“Does he really want me back, Mama?” She took up a hairbrush and began brushing her damp tresses.
“I believe so. He is hurt, and he is angry, but he might have sought an annulment before this, which he hasn’t done. I have not seen him since your uncle left for England some months ago. He has written me on several occasions inquiring as to the status of our search, but never has he suggested ending your marriage. I will send a messenger to him first thing tomorrow morning.”
“So soon, Mama?”
“We’re going to leave forQueen’s Malverntomorrow, Velvet. The word of your return will be quickly around court circles, and I do not want you to have to face the gossips until you and Alex have settled your differences. Besides, I believe the country is a better place for you to recuperate. It will take our messenger at least five days, riding at top speed, to reachDun Broc.Then it will take Alex time to return with him. I do not expect you will have to see your husband for two weeks.”
“It does not seem so long,” Velvet replied.
“There is something that you should know, Velvet, and I do not want you to become angry when I tell you. When Alex was wounded, he was carried to the house of one Peter Wythe, a silversmith. Master Wythe had a daughter. I don’t know how it happened, but Alanna Wythe became Alex’s mistress. I thought to separate them by sending him home to Scotland, but he took her with him. She is atDun Brocnow.”
Velvet laughed bitterly. “He did not wait long to replace me in his bed, Mama, did he? Does he love her?”
“That is something that you will have to ask him yourself, Velvet, but I doubt it. Men seldom really love their mistresses. They consider them playthings and secretly hold them in contempt.”
“Is that how Geoffrey Southwood felt about you when you were his mistress, Mama?”
“Velvet! Where on earth did you ever hear such a thing?” Skye demanded.
“Don’t forget, Mama, that I spent some months at court while you were away. There were those who couldn’t wait to tell me of your adventures while you were young.”
“I am not yet old,” Skye retorted dryly. “Very well, Velvet, certain men love their mistresses more than their highborn wives. I do not believe, however, that this is the case with Alex.”
“Then why is she still with him, Mama? Frankly I hope he is in love with her. Then perhaps he will free me, and I can return to the man I love and our daughter.” Velvet stood up and shrugged the towel from her body. Her auburn hair was now dry, and it billowed about her shoulders. Walking to the bed, she donned the simple nightshift that was laid out and climbed into bed.
Skye plumped the goose-down pillows behind her daughter’s back in motherly fashion and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Have you cried any?” she asked Velvet.
“Would crying change all of this, Mama? Would crying bring me my little Yasaman? Tears are a waste of time.”
“Tears help to wash your pain from your soul, my darling.”
“No, Mama. The pain will keep me strong when Alex attempts to weaken me with his bullying.”
“Oh, Velvet, was your marriage to Alex that awful? I never meant that you should marry him unless you really wanted to. The betrothal was to please your father, but even he agreed that if, when you were grown, you did not suit, the match would be called off. I had hoped that perhaps you would love him.”
“I thought that I did, Mama, but still we fought constantly from the moment that we met.” “About what?”
“Everything! Anything!” Velvet smiled softly, but then her mouth grew grim again. “He does not know how to treat a woman, Mama. I was forever reminding him that I was not one of his dogs or his horses to be ordered about. Sometimes I thought that he was beginning to learn, but then we would be back to the old ‘I am the master and you’re merely my wife.’ I cannot live under such domination.”
“Was not the lord Akbar a dominating man?” Skye inquired.
“Not with me. He said that all the women he had ever known were fawning creatures who would not dream of questioning anything he either said or did. I was the first, he said, the very first woman who ever challenged him. He talked with me a great deal about his conquests, of religion, of his eldest son, Salim, who was so rebellious and resentful that his father still ruled when he wanted to seize the kingdom for himself. My lord Akbar said that actually his younger son, Prince Daniyal, was better suited to rule, but Daniyal is a drunkard. He loves wine more than power.”
Skye was fascinated. Velvet had obviously captured Akbar’s heart that he would unburden himself to her, speaking with her as he would an equal. “You loved him very much, didn’t you, my darling?”
“I shall always love him,” Velvet said quietly.
“You must try and rekindle your love for Alex, Velvet. That is obviously your fate or you would not be here now. Once when I was your age and very mutinous about the way life had treated me, my dear friend, Osman the Astrologer, told me that I must not fight against my fate; that what was ordained would be even if I did not like it. It took me a long time to realize the truth of his words. You and Alex have been through a trying time. You have each coped in your own fashion, but now, however, fate has ordained you be reunited. Don’t fight your fate, Velvet. Give your marriage a chance.”
Before Velvet could reply, the bedchamber door opened and Daisy came in bearing a tray. “Welcome home, Mistress Velvet. I thought you might want a bite before you go off to sleep.” She placed a tray containing a small bowl of clear broth, a plump capon wing, some fresh bread, a slice of runny Brie, and a fat peach upon Velvet’s lap.
“Thank you, Daisy! I think I actually am hungry, and I have not had Brie in so long!”
“It is I who should be thanking you, Mistress Velvet!” Daisy had tears in her eyes as she turned to Skye. “She saved my Pansy’s life, m’lady! She nursed her herself when Pansy got ill in that heathen land. Pansy could have lost her life, and that of little Dugie, had it not been for Mistress Velvet.” Daisy looked again at her mistress’s daughter. “God bless you, Mistress Velvet!”
Velvet flushed. “Oh, Daisy! Pansy makes much ado over little. Her pregnancy was advanced, and the fierce heat of India bothered her. I just saw that she was comfortable and had enough to drink. I didn’t even know she was enceinte.”
“I know what Pansy told me, m’lady. I won’t ever forget it either, Mistress Velvet.” Then Daisy bobbed a curtsy to the two women and departed.
