She was right.
“Why the screaming?” William asked, spying his daughter in the dirt. “What happened?”
Annaleigh had been at Castle Questing long enough to know how William reacted to his youngest child and how Jordan did. While Jordan was firm, William was the soft touch. Had it not been so ridiculous, it would have been laughable.
“Lady Penny made a new game,” Annaleigh said. “She made the rules. But she doesna want tae play by her own rules.”
William’s brow furrowed in understanding. “Penny,” he said, going to stand over her. “Stop weeping, lass. Get out of the dirt.”
Penelope looked at her father, lower lip trembling. “I’m in a cage, Papa,” she said. “Help me.”
She sounded incredibly pathetic and Annaleigh rolled her eyes, catching a glimpse of Talus, who was trying to sneak out of the kitchen yard before he was caught up any further in Penelope’s web. She, too, turned away as William reached down and picked his child up, holding her tightly as she wrapped her little body around him.
So much for the game.
As William carried Penelope back towards the keep, Thomas and Rose came out of their hiding places, watching the enormous knight cart away the littlest tyrant. With Penelope gone, they ran off somewhere else, leaving Annaleigh to return to the cook. But not before Talus backtracked on leaving the kitchen yard.
He came up behind her.
“I did not see you at the feast last night,” he said. “Were you feeling ill?”
Annaleigh paused, turning to him. She sensed he was probing her, which was normal with him. Even though they’dhad the conversation about remaining cordial with no romance involved, as he usually did, he forgot about it.
It was becoming annoying.
“I am well enough,” she said evenly. “Ye needna worry.”
She turned to walk away but he continued to follow. “You missed quite a conversation with Herringthorpe,” he asked. “The man is very accomplished. He regaled us with several stories last night. A pity you missed them.”
I dinna, she thought, but somehow she knew that Talus must have seen her and War speaking in the garden. With a gate facing the great hall, it was very possible he caught sight of them at some point in the evening, which annoyed her greatly. Was he trying to catch her in a lie? Was he trying to force her to confess?
Her patience with him was growing thin.
“I’ve spoken tae him,” she said as evenly as she could. “He does seem quite accomplished, I agree. Now, I must go about my duties, as I suspect ye must as well.”
She forced a smile at him before turning away and walking quickly towards the cook, who was in the process of having a side of beef brought out of the larder. Annaleigh wasn’t usually keen on watching meat butchered, but it was better than continuing the awkward conversation with Talus.
At least an hour passed as she watched the cook cut up the beef he was going to make a stew from. Beef, carrots, peas, turnips and other vegetables went into the pot which was then filled with water and herbs and salt. The cook also poured two big pitchers of red wine into the pot, for flavor he told her, and the entire pot had a big fire started beneath it.
All the while, Annaleigh was keeping an eye out for Talus or even Anthony, as she didn’t want to get sucked into a conversation with either of them. Truth be told, War was the only one she wanted to get sucked into a conversation with butshe had no idea where the man was. Surely he had to be around somewhere.
Perhaps she could stumble upon him, somewhere.
Leaving the cook, she went on the hunt.
*
“From what Iunderstand, she has several suitors,” Alexei was saying. “Not the least of which are two of de Wolfe’s knights. You met them yesterday– du Reims and d’Vant. Evidently, she’s been stirring the blood of every unmarried male from Carlisle to Berwick. English males, I mean. Is that what you wished to know?”
Sitting in his borrowed chamber in the keep of Castle Questing, War was listening to Alexei’s report on Annaleigh with a discouraged expression on his face.
“Of course she’s stirred their blood,” he said. “Just look at her. She looks like an angel. As if heaven’s door opened up and she stepped forth. She’s positively enchanting.”
Alexei was watching War closely. The man had been brooding since last night, since he spent a few stolen hours in the garden with Lady Annaleigh. It was a mood that Alexei had never seen before, so he was trying to decipher what it meant. Either War was unhappy or he was very happy. It was difficult to tell. He was evidently interested in a woman who had saved his life and perhaps wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
It was an interesting situation, to be sure.
“You would know more than I,” Alexei said after a moment. “Whether or not she is enchanting, I mean. But I have eyes. I can see how beautiful she is.”
