“Nay. I’d prefer to be alone,” Allyson countered. She needed to convince her sisters she held no interest for them.
“Alone? You didn’t appear to want to be alone all eve as you danced with one mon after another. You didn’t spare any mon your attention. You made a disgrace of yourself. And the way the Gordon twins passed you back and forth, it made it obvious they’re both bedding you.” Alice managed to look down her nose at Allyson, even though they were the same height.
“Just because that’s what you might do, doesn’t mean that’s what I’m doing. I’ve met both brothers before at court, they’re our guests, and I’m to be betrothed to one of them. It stands to reason that I would dance with them. One will be my husband and the other will be my brother-by-marriage.” Allyson forced herself to cease speaking before she said something that she couldn’t take back, something the sisters would hold against her.
“What are you implying?” Alice angled herself closer, cutting off Allyson’s path to the gardens.
“I’m implying naught. I’m saying I’ve seen you and Mary flirting with the mon I’m to marry, and I don’t appreciate it.”
“Our little sister is trying to grow a backbone,” Laurel laughed. “You’re naught but a wee lass who doesn’t understand what that mon wants or how to give it to him.”
“And Alice does? She’s never been married either. How would she know?” Allyson glared at her sisters as she waited for her sisters to admit Alice was no innocent.
“She’s had the benefit of my and Mary’s experience. We have been able to enlighten Alice to what a mon expects in his bed.”
“You’ve turned her into a whore,” Allyson shuddered and took a step back, her hand going over her heart.
Alice reached up and pinched the back of Allyson’s arm as she pushed her toward the Great Hall and where Mary sat. “You would know after your time at court. There’s no way that you haven’t been bedded like every other whoring lady-in-waiting.”
“Where do you get your information? None of you have been to court more than a handful of times, and the last time was for Father to present you before the king and queen. That was years ago. None of you have spent time there, nor are you acquainted with any other ladies-in-waiting. How would you be aware of what happens there? You have naught but made up stories.”
“Mother and Father told us what goes on there.” Laurel lifted her chin higher in an attempt at haughtiness, but she looked ridiculous with her head tilted back.
“Neither of them has spent much time at court since Queen Elizabeth returned. How would they know? And if they’re so convinced it’s a moral abyss, why did they send me to serve there?”
“To rid us of you.” Alice didn’t hesitate in her response. She leaned close to Allyson’s ear but did little to lower her voice. “We all thought Father would find you a fat auld mon, slobbering to get a son off you.”
“But that’s not who the king chose, and now you and Mary are jealous that I’ve got a mon, a braw one, and you’ve got naught.”
“It’s not fair,” Alice whined before catching herself.
“Little in life is fair. It wasn’t fair that I was born into such a coldhearted family, but I’m surviving.”
“We’re only cold toward you,” Laurel sniffed.
“Why? What did I ever do to any of you?” Allyson was certain her sisters heard the neediness in her voice because they both grinned.
“You’re not one of us,” Laurel hissed.
“You presume either Mother or Father took a lover.”
“We’re certain Father has. Several. You’re one of his bastards fobbed off on Mother and us. We never wanted you,” Laurel practically barked the last words.
“How can you be certain?” Allyson needed to know, needed to hear her sisters confess what they’d taunted her with for years.
“Besides you resemble none of us? We never saw Mother’s waist expanding, so when we arrived home from court to find you screeching like a banshee, there was no other explanation. Mother did not bear you.”
“I have as much control over how I look as I do who my parents are. Why punish me?”
“You think we could speak out against Father? Besides, you’re the one we don’t want. You’re a disgrace, and a reminder to Mother of how horrid Father was to her. Why would any of us want a constant reminder?” Laurel crossed her arms, casting Allyson a look of utter disgust. Allyson felt like little more than refuse under her sisters’ hateful heels.
“Then leave me alone. You never took an interest in me before. Don’t bother now.”
“But you have something I want,” Alice chimed in.
“Ewan isn’t a something. He’s a person, and he’s a person the king has already decided will marry me.”
“He won’t if you step aside. You ran from him to avoid marrying him. You don’t want him, but you won’t let anyone else have him either. You’re selfish,” Alice whined.
