“We live well with her kin, and always have with the Welshry. Is much to be admired in their ways. There are Welsh here I would die for, myself.” Beneath the blond beard, he saw the man’s quick smile. “And best you keep your thoughts on the lady to yourself.”

Ranulf looked about the clearing and saw that others were listening. A little devil woke in him, and he suddenly thought how well he would love to see this little group squabbling. For days, they had been so peaceable, comfortable as a happy family, and it nettled him. He did not question why he should care one way or the other. He only wondered if aught could make them lose their peace, and how well he would enjoy being the one who made them lose it.

He caught one man’s eye, the bald one against whom he had sparred. All his life, he had heard the Welsh called animals. So let him see how true it was, then. A distraction, he told himself. And he had learned in battle how a distraction might be used for gain.

“Is your Norman blood so weak to welcome a mix with savages?”

The quiet in the clearing deepened, all ears bent on him. He listened to his own breath, waiting to see if the arrow would strike home.

“The Welsh have the blood of dragons,” said one man from across the clearing. He was more boy than man, rash in his defense and a speech that was slurred with the peculiar accent of Wales.

Ranulf laughed. “And if it be so, then you tell me you do not shy to mate with wild beasts?”

“You think of your own birth, Norman.” It was Madog ap Rhys, stepping closer to Ranulf and speaking so all could hear him. “Is known you are more like a beast than a man. Haps was your own mother who mated with a passing fox, or dog, or rat.”

He was faintly amused to find how quickly Madog stepped into the breach. This must be how they kept peace, then – by stopping any words that might cause strife as soon as they were spoken. He wagered that most men would heed the warning in Madog’s voice. But Ranulf was not most men, and amused him to see how far the Welshman may be pushed. So he shrugged lightly and quirked his mouth in a mocking grin.

“You are mistaken. All know my mother mated with the Fiend himself. Your precious Lady Eluned but bedded with a madman.”