She had worked in the gardens throughout the afternoon, dividing her attention between what she had been doing and watching the other women as they labored. She had known by the end of the morning’s work that she had hired good workers, and was considering keeping two or three of them on to work in the castle once the garden was finished. Pondering which ones she should keep had distracted her throughout the afternoon as she bent to the backbreaking work of clearing the way for a garden. Distracted as she had been by such thoughts, and her own anticipation of the first really good meal she had yet been served in her new home, time had passed swiftly.

Iliana had looked forward to supper all afternoon. With the spices now purchased and available, she expected it to be quite good. Lunch, as little of it as she had managed, had already shown a noticeable improvement. Elgin had once again offered a simple fare of bread and cheese, but this time there had been no sign of mold on the cheese and the bread had been so fresh it had still retained some heat from the baking. He had also offered some fresh fruit to add variety.

Her eyelids began to droop again and Iliana concentrated on forcing them open, sighing wearily at the effort. As much as she had looked forward to it, she had nearly worked her temporary gang right through the meal. It had taken the cook arriving at her side to announce that sup was ready for her to realize that the afternoon had flown past. Calling a halt, she had straightened slowly and frowned over the light-headedness that had assailed her, then grimaced to herself as various aches and pains followed. Then the weariness had set in with a vengeance and she had recognized that she might have overdone it.

Now she sat slumped at the table, a lovely meal of mutton before her, and she too weary to even raise the food to her mouth. ’Twas an upsetting turn of events, for she knew Cook was watching her with distress, eager for a word of praise and fearful of complaint.

Sighing, she tried to push her eyes open again and lifted her dirk to stab at a piece of meat, grimacing over the aching of her arm. Every muscle in her body seemed sore, tired, and eager to let her know it, she thought with dismay, tightening her lips and raising the food to her mouth. She already knew the food was lovely. It smelled so wonderful that it made her dizzy. Besides, every single person at the three trestle tables were commenting on its quality.