“We haven’t time to send for Thessalia, with the dance only hours away, so we shall go to her. It really is most unladylike, but there is no time for an alternative.”
Surrounded by an escort of mounted guardsmen, Lady Anne led Kara through the palace at a swift walk to where a carriage was waiting.
“I have sent a messenger to tell her we are coming.” Suddenly, as she lifted her foot onto the step, she turned and looked at Kara with a frown. “Do you really need to bring your sword?”
Perhaps you are afraid? Kara wondered. That suits me well enough.
“I haven’t even had time to change from my travelling clothes, Lady Anne. Nor have I had time to bathe or rest since my arrival in Varrock this morning. I haven’t even had a chance to speak to my friends since you whisked me away from the festival.”
“There will be time for that later,” Anne said. Kara thought she detected a note of anger in her voice. “And I am doing you a favour Kara-Meir. If you want to attend the dance tonight looking like a… a woodcutter’s daughter, then that will be to your disadvantage.”
Woodcutter’s daughter? An interesting phrase.
Kara stepped up and sat opposite her on the plush cushions. She saw how Anne’s face ran coldly over her mud-stained leggings.
I wonder if I have left a mark?
I do hope so.
A second young woman climbed inside and sat at a respectful distance. She still wore the same happy smile that she had when Anne had commanded her to come with them. Kara noted a prominent gap between the dark-haired girl’s front teeth, which made her smile far more pleasing.
“What do you think Thessalia will be able to do with her, Lady Caroline?” Anne asked their companion.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Caroline replied, then she turned to Kara. “You have fine skin, Lady Kara. It is too tanned to be of fashionable tastes, but everyone knows you have been travelling in The Wilderness-”
“She is no lady!” Anne scolded sharply. Caroline bowed her head, and Anne turned to their companion, a practiced look of contrition on her face. “I mean no offence Kara, but here in Varrock tradition is what keeps our city in order. Everyone knows their place. You do understand?”
Yes I do. I most certainly do you spiteful-
The carriage shuddered violently as it jerked into motion, interrupting her thoughts.
Something in Kara’s eyes must have told Anne to calm her tongue, and instead she turned to Caroline, who sat nervously, looking out of the window as the carriage drove onto the square and through the crowds.
“Did I tell you that Lord de Adlard wishes to dance with you this evening, Caroline?” Anne asked lightly.
The younger woman-probably no more than seventeen- blushed and smiled involuntarily.
“No, you hadn’t mentioned it.” Suddenly she frowned slightly, and her voice wavered when she spoke. “What do you think people will say?”
“William de Adlard is not the most prestigious name in court, Caroline, that is true. But his is an old name, and although he may be a godless man, with no belief in Saradomin, and a man with no martial ambitions, you must remember that his grandfather was chancellor for a time, and an able one too, I believe.”
Kara saw Caroline’s dark eyes dip doubtfully.
“But is he not a little… dull?”
“That is to be commended, my dear sweet lamb,” Anne laughed.
Kara grimaced, hiding her eyes under her hand.
I am tired. I killed fourteen men today, and yet only now is it that I feel… unclean. It wasn’t like this before. Not in battle.
“How is that commendable?” Caroline asked.
“It means he’s a safe man. It means he would make an excellent husband.”
Kara dropped her hand in time to see Anne’s blue eyes widen in emphasis.
“Oh. Oh!” Caroline covered her mouth with embarrassment. “Oh…”
No one spoke again and the carriage continued its slow journey. Eventually it came to a stop at a two-storey grey-stone building at the south of the square. Green-tinted stained-glass windows gave the building an expensive look. Outside, guarding the door, stood a wide-shouldered man with a heavy wooden cudgel. On the lookout for thieves, Kara guessed.
Perhaps he will mistake me for Pia? That could be interesting.
“Come along, Kara. And stop grinning like that.” Anne looked at her with visible distress. “It’s… unnerving. The carriage and escort will wait for us.”
“It would have been quicker to walk,” Kara commented.
