“But what happens to him? What about my family? You tell me nothing!”
Stay wary, girl. They are coming.
“You have already said that.”
She did not respond.
95. Wife
On that fourth evening, Alric came to our rooms with a jug of whiskey and fresh tin cups, contentment in his manner. “What shall we read tonight?” he asked, handing me my cup as I sat up in the bed. “I think a romance?” His mouth was soft as he sat down in the desk chair, eyes on me.
I found myself wishing he would smile fully again. But also I could not stop the words on my lips. “What were you and the Lady Vinia discussing in the corridor? Three days prior?”
He paused in raising his cup to his mouth. “The lady?”
“Yes. You and the lady. After the midday meal. Do not pretend to me, Alric.”
He frowned, a flicker of irritation on his face. “I did not pretend. I was surprised at your asking me. What is it that you wish to know?”
I willed my voice to be calm and my eyes dry. “Twice before I have come across the two of you speaking. This is but the most recent.”
My husband looked at me with confusion, but said “She tells me how my child comes along in the world. As I do not have the privilege of knowing myself.”
“She is not your child,” I said before I could think to halt myself.
Girl, came the warning scratch of Mother Earth’s voice.Girl, tread with care.
He straightened in the chair. “Edith. I do understand that you are upset—”
“She has a streak in her hair. Like Halsted. And her brothers.” I was without control.
Alric stared at me, his mouth again that slash without any softness. “And— And how do you know this?”
“They buy her dye at the same dyer’s from which Helena buys minerals for paint.”
“That is not, in itself, evidence enough for me to confront the lady.”
I knew I was in dangerous waters, but I kept on. “Have you ever wondered if she lied? Have you ever questioned it? Did you take her word as truth without question?”
“Edith.” He looked both irked and unsure. “What brings this on? Do you feel disrespected in some way? I have never spoken with the lady in private, not in a long time, let alone during our marriage. I have not so much as looked at another woman in four seasons.”
I took a sip of whiskey. “I believe she has led you to believe, over the winters, that her daughter is yours. So she could have you still. In some way, she still has you.”
“Has me?” Alric set his own whiskey on the desk and laced his fingers together in his lap. “Why would she want to tell such a tremendous lie?”
“Tohave you,” I cried. “She made a grave error by choosing Halsted and she must live with it. But in this, she can still have a part of you. In this, you are joined.”
He shook his head. “Her love for me has been replaced by her love for her children and I believe her to have ultimately found amity with her lord.”
“You have never questioned the timing of conception?”
“Edith, how can you say such things?”
I was becoming unhinged. “You have not? You have never questioned it. What if the timing is off? What if you add up the days and the child came too early or late to have been yours?”
He glared at me. “I’m sure there is some explanation to whatever—”
I laughed. “Will you take antidote from your poisoner?”
