They sat in silence for several minutes while they finished packing her last trunk. Emily allowed her thoughts to drift.
All her life she’d had but one dream—to have her own keep and lands. Her father’s adamant refusal to see her wed had long vexed her. But for the coming year, she would be out of her father’s direct control and if she–
Joanne gave her a cold, suspicious stare. “What are thinking?”
Emily blinked at the intrusion on her thoughts. “What?” she repeated.
Joanne tsked. “By the look on your face, I would say ‘tis not something you should have been thinking.”
“Meaning?”
“I know that look, Em. ‘Tis the same one you had just before you locked poor Godfried in the garderobe.”
“He deserved it,” she said defensively, even though she took pride in the memory of the deed. Her cousin, Godfried, had only been in residence a sennight when they had declared war on one another. She’d never cared for him, and to have him fostered at her home where he had been free to mock her at will...
Well, his two-hour stint in the garderobe had taught him well she wasn’t one to be picked on with immunity. He’d treated her much more kindly and respectfully from that day forward.
“‘Tis also the same look you had just before you set father’s prized gyrfalcon free.”
Now that had not turned out so well. No older than five, she still swore she could feel the sting of her father’s hand across her backside. He’d not been happy when he learned she had felt sorry for his caged falcon and set it loose.
“Every time I have seen that look upon your face, mischief always followed. I can only shudder at what it heralds this time.”
Emily dismissed Joanne’s words with a wave of her hand. “Perhaps it heralds a way to have what I’ve always wanted.”
Joanne frowned. “How is that?”
“Do you think Lord Draven as evil as father claims?”
Joanne looked askance at her. “What are you thinking?” she asked again.
Emily shrugged. “I was thinking that Lord Draven might be the rose I’ve been seeking.”
“Oh, sister, please I beg you. Do not think that which I know you are thinking. You’ve heard the stories same as I. They say he killed his own father, just for pleasure.”
“But you said yourself that father is a harsh man with a kind heart.”
“Harsh, aye, but I’ve heard the earl of Ravenswood is mad. You’ve heard such tales yourself. That he is a demon who never sleeps. They say the devil himself has cleared a spot to the right hand of his throne in expectation of the day Lord Draven will join him.”
Emily felt her body deflate as she considered it further. “Nay, you are right. ‘Tis a foolish idea. I shall spend a year with a madman, then return here to finish out my life in solitary company.”
A single tear fled down her cheek.
Joanne reached out and brushed the tear away. “Don’t cry, Em. Someday your rose will come for you on the back of his white charger. He’ll face father’s wrath and triumph, then take you away from here just as Niles is doing with me.”
“I want my own life,” she whispered. “It’s so unfair!”
Joanne pulled her into a tight hug. “I know, little sister. I wish I could spend the year in your place. But the time will pass and I promise when it does, I shall beg father to let you come stay with. Then you shall have your freedom.”
Emily nodded as she hugged her sister tightly. “I hope so. But tell me, do you honestly think father will wait out the year?”
Joanne froze, then let go of her. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, until Emily heard footsteps shuffling outside. “I will kill him, if it is the last thing I do! I shall gouge out his eyes and grind them to dust. No man shall have my Em. No man. Ever!”
She cringed at the sound of her father’s voice through her door as he made his way to the garderobe.
Closing her eyes, Emily realized how futile it would be to hope her father would wait out the year. There was no way under heaven he would ever leave her in the clutches of his enemy with nothing more than that man’s oath to secure her welfare. He loved her too much and trusted Lord Draven too little.