Caroline tittered behind her. Anne just stared for a moment, then spoke.
“That would not do,” she said icily. “You have much to learn if you wish to be a lady in court, Kara-Meir, very much.”
The door to Thessalia’s Fine Clothes led into a small passageway where a second door, stouter than the first, stood ajar. Inside stood a thin old woman with greying hair, and behind her waited a second woman-younger, with obvious similarities. Her hair was straight and blonde, her body thin and tall, her straight back and demeanour the sign of rigorous training.
Mother and daughter, Kara realised.
“Ah, the kind Thessalias,” Anne remarked as she led the way into the room. Kara stepped after her, her hand resting naturally upon her sword hilt. The chamber was large and square, with a multitude of dressed mannequins off to one side, and drawers filled with fabrics stacked all the way to the ceiling on the other.
“I hope you will be pleased with your gown for tonight, my lady,” the older Thessalia said, bowing quickly to Anne. Behind her, the daughter offered a curtsey which Anne acknowledged with a smile.
“I know it will be perfect, Madame Thessalia,” she said to the older woman. “Now, I need you both to turn your talents to this young woman. The King requires that she be well-presented at tonight’s dance.”
Madame Thessalia examined Kara with her piercing grey eyes, making her feel uneasy. She hummed to herself as she did so, taking her time. Every so often she would glance to one of the mannequins, and then back again. Sometimes she would shake her head and make a disappointed clucking sound with her tongue. Once she even wrinkled her face up, as if she had witnessed a dreadful accident.
“No, that won’t do,” she mused to herself. Kara caught sight of Anne’s face in one of the many full-length mirrors. She couldn’t be certain, but she believed the noblewoman was smirking. Then the older woman spoke.
“With such a short notice it will be a rather rushed job I am afraid, my lady,” Madame Thessalia warned. “Many of my best gowns have been sold already for tonight, of course.”
“Perhaps she should bathe first, mother?” the younger Thessalia said innocently. “I can ask Rupert to prepare the tub upstairs.”
Anything to get me away from those eyes, Kara thought. “I think that is an excellent idea,” she said aloud. “I haven’t had a chance to bathe, and I would like to do so. Now.”
The mother nodded and the daughter led Kara upstairs. The rest of the group followed.
Surely they are not going to watch me bathe, as well?
“I am sorry to have to inform you of some bad news, Lady Anne,” Kara heard Madame Thessalia say behind her.
Hopefully you’ll have left a pin in her gown.
Kara found herself smiling again. She turned to deliver the most unnerving grin she could summon. Her efforts were rewarded as Anne looked quickly away.
“Yes,” the dressmaker continued, “I am afraid that one of my suppliers-a tailor-passed away very suddenly.” She hummed uncomfortably. “It seems as if he and his family fell to the plague. I believe his wife has been isolated. It means that the mink gloves you ordered won’t be ready on time.”
Kara didn’t hear Anne’s response as she turned the corner in the stairs and emerged into the bathing room. Green light, filtered through the stained-glass windows, gave the room a natural ambience. Comfortable chairs were arrayed in the manner of a private lounge, and an unfamiliar yet attractive fragrance caused her to breathe in deeply. Upon each side of her, the room was broken up by two wooden screens. Behind the one to her left she heard the splash of water being emptied from a bucket into a bath.
“Rupert?” the younger Thessalia called. A young man appeared from behind the bathing screen. “The lady will take her bath now. Go and fuel the stove.”
Rupert bowed nervously and disappeared down the stairs as the daughter took Kara’s satchel from her shoulder and placed it carefully on a three-legged stool beneath the window.
“Remove your clothing and take your bath,” she instructed. “Go behind the screen if you wish to be modest.”
Anne settled upon the nearest chair, inspecting the cushion before she did so. She shot Kara a look of impatience. To her right sat Caroline, who occupied herself by looking over an open drawer of dyed fabrics.
Am I boring you ladies?
Caroline looked up, and she gasped.
“Oh!”
