“What is it?”
“Knowing you are escorting us home makes me feel better already.”
He was still smiling, though her gentle flirt had him shifting nervously. “Did you think I would simply let you go and not do what I could to assist you?”
“I did not think that, but I am glad we are traveling together,” she said. “Your sister will be my guest for a few days, it seems. You are also welcome to stay if you wish. I am sure Addington will need an escort home when she decides to return, so you may as well stay unless you have pressing duties elsewhere.”
It was an unexpected, but not unwelcome, invitation and his cheeks flushed in the slightest. Mostly because he very much wanted to accept. He’d spent his life being shunned one way or another, so an invitation from a lovely young woman had his heart fluttering.
“I do not have pressing duties elsewhere, at least not for the moment,” he said. “I accept your invitation.”
Lista grinned at him and he grinned back, but it was an embarrassed sort of grin and quite charming. But Lista was precluded from saying anything further when Kellington arrived at the carriage with her mother and aunt. They climbed in, lethargically, and sat on the couch facing backwards in the cab. Neither one of them were happy, with aching heads and bellies from everything they’d ingested the day before.
“Do not forget, Meadow,” Kellington said. “I will see you in a few days for a nice, long visit. I am looking forward to it.”
Meadow smiled weakly. “As am I,” she said. “I am so glad to have seen you again, Kelli. I hope this means we shall not lose touch again.”
“We won’t, I promise,” Kellington said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. Just as she did so, she was buffeted by Addington, who had just arrived. She shoved her satchel at Julian and climbed into the cab, pushing past her mother as she sat next to Lista. “Ah, Addie is here. Safe journey to you all, ladies. I shall see you soon.”
Addington waved at her mother, excited to be going on a new adventure, as Kellington stepped back and Julian shut the door and bolted it. They could hear the knights outside the carriage, mostly Julian, shouting orders to the escort and Lista realized that not only were the knights accompanying them home, but there were evidently about forty de Velt soldiers coming as well.
It made for quite a secure escort.
The carriage lurched forward and the rocking motion had Meadow and Flora sleeping before they’d even left the village of Berwick. As the pair snored away, Addington pulled out a deck of painted cards and she and Lista settled down to a card game where each player had to come up with card combinations totaling the number ten and setting those cards aside until there were no more cards left.
Lista had never played it before and it was a lovely way to pass the hours until they reached Felkington Castle on a rather clear and blustery day, but no matter how focused they were on the game and their conversation, Lista kept her ears open for a certain young knight who seemed to be riding directly next to the carriage. Every time she looked up from her card came and to the window behind Addington, she could see Julian there.
In spite of the cargo they carried, it turned out to be one of the more enjoyable trips home.
CHAPTER SIX
Felkington Castle
“Did you seehow those knights looked at her?” Flora asked. “Did you see how the one with the strange eyes looked at her? The de Velt son?”
Meadow and Flora were burning hemp in the tower room where they always burned such things. It was high enough above the castle that the smell of the smoke, a sickly sweet smell, floated skyward and didn’t fill the castle below. The two of them would pile the dried leaves from thehenep, or hemp plant, into a brazier and light them on fire. The smoke would fill the tower chamber and they would inhale deeply, bringing about a sense of calm and relaxation to them both. Sometimes, they’d spend days in the tower room, simply inhaling the smoke.
Like today.
Two days after their return from Berwick, they were holed up in the tower room inhaling smoke and had been ever since they’d buried Amaury at St. Paul’s Church, the tiny parish church in Felkington where Meadow’s husband and son were both buried. Once Amaury was put in a crypt in the corner, a stone box that had been emptied of the lord who had once been buried there,Meadow and Flora retreated to the tower room and sat in a haze of blue smoke.
After two days of burning the weeds, they were down to the last of the hemp. The food that the servants had been bringing to them on an hourly basis during the day was mostly gone as they awaited the morning influx of sustenance, but Flora, who hadn’t spoken much since their return, now seemed to have something to say.
That sweet-smelling smoke had her thinking.
At times, that could be dangerous.
“Did you hear me?” she said to her sister. “Wake up and listen to me.”
“I am awake,” Meadow said, her eyes half-lidded. “I did not notice anyone paying Lista attention. What did you see?”
Flora was laying on a cushioned pallet, staring at the ceiling. Her mind was so much mush but, in a sense, it was also heightened. The smoke from the hemp was potent and gave her thoughts that were often profound and enlightening. At least, she thought they were.
Most of the time, however, they were nonsense.
“Lista is meant to help us,” she mumbled. “The Wu has spoken to me, Meadow. He tells me that our opportunity has come. Listaisour opportunity.”
Meadow was staring into the room, dazed, but her sister’s words had her turning to the woman questioningly.
