“Thank you, my lord,” he said. “I will.”
Kevin didn’t want to give the man the opportunity to ask more questions, so he simply turned away, heaving Juliandra’s trunk onto one broad shoulder. Taking the lady by the wrist, he led her out of the shop where another knight and the horses awaited.
As Kymbal watched them ride off down the street, there were many questions in his sharp, old mind, but questions that would evidently have to wait for answers.
It was a curious situation, indeed.
CHAPTER NINE
The dress wasgoing to be quite fetching.
After returning from Pool, Juliandra spent a good deal of time unloading the trunk and organizing the contents. While she’d been away, the servants had stripped the bed she’d slept on, including the mattress, and she had been told that everything was being washed and the mattress restuffed. Therefore, she had been greeted with a barren bedframe in the center of that massive gatehouse chamber.
With her return to Wybren, and knowing that she was going to have to make the best of her situation, she focused on her new clothing and on the broken-down wardrobe. She had pulled out all of the smelly, old clothing and put them aside, while keeping some of the more expensive pieces that simply needed to be cleaned or mended, or both. One of the items was a glorious leather robe, sleeveless, with a fur lining, and although it was too long for her, it would make a wonderfully warm cover on cold nights.
She wondered how many of those cold nights were in store for her.
Keeping busy seemed to be the best solution to ignore the uncertainty of the future, so she kept very busy. She set about stitching up a new garment that needed the least amount of work, a fine woolen sheath garment the color of burgundy wine with sleeves that were a dark green in color. The dark green also lined the neckline and the wrists, and it was truly a lovely piece.
All it needed were the sleeves stitched to the arm holes and the seams reinforced, and she set about doing that, sitting by the window and watching the traffic go in and out of Wybren. She watched a little girl, a farmer’s daughter, weep because she brought a big cow into the castle but evidently had to leave without it. She heard the child crying for her cow and it gave her a chuckle. She remembered when she was young and how she’d had a pet lamb who had grown up and somehow ended up in the stew pot.
To this day, she couldn’t eat mutton.
Memories of her lamb kept her company as she sewed on the burgundy-colored dress, finishing it up enough that she was able to try it on for size. It fit well enough, but there were ties in the back that she couldn’t quite get to. She was trying in vain to tie them herself when there was a knock on her chamber door.
Holding the dress together, she shuffled over to the big, oaken panel. “Who comes?”
“De Lara.”
Without hesitation, she opened the door, coming face to face with Kevin as he stood on the top step. Their eyes met and she felt that same jolt again, that lightning strike. It was enough to cause her heart to race as she realized that she was not all that unhappy to see him. In fact, she actually smiled at him.
“Did you come to ask me more questions, my lord?” she said hopefully.
Kevin shrugged. “Not the ones you are speaking of,” he said. “I have come to ask you if you will sup in the hall tonight. It seems rather rude to force you to eat in this chamber when there is a perfectly good hall to eat in.”
He didn’t have to come personally to ask her such a thing, but that thought didn’t occur to her. It didn’t occur to her that, perhaps, he simply wanted to see her again. The only thing on her mind was the fact that the idea of supping with him did not displease her.
“If you wish,” she said. “Although the hall is for guests.”
“You are my guest.”
“I amnota guest.”
He eyed her, perhaps contemplating if he should continue that line of discussion. It was an argument neither one of them could win, so he decided against it. Technically, she was correct, though he wouldn’t admit it. His gaze moved to the dress she was wearing, something new she had brought from Pool.
In fact, he had to take a second look. The dress fit her slender torso like a glove, with a wide neckline that displayed her pale shoulders and swan-like neck. It was quite lovely, but he also noticed that she was positioned rather strangely as she stood there, with her hand on her back. He pointed.
“What is the matter with you?” he asked. “Why do you hold yourself like that?”
Juliandra grinned. “Unfortunately, this garment has ties in the back,” she said. “I was trying it on when you knocked. If I let go, the entire thing may fall off.”
He rubbed his chin. “I am not a maid, nor do I know anything about women’s clothing, but I can tie a knot if you need assistance.”
Her smile broadened. “Do you think so?”
His lips twitched with a smirk. “It is possible.”
She beckoned him into the chamber. “It is your own fault, really,” she said. “You sent Megsy home and I have no one to help me.”
