Then he poured himself another.“Quite a lovely thing, our lady Morrow, is she not?” Wine dribbled from one corner of his wide lips. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.Eira murmured her agreement, wondering when this boor of a man would leave her to the pressing work she was neglecting so he could linger in his cups.“You’ll understand, then, why I see it as such a shame that you would use her for such brutal work,” he said.“You find midwifery that brutal?” Eira asked.With a groan, the abbot lowered himself into a chair, his girth spilling over the edges of the seat. “I never knew you regarded me as such a fool.”Eira had been worrying at the silk of her gown, thinking what a waste of time and effort it was that she and the other women were trussed up to deceive the abbot. His words froze her hands on her lap. Hoping her face was blank, she lifted her eyes to meet his.“I’m sorry?”“Dear, dear Eira,” the abbot said. His smile reminded her of a coiling snake.