For Kara was swiftly undressing. She had thrown her cloak down onto the stool, quite deliberately draping it over her satchel. Her shirt followed, and then she reached for her leggings.
“Oh,” Lady Caroline said again, covering her mouth. “Oh, gosh…”
Anne’s eyes met Kara’s coldly as she dropped her leggings onto her shirt. There was nothing left for her to remove. She held only her sword, still in its scabbard.
“Modesty is only a fool’s pride, Lady Anne,” she said lightly. “It is the first casualty when you hunt murderers in The Wilderness for weeks on end,” she added with relish. “I have bathed in lakes and rivers under the sun and stars while my friends kept an eye out for enemies. Now I will take my bath, and I will take my sword with me, for I don’t like leaving it out of reach. It’s a habit of mine.”
The tub was enormous, and Kara sank into the hot water gratefully. She rested her hands on the copper rim. Steam rose from the surface and condensation dripped from a fogged mirror that hung on the wall to her immediate right, above a slate shelf. Next to the tub sat a small stool. She could feel the heat rising from below, for Rupert, downstairs, would be piling wood into a stove that would keep the water warm.
I just hope he knows how much wood to put in, or else I will boil. Despite that, the water felt wonderful on her skin.
The older Thessalia was saying something beyond the screen, but Kara didn’t catch it. Her daughter made a remark, and then Anne replied with a sharp tone. As ever, Caroline giggled. Kara could imagine the dark-eyed pretty girl with her hand over her mouth again.
The conversation ended as one or both of the Thessalias opened drawers and lifted cloth from cupboards. Basking now in the warmth, Kara was content to let them get on with it. Her muscles needed a soak, and she had looked forward to a bath for some days now.
She peered at the slate shelf below the mirror. A dozen bottles with granules of varying colours were lined up, ready for use. Kara didn’t know whether to eat them or pour them into the water. She picked up one with a red colour and a cherry scent, and suddenly she had a vision of running out into the room after smearing it around her mouth and face, grinning insanely and holding her sword aloft, waving it at Anne.
How she would scream.
Suddenly and quite uncontrollably, she laughed. Then she ducked her head below the water to silence herself. But when she resurfaced she found Caroline standing over her.
“Is everything well?”
Kara pushed her wet hair back from her face.
“Quite well, thank you,” she said. “Although… could you tell me which of these you would… recommend?” Kara pointed to the shelf lined with the confusing lotions. Caroline smiled knowingly.
“Any and all,” she advised, smiling meekly. She pointed to the bottle Kara still clutched in her hand. “I like that one, the cherry scent.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “Although Lady Anne thinks it’s too strong. She thinks a lady should be subtle in her fashions.”
“Well, then,” Kara replied with sudden glee, her voice also low, “something about Lady Anne reminds me of the wrong end of a horse. I agree with you. Cherry it is.”
Caroline gaped in shock at Kara.
Then she covered her mouth-with both hands this time, as if just one wasn’t enough to still the laughter that threatened to overwhelm her. After a moment, she regained control.
“You… you mustn’t talk like that,” she gasped.
Kara didn’t reply. Instead, she poured the red lotion into the water and mixed the bath with her hand. A strong scent was carried upwards in the steam. Kara gave a sigh of contentment.
“That is a good choice, Lady Caroline,” she said, resting her head on a soft cushion-like sponge that had been provided for her comfort.
“Can I stay for a moment?” Caroline asked.
It would be useful to have a friend tonight. I have a feeling that Anne might try some mischief at the dance.
“Yes, I would be glad of the company,” Kara said genuinely. “Tell me of events that have been taking place here in Varrock. I have been in The Wilderness and away from civilization for so long that there is much I don’t know.”
“Where should I start?” Caroline said as she pulled up the stool.
“About these murders and disappearances,” Kara suggested. “That sounds interesting.” She sniffed at several new lotions as Caroline told her about the prophecy of the High Priest of Entrana, given a century earlier, and of the rumours that were spreading through the streets of the city. She told Kara about the secret society whose symbol was an owl, and how more and more of the symbols were appearing in the oddest places. Much of her information was gossip, Kara deduced, though she knew Caroline’s account of Ellamaria’s accusation was accurate, since she had been there to witness it herself.
