Lisette shook her head and followed Isabeau back into the plainly furnished bedchamber, the blue silk of her half-sister’s gown swishing around her legs while Lisette’s scratchy woolen tunic chafed hers.
All of her lovely clothes had been taken away at her father’s death, and she had been made to dress like the lowliest of servant girls, her garments ill-fitting and coarse.
Her few pieces of jewelry were gone, too, a gold ring set with a perfectly rounded pearl that her father had presented to her for her seventeenth birthday just before he died.His precious gift had disappeared one day from her bedside table and she hadn’t seen it since.
The other was a necklace with a delicate gold cross that her father had given to her mother, which Elise had been wearing when she died, Hugh holding her lifeless hand and weeping at her bedside.The family’s old healer had told Lisette as much when she was old enough to understand, mayhap wanting her to know that her father had borne a great love for her mother.
When Claudia had gotten wind of it from a servant who had overheard the healer’s words, she had banished the man from ever stepping foot in the castle again.Yet Hugh had refused to allow his wife to take the necklace from Lisette, which he had given to her when she was only six years old.
Lisette would never forget how Claudia had snatched the cross from her neck the very moment her father had breathed his last, and cast it into the crackling flames in the fireplace.
A terrible thing to do.An unholy thing, Claudia’s triumphant expression and the hatred glittering in her dark eyes a foreshadowing of abuse to come.
Lisette had thought a hundred times of running away, but where?
She had no coin to her name.No other family.That kind healer had long ago gone to his grave.Now she was in a foreign land with Isabeau planning to wed her to one of the brutish warriors that had accompanied Laird MacCulloch to meet their ship—for so she had threatened moments ago, making Lisette’s hand slip with the comb.
Her hands begun to shake again at the thought, Lisette set the tray on the table next to the chair where Isabeau had plopped down, though her half-sister made no move to serve herself.
“Hand me that bowl, Lisette—God help us, do these nuns eat nothing but porridge for breakfast?No sweet pastries?No jam?If it’s the same at my new husband’s castle, my plan to marry you off as soon as I’m wed won’t be the only change I make—”
“Leave me here at the convent, I don’t wish to wed one of those men,” Lisette broke in with a small wince, wondering what Isabeau might hurl at her now.The bowl?Her half-sister stared at her as if she couldn’t believe Lisette had dared to speak up, but to Lisette’s surprise, Isabeau merely shrugged and dug her spoon into the porridge.
“What you want is of no consequence, you silly chit.Do you think it wasmychoice to come to Scotland for a husband?My marriage to Laird MacCulloch is just another alliance arranged by King Edward to secure ties between England and France, no matter he’s dead now and his son on the throne.At least Euan is pleasing to look upon and not some gaseous old man fumbling at me on our wedding night—mon Dieu!”Isabeau spat out the porridge and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.“This foul stuff is tasteless!I wish I could wed this very hour and not wait until Sunday, if only to leave this place and enjoy some decent food.Get it out of my sight!”
Lisette obliged her…anything to avoid the bowl thrown at her head.She had barely picked up the tray and moved it to a table near the narrow window when Isabeau launched herself from the chair.
“I almost forgot, Euan will be here soon to take me to visit the church so I can see it before we’re wed.He said it would be filled with wildflowers for our wedding.Isn’t that thoughtful of him?Fetch a cloak for me, Lisette, so I can go await him in the courtyard.”
Accustomed to having orders barked at her, she nodded and threw open one of the three large chests Isabeau had brought with her from France—each filled to the brim with fine garments in silk and satin, matching slippers, and luxurious fur-trimmed cloaks.Lisette pulled out the dark blue one on top and rushed over to Isabeau, who snatched it out of her hand and whirled it around her shoulders.
“How do I look?Will my future husband be pleased?”
“Oui, you look beautiful, Isabeau.”
In all honesty, how could Lisette say otherwise?Her half-sister’s stunning beauty had the effect of making most men stop cold to stare at her, and so had Laird MacCulloch upon his first glimpse of his bride when Isabeau had disembarked from the ship almost two weeks ago.Few women were comelier, though Lisette had noticed appraising looks cast her way, too, in spite of her plain brown tunic and tightly braided hair.
The two of them clearly were sisters for how much they resembled each other, both with willowy figures and creamy skin, though Lisette was shorter and her waist-length brown hair tinged with reddish highlights.She and Isabeau had both just turned eighteen, too, Lisette only a few weeks younger.For a fleeting moment, she saw that Isabeau’s expression had softened at her compliment, but then a sneer marred her half-sister’s lovely features.
“Don’t think that your pretty praise will spare you from my plans for you.Enjoy the peace of this wretched convent while you can, and you’d do well to eat that porridge.From the look of these Scotsmen, they’re a lusty lot.We can’t have you disappointing your brawny new husband on your wedding night.”
Isabeau’s amused laughter followed her from the room and down the hallway, leaving Lisette to sink into the nearest chair in despair.
The cloying scent of Isabeau’s lilac perfume hung in the air, which only made Lisette feel like retching as she stared at the now cold bowl of porridge.
A husband from among Laird MacCulloch’s men…and not a kind-looking face among them.How would he treat her?No doubt like a servant as had Claudia and Isabeau, but with the carnal use of her body thrown in to terrify her.
In her heart of hearts, she had dreamed of marrying one day…a good man, an honorable man like her father.Yet even with his strength of character, he hadn’t been strong enough to prevent Claudia’s cruelty towards her, Lisette certain that when her mother had died, he had lost a part of himself with her.
What must it be like to know such a profound love that the loss of it would cause enduring sorrow and heartache?Her father had always seemed to her to have one foot in life and the other in the grave, as if he couldn’t wait to see his beloved Elise again.
Sighing, Lisette rose from the chair and went to the tray to take a few bites of porridge, if only to ease the noisy pangs in her stomach.
Isabeau had been right, it was tasteless, but what else was she to do?
She must eat.She must live…and she refused to give up hope that angels in heaven would light another path for her.
A desperate thought, but mayhap she could plead with Laird MacCulloch to allow her to stay at the convent, which would give her some time to come up with another plan.No doubt her even approaching the Scotsman would enrage Isabeau, but what didn’t upset her half-sister when it had anything to do with Lisette?
