Lady de Wrenville frowned. “There is nothing to forgive,” she said. “And who pointed this out to you?”
“Sir Caius,” Emelisse said, taking another bite of bread. “He was right. I… I think I lost my head yesterday. It will not happen again. But I do have a question.”
“What is that?”
“Did you speak to your husband about his intention of marrying me to his son?”
Lady de Wrenville shook her head slowly. “I had every good intention of speaking to him, my lady,” she said with regret. “But I was convinced that my husband would not take it well from me. He would view it as interfering in his business.”
Emelisse sighed faintly. She understood and appreciated the lady’s perspective, but she was still disappointed to hear it.
“Sir Caius told me that Wolverhampton is trying to convince your husband to release me,” she said. “He told me that there are those who will support me, people I do not even know. Yesterday, I felt so alone and in despair, but Sir Caius has given me great comfort.”
Lady de Wrenville smiled faintly. “I can see that you hold great regard for him,” she said. “You should. I have heard men speaking of him this morning as I was going about my tasks. He was a great knight on Richard’s Crusade, so great that the enemy called him The Britannia Viper. Did you know that?”
Emelisse shook her head. There was some surprise in her expression. “I did not,” she said. “But I would not doubt it, not for a moment. I have never seen a larger man. He is strong, too. And fast. Fast enough to grab me before I threw myself from the window.”
Lady de Wrenville was watching her face as she spoke. “And he is handsome, too,” she said. “I do not suppose that escaped your notice. If you are to be confined for now, then you may as well have something pleasant to look at.”
Emelisse looked at her sharply only to see that she was giggling like a blushing maiden. She was teasing her and Emelisse broke down into a grin.
“I could have done worse, I suppose,” she said. “And… and I did not notice if he is handsome or not. I was too busy worrying about myself.”
Lady de Wrenville rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Lass, you’d have to be blind not to see that he is a fine form of a man,” she said. “And he was quite attentive to you, too. I believe he thinks you are lovely, and you are.”
Emelisse was starting to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, but not in a bad way. She simply didn’t like speaking of herself when it came to the subject of beauty. Her hair was too unruly and her teeth too big, or so she thought. At least, that’s what Caspian had told her when he was feeling particularly mean and nasty as children. Somehow, it always stayed with her. That dastardly brother that she was now willing to die for. She began pulling the beef apart, trying to think of a way to change the subject.
“He was here until I fell asleep,” she said, putting a piece of beef into her mouth. “When I awoke, I noticed that the windows were covered. I do not remember them being covered up when I went to sleep last night.”
Diverted from thoughts of the fair Caius, Lady de Wrenville looked at the covered shutters. “They must have been covered at some point last night,” she said. “They were not covered when I left you here, so Sir Caius must have done it while you were sleeping.”
Emelisse looked at the windows in shock. “I slept throughthat?”
Lady de Wrenville started giggling. “You were quite… exhausted.”
Emelisse looked at her. Then, she started laughing, too, even though she was embarrassed. It felt good to laugh, even for a brief moment.
“Aye, I was exhausted,” she said, her smile fading. “But now that it is morning and my head, though aching, is clearer, I will tell you that I am still very frightened. I am frightened that no one will be able to stop Marius from marrying me and when he does, he will use me against my brother. I am assuming there have been no changes since yesterday and my brother still holds the keep?”
Lady de Wrenville’s smile faded also. “I have not heard anything to the contrary,” she said. “He must still be there.”
Emelisse accepted that. In fact, she was glad to. It meant Hawkstone still had not completely fallen and as far as she was concerned, it never would, at least by her hand.
“Good,” she said. “My brother is strong. He will not let Hawkstone fall while there is breath left in his body. Nor will I. I will take a dagger to my chest before I allow your husband or his son to use me against Hawkstone. If you do not tell them that,then I will. And this time, there will be no Sir Caius to save me. I will succeed.”
Lady de Wrenville wasn’t sure this was a good subject to be on. She didn’t want to see the lady get worked up about something that was beyond her control. So much of it was beyond everyone’s control.
“There is no use becoming upset about it now,” she said quietly. “Sir Caius and Wolverhampton will do their best to sway my husband. And if they cannot, there are… other alternatives.”
Emelisse looked at her curiously. “What other alternatives could there be?”
Lady de Wrenville averted her gaze as she stood up, going to the hearth to stoke the fire. That wasn’t the usual task of the Lady of the Castle, but she was looking to keep busy while she tried to put her thoughts into words. She, too, was trapped here at Winterhold with no hope of escape, but Emelisse…
Perhaps there was hope for her.
Lady de Wrenville didn’t want to see yet another woman forced into submission by Covington.
“Mayhap I cannot speak to my husband about you and convince him not to wed you to his son, but there are other things I can do,” she said. “My parents are the lord and lady of Dudley Castle, to the south. It is a very big place. To the south of Dudley is a place called Haden Cross, a large fortified manse where my grandmother lives. It is a beautiful place, truly. Quite beautiful and well-guarded. My grandmother could always use another maid. Or, at least a lady who pretends to be one because she is hiding from Covington de Wrenville.”
