It made for some humorous– and tense– moments at times.
“I do not care what Effington thinks,” Ashton finally said, turning up his nose. “What’s between Addie and me is our business, not hers.”
“It’s going to be Anteaus’ business if you don’t do something about it,” Julian said.
Ashton shrugged, ever defiant. “It would serve Addie right if I married someone else,” he said. “That woman from earlier today– the de la Mere girl– is quite pretty the more I think on it. And she’ll be here tonight. Mayhap I should get to know her better and throw a little envy into Addie. If she sees me paying attention to another woman, mayhap it will drive her into my arms.”
Julian shook his head at the logic. “Or drive her fist into her eye,” he said. “Leave Lady Lista out of your manipulation. I have a feeling she has enough to deal with.”
Ashton looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“Did you see her mother and aunt?”
Ashton’s eyebrows lifted in realization. “Oh,that,” he said. “Those two were a pair. Mad, both of them.”
“It seems so.”
“If today was any indication, I have a feeling we are in for an interesting evening.”
Julian tucked his razor away, his thoughts lingering on Lista de la Mere. Ashton was right– she was quite pretty. Magnificent, even. He thought on her long, dark hair with some wave to it, her sweetly oval face and pert nose, but most of all, he thought on her eyes. They were the purest shade he’d ever seen, the greenish-blue of the ocean when the water was clear and cold. There was something about her that would make any man take a second look at her, including him. But he thought it all rather futile.
A woman like that would never look at a man like him.
A not-unfamiliar sense of disappointment swept him.
Washed and shaved, because Cole’s wife didn’t like dirty, smelly knights at her table, Julian went to the window that overlooked the bailey of Berwick Castle. It was a vast, open spaceand he could see the men moving about now that night had fallen, hundreds of torches lighting up the bailey and the night sky. On the wall walk, he could see men moving about but the mist was starting to roll in from the sea, creating halos around the torches that were staving off the darkness.
“The mist is rolling in,” he said. “It is going to be a cold and damp night.”
Ashton already had his tunic over his head, putting his belt on. “Mayhap Addie will require extra warmth,” he said, strapping a few weapons on his body. Broadswords were also forbidden in Berwick’s hall. “I would not be disinclined to warm her should she ask.”
Julian was still looking out of the window. “You should probably not tell me that,” he said. “I have told you this before– any untoward behavior with my sister will not only incur my wrath, but Cole’s as well. I do not think you can take us both on.”
Ashton lifted his head from where he’d been fumbling with his buckle. “Nor would I want to,” he said. “I did not mean that as a lascivious comment, only as a polite one.”
Julian cast him a long look. “Lies do not become you.”
Ashton snorted. “I am sorry I said anything at all,” he said, throwing up his hands in surrender. “Sometimes I forget to whom I am speaking.”
“You are speaking to Addington’s older brother,” Julian said, noting a party entering from the gatehouse, which had been closed up for the night. “I will be watching you tonight, Ash.”
“You will only see proper behavior, I promise.”
“And stay away from Anteaus.”
Ashton didn’t like that command, so he curled his lip unhappily at Julian and quit the chamber, heading out into the damp evening. Julian heard the door shut but didn’t pay it any attention because the small party entering the bailey had his focus. The area was so well lit that it didn’t take him long to seethat it was the de la Mere party– six soldiers, a knight, and three women. They were met by a servant, a man who was in charge of all visitors, and he could see clearly when they were directed to leave their horses and head to the hall.
Perhaps it was a good time for him to head to the hall, too.
It was thenightmare she had feared.
Lista had just spent the past three hours in a tavern down by the river’s edge, a grubby hovel of a place called The Silver Fish where there was a fight every hour, where women lifted their skirts and allowed men to do whatever they wished for a price, and where her mother and aunt could drink cheap wine that went straight to their heads.
An utter and complete nightmare.
After purchasing the brined fish and a few other things they needed from local merchants, the effects of the apothecary’s ingredients had worn off and Meadow and Flora were on the lookout for their next thrill. They had been in The Silver Fish before and knew the barkeep, a man who always kept them well supplied, so they rushed to the tavern before Lista and Amaury could stop them. Amaury went so far as to try and remove them but that nearly started a fight when the rough-looking patrons thought the knight was trying to harass the women. Only Lista’s intervention had prevented a bloodbath as Meadow and Flora went about drinking with the men.
They bought the entire tavern drinks.
