“Come,” she said.
The door creaked open and she turned to see Jude enter the chamber. With her, she carried Cadelyn’s green traveling ensemble, the one that had been so muddied the day before. It was perfectly clean and Cadelyn came away from the window, gasping when she saw how wonderful it looked.
“You worked a miracle on it,” she said, fingering the fabric. “How on earth did you clean off all the mud?”
Jude grinned proudly. “We make a soap here that will clean the spots from a cow, m’lady,” she said. “It has cleaned yer clothing well.”
Cadelyn nodded. Then, she coughed and sneezed all at the same time. Jude looked at her with great concern.
“God’s Bones,” she hissed. “Ye’re ill, m’lady. Get back tae bed and I’ll have someone come and build yer fire.”
Cadelyn let the woman rush her back over to the bed and put her beneath the heavy coverlet. “I have felt better in my life,” she admitted. “Where are the knights? Are they preparing the escort already?”
Jude tucked her in, nearly suffocating her because she tightened the coverlet so much. “There is a pair down in the common room,” she said. “I will go tae them and ask.”
“Send one of them up to me, please,” Cadelyn said. Then, she eyed the big woman. “The… the big, blond knight isn’t down there, is he?”
Jude nodded. “He is,” she said. “I saw him. Ye stay here, m’lady. I’ll bring ye something for yer cough.”
She fled the chamber and shut the door. Smug in the knowledge that Kress would soon be at her bedside, Cadelyn snuggled down beneath the covers and waited for the man to appear. It wasn’t a long wait. In fact, in very little time, there was a knock at her door.
“Come!” she called.
The panel opened and Bric stood in the doorway. He was without his helm and, indeed, he had very blond hair, so blond that it was white. No longer thrilled that Kress would soon arrive, Cadelyn looked at the man in disappointment.
“You sent for me, my lady?” Bric asked in his heavy Irish brogue.
Cadelyn shook her head. “I asked Jude if a blond knight was in the common room and she said there was one,” she said. “I meant Kress but I forgot about you.”
Bric lifted an eyebrow. “Thank you, my lady.”
Cadelyn grinned when she realized how she’d sounded. “I did not mean to say that you were insignificant,” she said. “I simply meant that I have gotten used to all of you with your helms on, forgetting you, too, are blond and… oh, never mind. It is of little matter. I am too ill to travel this morning so you must relay that to Kress and Alexander. I am in no condition to meet the Earl of Ellesmere in the next two days.”
Bric stood there for a moment, watching her cough and sniffle. “Alexander has already sent word to The Paladin, my lady,” he said. “He did that early this morning.”
She sniffled into the coverlet because she didn’t have a handkerchief. “Then you must tell him right away that I am ill,” she said. “Hurry, please.”
Bric simply quit the chamber without another word, shutting the door behind him. The dog had stood up when Bric entered. He now wandered over to the bed and jumped up on it, settling down at Cadelyn’s feet. She sat in the bed for a minute or two, coughing and rubbing at her sore ear, when there was another knock.
“Come!” she practically shouted.
The door opened yet again and Jude entered followed by Susanna. The innkeeper’s daughter had a tray with her, setting it on the bed so Cadelyn could get to it. Behind Susanna came a wench lugging a bucket of peat and firewood. As the wench began to coax forth the embers in the hearth, Jude went over to help her because she evidently wasn’t doing a good enough job. That left Susanna alone by the bed with Cadelyn.
“Are you not feeling well, Cadie?” Susanna asked quietly.
Cadelyn looked at her in shock. Susanna sounded hoarse and terrible. Her nose was red and even as she looked at Cadelyn, she coughed into her hand.
“Are you ill, too?” Cadelyn asked. “Sweet Mary, Susanna, you should be in bed as well. We are not going anywhere today.”
Susanna sighed heavily and pulled up a chair, plopping down onto it. She was dressed in her usual mail and tunic, with her copper curls braided and draped over one shoulder. She was dressed for travel. But she looked pale and sickly.
“De Sherrington has already sent word to your future husband,” Susanna said. “They will be expecting you.”
Cadelyn stayed firm. “I will not leave today,” she said. “I will not meet the earl and cough in his face. They will have to understand.”
“And if they do not?”
“What can they do? Drag me out of my sick bed?”
