Page 27 of The Season of Lady Chastity

A figure stood just inside the door. The light from the wall sconces in the hall made her hair appear close to that of a heavenly halo but kept her face obscured by shadows. He didn’t need to see her face. Bastian’s entire body knew her identity as surely as if it had been his father entering the room.

“Lady Chastity?” It was still a question despite his confidence. “What are you doing here?”

Chapter 8

Chastity hadn’t overheard the conversation between Chapman and Bastian as they were departing the dining hall; however, the stricken look upon the earl’s face and the way he’d fled the room and up the stairs had Chastity following to lend her help. She’d sensed that there was something more to the lord than met the eye.

And now, she’d witnessed it firsthand.

Chastity could not turn around and wipe the image of Lady Mansfield cowering in her son’s arms, wailing as if she’d only just now suffered the greatest tragedy, from her mind.

She hurried to Bastian’s side, ignoring his concerned question, and dropped to her knees.

Pain like this, so raw and uncensored, was never shown in her home.

Emotion of any kind was suppressed and ignored, having no place in the Downshire household.

Pru and Chastity had been raised to not think of their lost mother. Triston was the same.

“How can I help?” she whispered.

She’d stood for only a brief moment, frozen as she witnessed Lady Mansfield’s immense grief pour from her as if a dam had broken. All while Bastian tried, in his own way, to staunch the flow.

It was Lady Mansfield who pulled away from her son long enough to meet Chastity’s eyes.

“You are real?” the older woman mumbled, her stare narrowing on Chastity as if she recognized her. “You are not my Duncan, but you are real.”

“I am, my lady.” Chastity set her hand on the woman’s shoulder as further proof. “I am Lady Chastity, Lord Mansfield and I met yesterday. By the moat, as it were. It is an interesting story I would be glad to share.”

The tension in Lady Mansfield’s tiny body began to ease as Chastity adjusted to sit on the floor beside Bastian and his mother. She knew she was intruding on a private moment, and it was clear she was not needed—and likely not wanted. She suspected this was a part of Bastian’s life that he worked tirelessly to keep from others.

Even with all that, Chastity hadn’t the heart to walk away and forget any of it.

Her heart hadn’t only broken for Lady Mansfield and everything she’d suffered as a result of the loss of her husband. Chastity was crestfallen at Bastian’s helplessness, as well. Saddened that it fell to him, solely and completely, to care for his mother. It wasn’t as Comstock and his companions teased. Bastian wasn’t connected and beholden to his mother out of his own needs but out of her dependence on him. If Bastian hadn’t left school and remained by his mother’s side, where would she be now?

His noble, self-sacrificing action was too much for Chastity to fathom.

He’d given up his education, his own experiences, and kept his life on hold all to make certain his mother’s life remained within her grasp.

“I think I would like that, my dear,” Lady Mansfield said, using the last of her strength. “But first, I think I need rest.”

“Of course, Mama.” Bastian easily got to his feet, never letting his grip on Lady Mansfield weaken as he moved toward the bed. The covers had been pulled from it.

Pushing to her feet, Chastity quickly gathered the discarded bedding as a maid appeared in the open doorway.

“Would you be so kind as to fetch tea for my mother?” Bastian called to the servant. “Something with roseroot.”

“No, valerian root will better serve.” Chastity trailed Bastian to the bed, where he settled his mother and retrieved the blankets from Chastity to tuck around the aging woman who lay, spent and frail, in the oversized bed. “It will help to calm and bring about sleep.”

Chastity did not fail to notice the maid remained in the doorway, focused on Bastian for direction.

“Yes, tea with valerian root will do fine.” At Bastian’s decision, the maid nodded and departed.

He lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed, smoothing the blankets around his mother where she reclined against the gathered pillows.

After asking what Chastity was doing there, he hadn’t said another word to her, and it was understandable that Bastian would be angry at her unwarranted intrusion.

“Are you better?” He cupped Lady Mansfield’s face in his hands. “Do you want me to call for the physician?”