Still, if there have been as many deaths as she indicates, it is a wonder the city isn’t tearing itself apart. And Morytania is believed responsible. We must be careful, my friends and I.
Gar’rth most of all.
She was brought from her reverie by a question.
“Did you really kill all those men?” Caroline asked, her voice almost a whisper. “All fourteen of them, on your own?”
“I did,” Kara replied. “It was dark in the barn, though. They couldn’t see.”
Caroline hesitated. Kara saw her confusion, and continued.
“I grew up with the dwarfs under Ice Mountain, after my family were butchered by Sulla and his Kinshra,” she explained. “You learn to see in the dark there. Your eyes grow used to it.”
Although since leaving the mines I find it harder to see so well. Perhaps I am losing that gift, after spending so much time on the surface.
“I wish I could do that,” Caroline said. “But why did you never kill Sulla? In all the songs you bested him in single combat after destroying his army, after you killed a hundred men in battle. Are the tales true?”
You are filled with questions, Lady Caroline, Kara realised. I would be foolish to think you simple. She laughed to hide her suspicion, yet it was not entirely forced, for Caroline was open to the point of naivety and Kara found it delightfully easy to talk to her.
“I am not sure I ever killed a hundred men,” she replied. “Doric said later that he counted thirty or so of my enemies, but I don’t remember.” She looked Caroline in the eyes. “And I am glad I don’t.”
Though that is a lie. I do remember those who begged for mercy before I killed them. I offered them the same mercy they offered their victims-like my family.
None at all.
“Is everything well in there?” Madame Thessalia called with a voice that was more impatient than concerned. Kara replied that it was, then turned back to Caroline.
“As for Sulla, I had spent my whole life-over ten years- dreaming of the day I would kill him. I tried to do so, and my anger very nearly killed me.” She saw the eagerness in the girl’s eyes, and continued. “Fortunately, my father’s Ring of Life whisked me to Falador, where I was found by Theodore and the knights and nursed back to health. Finally, after learning things I had never suspected about my father, I found a sense of home. When the war came, and I had Sulla at my mercy, I spared him to honour a promise to a very brave man-the kindest one I have ever known.”
“The knight Bhuler?” Caroline squeaked.
“Yes,” Kara said in surprise. “You have listened to the songs and tales, haven’t you?”
The girl nodded enthusiastically.
“After the war I went north to a monastery which had been burned by Sulla’s forces. It was near to my village, and I had a memory of being taken there to be blessed by Saradomin when I was very young.” Kara splashed water in her face to hide her tears. “I don’t remember the time before Sulla. Or very little of it. I cannot remember my parents’ faces, nor do I know my mother’s name.”
Suddenly she grew angry, and grabbed the sponge from behind her head.
“I don’t even know my name!” she gritted. “Sulla prevented me from learning it by burning the monastery’s records when he held me prisoner. Unless the great library on Entrana ever received a copy of the monastery’s books then I will never know.” She twisted the sponge in frustration.
Then she noticed how Caroline shied away from her anger.
“I am sorry, Caroline,” she said. “I have lost so much that in all honesty, I envy the milkmaid her life or the seamstress hers. Death and war are not subjects for great songs or tales. Everyone expects so much of me now. I just don’t know what to expect for myself.”
A moment of silence fell between them. Kara stirred the water idly below her chin.
“I am sorry, Kara,” Caroline said. “I didn’t know you had lost so much, though I know what it is like to live a life governed by the expectations of others. My parents are looking to marry me off to some young man of an appropriate family, to the scions of great households, a match made for economy rather than love.” She looked at the floor. “At least for you there is an escape. I am trapped here.”
“But what of this Lord William?”
Caroline dared to smile briefly before a sharp voice called out from behind the screen.
“Lady Caroline! Come here please.” It was Anne calling.
