Meadow smiled at him before catching sight of her daughter a few feet behind him. “Ah,” she said, extending her hand to Lista. “My daughter has come. Have you met my daughter, Knight? She is a good and obedient lass.”
Clearly, she didn’t recognize Julian from earlier in the day and he didn’t remind her. He simply held out his hand to her.
“Let me help you rise, my lady,” he said, ignoring her question. “Take my hand.”
Meadow looked at the hand but made no move to take it. “I think not,” she said. “We are enjoying the night. I think we will remain here a little longer.”
Listening to her mother, Lista knew she was drunk, but she was probably also under the influence of any number of weeds or potions that she’d bought at the apothecary. She managed to get around Julian and came up between her mother and aunt.
“Stop it, both of you,” she hissed. “You are shaming yourselves and worst of all, you are shaming me. You are making a mockery of Lady de Velt’s invitation to sup, so get up and behave yourselves.”
Meadow and Flora looked at Lista, shocked by the tone she took. “You cannot speak to me that way,” Flora said. “I will do as I please.”
“Shut up,” Lista snapped, her patience gone. “You are a foolish, ridiculous woman and you have lured my mother into your foolish and ridiculous world. I’ll see no more of this, do you hear me? My mother is going with me but I do not care if you fall off this wall and break your stupid neck. Do whatever you wish but leave my mother out of it.”
With that, she grasped her mother under both arms and pulled her away from the ledge. Then, she helped her mother to her feet as Flora hurled insults at her.
“Ungrateful child!” she said. “Ungrateful and unruly child. Leave your mother alone. You cannot command her!”
Lista ignored her. She had her mother on her feet and that was all she cared about. Julian was there, once again offering his help. Lista had her hands on her mother, helping the woman walk, but when she looked up at Julian, all she could see was that handsome face in the weak torchlight. When their gazes met, she smiled.
He smiled back.
Meadow grabbed his outstretched hand and Julian led her and Lista back down the wall walk towards the tower. That left Flora sitting on the edge, grumbling and insulting her niece, as Amaury went to the woman and held his hand out to her. Flora turned her nose up at him, but he did what he’d done a hundred times before. He grabbed her by the arm to pull her to her feet but instead of being compliant, as she usually was when it came to Amaury, she violently pulled away from him. That momentum caused Amaury to lose his balance and with the slick stone, he wasn’t able to recover. He pitched right over the side, disappearing in the mist as Flora screamed.
Startled, Lista and Meadow came to a halt just in time to hear Amaury hit the ground below. It was a sickening, loud noise. Flora was still screaming and men down below were shouting, and Lista broke away from her mother, running for the tower with the stairs that led below. She could hear Julian calling after her, telling her to slow down, but she didn’t listen. She took the tower stairs too fast and ended up slipping at the bottom, falling to her knees in the mud of the bailey. But she was on her feet in an instant, running over to the area where Amaury had gone down.
Men were gathered around a crumpled form on the ground and Lista pushed through, only to be confronted by a man who had fallen on his face into the mud. At least, that’s what it lookedlike. Amaury’s neck was bent at a sharp angle and she fell to her knees beside him.
“My God,” she gasped in horror, putting her hands on the man to turn him over. “Amaury, can you hear me?”
Julian and Anteaus were beside her, helping her roll Amaury over, but it was abundantly clear that the man was dead. His neck was broken and when he rolled onto his back, one eye was shut and mashed with mud while the other eye was open, staring into nothingness.
One look and Lista knew he was beyond help.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was dawnon a morning that, given the mist from the night before, had cleared up rapidly. The sun was bright overhead and the sky was a brilliant blue with the scent of the sea heavy upon the air. In the bailey of Berwick Castle, which smelled heavily of smoke from the morning fires, gulls cried overhead as the de la Mere escort prepared to depart.
Amaury’s body was strapped to a wagon loaned to them by Cole, tightly wrapped in oiled canvas and secured for the journey home. They had six soldiers with them and an old sergeant who was now the commander of their escort. Even so, the old soldier had four high-caliber de Velt knights helping him with his very small escort, making sure the body was secured, making sure the ladies’ palfreys were ready, and any number of smaller details. All these things, that one or two men could have easily secured, still had Julian, Cole, Anteaus, and Ashton going over to assist the escort.
Flora and Meadow stood with Kellington, looking forlorn and pale. While Flora wept into her kerchief, Meadow and Kellington spoke softly between them, even holding hands at one point. Addington stood with Lista, who was watching the preparations grimly. She’d spent a sleepless night with theimpact of what had happened haunting her dreams, the death of a man she’d known more than half her life. Part of that sleepless night involved taking everything her mother and Flora had purchased from the apothecary and burning it. Every single thing they’d procured was in ashes. When Flora slapped her for her actions, Lista slapped her aunt hard enough to send the woman to her knees.
She utterly, completely blamed Flora for Amaury’s death.
And Flora knew it.
Therefore, there was trouble brewing on this morning as well, with Flora’s mood and Lista’s morose countenance. It wouldn’t take much for things to explode between them, another reason why they were standing so far apart. Lista wouldn’t even look at her aunt and she would barely look at her mother while Addington kept silent vigil with her new friend.
A friendship, Lista was sure, would be over the moment they left the gates of Berwick.
“I did not yet thank you for the loan of your beautiful blue dress,” Lista said, simply to make conversation. “You have many beautiful garments with such lovely embroidery. Did you do that?”
Addington looked at her, sliding her hand through the crook of her elbow because it was the first time all morning that Lista had spoken more than two words.
Addington took it as an invitation.
“Some of it,” she said. “I’ve always liked to embroider, but what you saw is my mother and sister’s handiwork. They sew beautifully.”
