He didn’t seem much of a conversationalist so Lista didn’t continue. She simply nodded her head as if to acknowledge that things were settled between them and there were no hard feelings before turning around and heading off towards the east. Julian trailed after her, following her for the next twenty minutes until she finally found her mother and aunt in a merchant stall.
Once Julian saw the de la Mere escort, he backed off and returned to the de Velt group, but not before casting a lingering glance at Lista as she tried to convince her mother and aunt that they didn’t need whatever the vellum merchant was trying to sell them.
Julian never saw the lingering glance she cast him in return.
CHAPTER THREE
Berwick Castle
“She is abeautiful woman,” Ashton said. “Too bad she has the manners of a shrew.”
By candlelight and in the reflection of a polished bronze mirror, Julian was shaving the stubble off his neck, which his hauberk was starting to irritate.
“Who?” he asked.
Ashton had just splashed water all over his face. “Today,” he said, grabbing blindly for a towel. “The woman who told you that you were a poor commander.”
Julian watched his reflection in the mirror as he carefully shaved. “The de la Mere lass?”
“The same.”
They were in one of the many chambers of Berwick Castle, a vast complex of outbuildings, towers, chapels, and halls. Julian and Ashton were sharing a larger chamber in an apartment block near the southwest tower. There was some construction going on at the great donjon, which was synonymous with the great gatehouse, but there was also a keep on the northwest side of the castle where Cole and his family resided. In all, Berwick was a massive and impressive place, and Julian was alwaysproperly awed by his brother’s command but at this moment, he wasn’t thinking about Berwick.
He was thinking about a certain young woman who had insulted him.
“I suppose she is pretty enough,” he said after a moment, carefully moving up his throat with a sharp razor. “I didn’t think her manners were horrible.”
Ashton frowned. “She all but condemned your ability as a commander,” he said, agitated as he wiped his face. But he suddenly stopped. “And that’s another thing– speaking of commanders, I swear to you that if de Bourne so much as looks at your sister in a manner I do not like, I will flay the man.”
The change of subject was swift, from one young woman to another, and Julian grinned. “Anteaus de Bourne has as much right to look at Addie as you do,” he said. “Christ, Ash, you’ve known my sister for ten years and you have had your chance. She’s has grown tired of waiting for you.”
Ashton turned his nose up at him. “I’m to inherit Bowes Castle and my father’s titles,” he sniffed. “What does de Bourne have to offer her? Nothing. Nothing but his big muscles. The man is as stupid as a post.”
Julian burst out laughing. “He is more handsome than you are.”
“He isnot.”
“Addie thinks so.”
Ashton’s eyes widened. “Did she say so?”
Julian was still chuckling as he rinsed off his razor in the basin. Ashton was quite beauteous with his blond de Royans looks, but it was always fun to poke at the man’s pride.
“She did not,” he said. “But Effie has said so.”
Ashton sneered. “Effie has no bearing on the situation,” he said. “She has a husband, the poor man. She should not be commenting on the comeliness of other men.”
Julian snorted again, drying off his razor. “I like Rod,” he said, referring to Effington’s husband of several years. “And her husband is not a ‘poor man’. He’s skilled and wealthy. Rod de Titouan is a close ally of the Earl of Hereford and Worcester, you know.”
“I know.” Ashton tossed the towel aside. “I like Rod well enough, too, but Effington puts poison in Addie’s ears. Her attitude is always quite different after she visits with her sister.”
Julian glanced at him. “You mean that Effie tells Addie not to wait around for you?”
Ashton wasn’t going to admit to anything. As Julian had mentioned, he’d known Addington for several years, only becoming interested in her over the last two. Addington was a beautiful girl, but since the death of her father, she’d stuck to her mother like flies to honey. She really didn’t entertain suitors and the only reason she entertained Ashton was because he served at Pelinom. She saw him every day. But she was very much attached to her mother, something the family didn’t really talk about much.
There was an underlying reason for that.
With the loss of Cassian, Addington was the baby of the family and there was something in her that couldn’t seem to leave the nest, not just yet. She felt that her mother needed her more than a husband would. Ashton hadn’t pushed, and that worked well in his favor since he wasn’t entirely eager to marry yet, but when Cole’s brother-in-law, Anteaus, started showing interest in Addington last year, Ashton was forced into the position of a dog protecting his bone.