“Do you see what I mean?” Caroline said as she stood and wiped her hand over her dark eyes.
Was that a tear?
Kara said nothing as she was left alone again.
Kara left the bath with some reluctance as a small clock chimed. She dried herself with a woollen towel and made her way slowly around the screen, silently delighting in Anne’s commands for her to hurry.
“Try this on,” the noblewoman instructed. “We all think it is best for you.”
Kara saw the gown on offer. The dress reminded her of a plum, its bulbous bottom ballooning out about her feet, far wider below the waist than above.
I won’t know how to walk in such a thing!
“Come along,” Anne said impatiently. “There is no time left for delay.”
Kara cast her eye to the stool to where her old clothes had been folded neatly.
Did they search my satchel? I have no way of knowing if she saw Theodore’s letter.
Anne followed her gaze and then looked back at her face.
She is unreadable. She considered for a moment. Time to bait the trap.
“Have you seen much of my friend Theodore, Lady Anne?” she asked. “Lady Caroline and I were just talking about him. You and he seem to have grown very close.” Caroline let out a little gasp, but said nothing.
Kara allowed herself to be helped into the gown as she spoke. Madame Thessalia tightened the garment at her back and Kara lost her breath.
Anne remained silent for a full minute as she watched Kara being dressed. Finally she spoke.
“He is a very fine knight, Kara,” she said coldly. “Today he bested Varrock’s most accomplished warrior, Lord Hyett, the Black Boar. It has saved me from any more of the man’s advances, and Theodore knows how grateful I am.”
Kara struggled to answer as both Thessalias fussed about her, forcing her to stand straight to better shape the gown. It was very low-cut in the front, she thought.
“Are you sure this is acceptable?” Kara asked Caroline, who nodded shyly before looking to Anne, perhaps to seek her permission. “It has a yellow ribbon on. Isn’t that the King’s colour?”
“Not exclusively so,” Anne said.
“And you don’t think it too… revealing?” Kara asked.
“It is the only dress left that suits your figure,” Madame Thessalia replied. After a moment she and her daughter finished their efforts, and stood back to assess the results.
“Well, that fits at least,” Anne said as she approached the older Thessalia. “Take it off, Kara, and we will return to the palace to prepare together.” She took her purse and dropped five coins into the old woman’s hand.
“My lady?” Madame Thessalia asked.
Anne looked at Kara, her eyes narrowing.
“That is a bonus,” she said. “I am very happy with my dress for this evening, and if things go as well as I expect, then I will pay you some more.”
I have missed something here.
Madame Thessalia bowed her head in respect.
“You are our very best and most generous patron, my lady.”
“But as I was saying Kara-Meir-” Anne spoke with a sudden relish, and Kara prepared herself. “-Theodore may be a knight, but he is also a man. A very good man in fact. Very good. And ever so eager to please.”
Kara went cold inside as Anne gazed at her in triumph. She forgot the dress in an instant.
Oh, Theodore.
The atmosphere in the carriage was tense as they journeyed back to the palace. Occasionally Kara would see Anne look at her with a superior smile. Caroline, for her part, stared always out of the window. When they arrived, Anne gestured to a man who was waiting for them.
“This servant will guide you to your room, Kara-Meir,” she said. “A chamber has been put aside for you in the palace’s guest wing, and your packs from your horses have already been sent up. You will be expected back down here in the Great Hall for nine. It would be most embarrassing if you were late, for you are a guest of honour.”
Kara followed the servant up the great staircase, while another came behind, carrying the dress that Anne had picked out for her.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she has found me room in the stables.
Her thoughts were so turbulent that when the servant stopped outside of a closed door, she nearly walked straight into his back.
“These are the very best guest quarters, my lady.” The man swung the door inward. A cosy anteroom led off through an arch to a larger space. “Three rooms-a bedroom, living room, and a dressing room.” He hesitated suddenly. “I was asked to find a servant for you. I know your friends have been appointed valets to help them, but apparently you have your own? Lord William de Adlard told me so. In fact, he asked me to tell you that he will be coming to see you shortly.”
