And they were looking for husbands.
Maybe one husband in particular.
“Well?” Mira demanded again. “Do you want me to settle this once and for all?”
“You cannot simplyaskhim,” Astoria said as if it was a frightful suggestion. From the House of de Luzie, she brought a great fortune with her to a marriage. “What on earth will he think?”
Mira looked at the tall, rather plain young woman. “What do you think he thinksnow?” she said. “Astoria, he knows that all of you watch every move he makes. The man cannot even eat in peace without someone offering to cut his meat for him—and right now, we are supposed to be in prayer, yet you are payinghomage to a man who looks like a god among us. You are praying to Douglas!”
She made a sweeping motion with her hand toward the bailey where he was last seen. The young women began to look uncertain, even ashamed, as Astoria and Davina and Helen looked at each other with worried brows.
“She’s right,” Helen finally said. “We should be praying. If Lady Isabel catches us not following her instructions one more time, she will punish us.”
Astoria was usually the leader of the group. She was headstrong and bossy and she thrived on telling the others what to do. In the early days of Douglas’ presence at Axminster, she told the women that he would be her conquest. That hadn’t happened yet, and she was increasingly embarrassed that he’d not fallen at her feet simply because she demanded it. These days, she tried to pretend that it didn’t matter because there was a secondary target in Davyss de Winter, who was also quite handsome, but he was also young.
She wanted an older man.
But he, so far, didn’t want her.
Astoria spent most of her time these days trying to save her pride.
“She will not punish us if we all swear that we spent this time praying, as she instructed,” she said, looking at the anxious faces around her. “Shall we swear it?”
The girls started to nod, but Mira spoke up. “Swear to a lie in a chapel?” she said, incredulous. “That is sacrilege, Astoria. Shame on you for suggesting such a thing. But… if each one of you prays right now, however quickly, it shall not be a lie, shall it?”
That sent most of the girls stampeding to the altar and dropping to their knees as they began rapid-fire prayers.Hail, Mary, full of grace…Astoria and Helen remained by thewindows with Mira just as Douglas began to pass by. Mira caught sight of him first.
“There he is,” she said, gathering her skirts as she turned for the chapel door. “I am going to settle this so there will no longer be any question. I will demand to know who he finds favorable so everyone will stop wondering.”
“You’ll put in a good word for me?” Astoria said before she could stop herself. When Mira looked at her, surprised she should verbalize such a hope, Astoria tried to pretend she hadn’t meant it. “What I mean to say is that if you happen to speak of me, you can tell him that I may or may not be interested in his suit. I’ve not yet decided.”
Mira knew she didn’t mean a word of it but nodded, heading to the chapel entry door and giving it a good yank to open it. The door was warped and tended to stick. Leaving the chapel, she headed out into the bailey in pursuit of Douglas.
He wasn’t too far ahead of her.
Dust blew up in her face as she moved swiftly, getting the hem of her green silk dress dirty. She didn’t like the heat, or the sun, so she shielded her eyes from the bright light as she kept her focus on the prize ahead. Douglas was stopped by a de Lohr soldier and engaged in a brief conversation, but he happened to catch a glimpse of Mira coming up behind him.
That always brought a smile to his lips.
She was wearing a gown the color of her eyes today, and it made her look even more ethereal than usual. When their gazes met, his smile broadened and he put his hands on his hips in a somewhat stern gesture.
“And what are you doing out of the chapel?” he demanded lightly. “Thisisyour prayer time, is it not?”
Mira smiled in return. “How would you know that?”
“I know everything.”
“Then do you know that every girl in that chapel is watching you from the windows andnotpraying?”
His smile faded as he looked over at the small, sturdy chapel. He could see figures in the windows, suddenly disappearing when they realized his attention was upon them.
He sighed heavily.
“Lady Isabel is going to punish them if they continue that,” he said. “I do not want to be responsible for their pain.”
Mira chuckled. “Then you can end all of this attention right away.”
He frowned. “How?” he said. “I have been trying to do that since it started, Mira. I swear to you, if I find Ines or Primmy in the privy one more time, waiting for me to relieve myself just so they can spy on me, I am going to jump into the river and swim away for good. Do they not know how unseemly that is?”
