. “Look! This matches her dress!”

He was mostly standing in front of Gavriella and she let go of Andreas and moved to his other side, taking his arm and pulling him away.

“Come along,” she said firmly.

Andreas was actually looking at the bracelet. “In a moment,” he said, plucking the bracelet out of the man’s grip. He held it up into the light. “What is this?”

“Carnelian, my lord,” the man said eagerly, hoping to make a sale. “I’ve set it in brass. It shows off the stone, don’t you think?”

Gavriella frowned as Andreas looked at the other things on his cart. “Are you a metal worker?”

The man nodded. He was short, round, with dirty dark hair and several teeth missing. “I used to work for Rothschild the Goldsmith,” he said. “You know the one – there is a large establishment on Thames Street.”

“But you work there no longer?”

The man shook his head. “Rothschild’s son took over for his father when the man fell ill,” he said. “He sent many of us along our way. Now I must make my own living with the skills I have been taught.”

Andreas could see that the man’s work was fine. He evidently couldn’t afford the more expensive metals, but he did a beautiful job with the ones he could afford. But he put the bracelet down.

“I will not pay for brass or bronze,” he said. “It will turn the skin green.”

The man held up his hand as if to beg patience as he rushed to the other side of his cart, digging around in the side of it. Quickly, he pulled forth a silk pouch and came back around the cart, unwrapping what was in the pouch. He held it up for Andreas to see.

“I do have some good pieces, my lord,” he said. “This is gold, very precious, with a red ruby in the middle and two pearls on the end. ’Tis a very fine piece.”

Andreas took it from the man, inspecting it closely. It was a brooch, about three inches long and about an inch wide. The gold work on it was exquisite filigree, with a round, red ruby in the center of it and two lush pearls on either side. Each corner of it had a rose pattern worked into the metal.

He’d never seen finer.

“How much?” he asked.

The man was working his hands nervously. “Five pounds, my lord.”

Andreas immediately handed it back. “I can buy a horse for that.”

He turned for Gavriella, who was standing there with an expression of angst on her face. The man ran after him.

“Three pounds!” he said. “It was made for your lady, my lord. It will make her beautiful!”

Andreas came to a halt and turned to him sharply, his eyes narrowing. “She is already beautiful,” he said. “There is nothing you can sell me that will make her any more magnificent than she already is.”

The man could see that he’d angered the knight, possibly blowing the sale. “I meant… I meant her dress, my lord,” he said, gesturing in Gavriella’s direction. “It would look beautiful upon her dress. It matches.”

He was right. Andreas considered his offer. “Two pounds.”

“Three pounds and I include a pearl bracelet to match.”

That gave Andreas pause. He opened his mouth to reply but Gavriella’s gentle hand grasped him.

“Please do not buy it for me,” she said softly. “Keep your money, my lord. I do not need such a thing.”

He looked at her, seeing that angsty expression again, as if fearful he were going to do something she didn’t want him to do. In this case, buy her jewelry. They didn’t even know each other very well and, already, he was considering buying her a very expensive piece of jewelry.

She was uncomfortable about it.

He felt a little foolish.

“Put it away,” he told the man. “Let me think on it. If I want it, I will return before the day is out.”

The man was disappointed, but not entirely destroyed. With a nod of resignation, he went to put the piece away as Andreas turned to Gavriella, took her hand, and tucked it into his elbow.

They continued on.

“What makes you think I was buying those things for you?” he said as they entered an area with merchants. “I could be buying it for my mother, you know.”

She looked at him, horrified that the thought hadn’t