Little did she know just how unpleasant.
*
“Remove your travelthings and go about your chores,” Mira said as she entered the chamber that the younger girls shared. “As you have seen in the bailey, visitors have arrived for the night and we must prepare. Ines and Primmy, the two of you will ensure the hall is clean and warm and ready to receive guests. Hurry along, now. There isn’t much time.”
Ines and Primrose were moving at lightning speed. They yanked off travel coats and rushed to don aprons. As that was going on, Mira turned to Louisa, Marceline, and Theodora.
“Louisa, seek Lady Isabel and offer your services with our guests,” she said. “She may need you to guide the maids in preparing a chamber. Marcy and Theo, you will go to thekitchens and inform the cook. Tell her that Lady Isabel will want the good wine this evening, the wine that has been shipped from Burgundy last year. If the cook does not require your assistance, then go to the hall and help Ines and Primmy. Go, now.”
The girls nodded, but no one spoke, which wasn’t like them. They were usually full of chatter. They stripped off traveling coats and brushed hair quickly, preparing for work. It didn’t really bother Mira that the girls weren’t speaking to her, not after her conversation with Douglas—or at least if it did, she wasn’t going to show it. With the younger ladies focused, she went next door to the chamber she shared with Astoria and Helen and Davina.
The three of them were in the chamber, removing their traveling clothing and brushing out the dust. While Helen and Davina looked at her and smiled, Astoria soundly ignored her. She was using a horsehair brush to clean the dust off her woolen traveling coat. Mira glanced at the woman, finally rolling her eyes to see that, yet again, Astoria was pretending she didn’t exist. In this case, she truly didn’t care. Astoria wasn’t worth her attention. Therefore, she turned to Helen and Davina.
“You saw the visitors when we entered,” she said. “Helen, I’ve sent Marcy and Theo to the kitchens, but you had better go, too. Make sure the food is generously prepared.”
Helen nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Do we know who the visitors are?”
As Mira shook her head, Astoria piped up. “I do,” she said. “I recognized them.”
All three ladies turned to her. “Who?” Helen asked.
Astoria was carefully hanging her coat on a peg. “It’s Raymond de Honiton,” she said, turning to look at everyone but Mira. “I recognized him riding a big blond horse. He’s grown up since he was last here, but I would not forget him.”
Mira looked at her in shock. “Raymond?” she repeated. “Are you sure?”
Astoria still wouldn’t look at her. “Of course I am sure,” she snapped. “I am not stupid. I remember what Raymond looks like. So should you.”
The problem was that Mira did. She well remembered Raymond de Honiton, a young man who had served as a page at Axminster a few years earlier. He had come as a boy, when Mira was still a young ward, and she remembered the young man who couldn’t seem to understand why everyone wouldn’t move to do his bidding. He would try to give orders and, when no one responded, throw a tantrum. That brought knightly beatings from lady Isabel’s brother, but Raymond never seemed to learn his lesson. In fact, he spent five years at Axminster and hadn’t seemed to learn anything in that time.
One of the things he never learned was that Mira was not interested in him.
Raymond was four years younger than Mira, but he was quite convinced that she was the woman for him. Even as a young lad, he’d followed her around, trying to woo her, and when that didn’t work, he set about pinching her or grabbing her in inappropriate places. He was punished for it, repeatedly, but it didn’t stop him. By the time he was sent to Kenilworth, his assault against her had grown bolder because he had grown bigger and stronger, which made the attacks increasingly frightening for Mira. She could only pray that in the seven years she hadn’t seen him that his time at Kenilworth Castle had taught him that women didn’t like to be groped or pinched, and that the knights of Kenilworth had managed to impart some manners on him.
“Of course I do,” she said after a moment. “I simply didn’t see him.”
Astoria was focused on her now. “What are you going to do with Raymond here?” she said. “He was quite sweet on you. And now Douglas is here, too. Who will you give your attention to, I wonder?”
She was taunting her. Mira kept her composure when what she really wanted to was slap the woman across the face. She knew that Astoria was simply jealous, and the problem was that being kind and understanding about it wouldn’t work with her. She lacked compassion or understanding herself. All Astoria was capable of were the very basic emotions—love, hate, and happiness. Because of it, she was about to get a harsh dose of reality.
Mira wasn’t going to tolerate it.
“My attention and whom I give it to is none of your business,” she said evenly. “I am very sorry if Douglas turned to me and not you. I am sorry if your feelings are hurt. But the lies you are telling the younger girls about me are petty and vile. I suggest you overcome whatever shortcomings you are feeling, because I did not cause them. I have not turned against you. But if you keep up this behavior, then I will turn against you and so will Lady Isabel. I don’t suppose you want to be sent back to your drunken father and an uncle who likes to crawl into your bed at night—do you?”
Astoria was feeling cornered. “You’re a seductress,” she hissed. “Did you lift your skirts for Douglas? Is that what turned his head?”
Mira could see such hurt in the young woman’s expression. She knew she should have been sympathetic, but she couldn’t seem to manage it. Not when she knew there was nothing redeemable about Astoria. There never had been. She’d seen her turn against other girls and taken pleasure in it. Now she had turned against Mira. She was a bully.
And there was only one way to deal with a bully.
“Nay,” Mira said, fixing the woman in the eye. “I did nothing of the sort. I didn’t have to. It’s simply that I’m prettier than you are. Why should he look at a sow like you when he can look at me and find more pleasure in it?”
Astoria’s face turned bright red and she charged Mira with a shriek. Mira forgot her composure and lashed out, slapping Astoria when the woman raised her hands. That brought Helen and Davina, who got in between, separating them. Davina dragged Astoria away as Helen stood in front of Mira in case Astoria decided to charge again. But Astoria was hysterical, weeping with her hand to her cheek.
“She’s going to tell Lady Isabel,” Helen said with regret, looking at Mira. “But do not worry. Davina and I will tell Lady Isabel what we saw.”
Mira wasn’t the least sorry that she’d slapped Astoria. “She’d better learn to behave herself and accept the situation or there will be more where that came from,” she said loudly so Astoria would hear her. In truth, she was angry about the entire ridiculous circumstance and turned for the door. “I have things to attend to. So do you. I will see you later.”
Helen nodded, watching her go with regret. The situation was, indeed, regrettable. She returned her attention to Davina and Astoria, catching Davina’s eye and silently waving her away. Together, they departed the chamber, leaving Astoria sitting on her bed, nursing a stinging cheek and wounded pride.