“Who is Lord William?” Kara said, thinking quickly of the many faces she had seen in the royal box. She couldn’t recall being introduced to him, yet she knew his name from Anne’s scathing assessment in the carriage.
“He is a friend of Squire-” The servant coughed. “Forgive me, my lady. Of Sir Theodore’s.”
“Is he an honest man?”
“I really shouldn’t comment, my lady. But I do believe so.”
The second servant left her dress in the cupboard as the first man bowed.
“If you need anything else, my lady, the bell rope will call us.”
Once they had left, Kara lay down on her bed, dropping the satchel beside her.
Don’t let yourself get lazy, she told herself. Weapons first. Always they come first. With a sigh she got up and dug through her saddlebag to find a whetstone. Then she took her satchel off the bed and examined the daggers she had taken from the barn.
Could they really have cut Jerrod?
But her questions died when she saw Theodore’s letter, the paper’s edge protruding from inside the leather satchel.
She read it again. There could be no mistaking what the knight had said.
And yet it appears he has made his choice, she thought. What does he really want or expect now?
Someone banged a fist on the door to her quarters.
Kara hid Theodore’s letter back in her satchel before answering.
“Kara-Meir,” said a hard man with an angry face. “I have some property that belongs to you, by order of the King. Two items. Each of poor quality.”
The man stepped aside to reveal Pia and Jack. The boy gazed at her hopefully. Pia looked sullenly to the floor.
“I have also added up your bounty,” the man declared. “It will pay adequately for the money these two took off the people yesterday. That was, after all, your offer to the King?”
Kara nodded.
“That is correct. See to it that it gets to the right people… Captain?” She paused.
“Captain Rovin, Kara-Meir,” the angry man said, seeing her expression. Then he bowed stiffly. “These people are your servants now. It would not do for them to be caught stealing again.” He turned and exited. “Good evening.”
Kara ushered the two inside.
“So neither of you can read?” she asked. They both nodded their heads. “Can you cook? Can you sew?”
Jack nodded and smiled.
“I can sew. Look.”
He tore a false front from his shirt. It was stitched on only one side, like a door with a hinge. Behind it, upon his body, was a board of some sort with thick padding behind that ran from his chest to his belly.
“What is that for?” Kara asked.
“Show him, Pia. Come on!”
“I don’t have my knife any more, Jack,” Pia sighed. “Straven took it.”
“I still have the duplicate,” Jack replied.
The girl stood angrily as the boy handed her a thin blade with a weighted hilt.
She hates me, Kara guessed. She hates me for saving her and putting her in my debt.
Pia walked to the far end of the centre room, leaving Jack still in the antechamber, his cork board displayed. She spun and with a grunt drew her arm back and hurled the knife. It spun, end over end, and landed straight in the cork. At the same instant, Jack folded his false front across, hiding it beneath.
The boy was smiling.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Kara said tentatively.
Pia tutted angrily.
“I pretended to be you. Therefore I needed to demonstrate my skill with a weapon. We rehearsed this often. Jack would play as an urchin, and with a duplicate knife he would stab an apple a few minutes before we performed. I would then throw my knife into his board and he would hide it, holding the apple up. In a crowded room, with him at the front, it worked perfectly.”
Kara laughed.
“That’s very resourceful. Perhaps we can learn from each other-”
Her words ended as another fist banged on the door. She moved to open it.
It was a young man with dark hair and a trimmed beard and moustache, expensively attired in a black cloak trimmed with otter fur and pinned at his shoulder with a silver brooch. He wore black gloves and underneath the cloak he wore a black velvet shirt. Unlike many nobles she had seen, he had no sword strapped to his side. The brooch, she noted, was in the shape of a leaping fox.
Behind him stood a much older man in blue and red finery.
Elegant. Elegant and harmless.
The first man bowed.
“My lady Kara-Meir,” he said. “My name is Lord William de Adlard. I am a friend of Theodore’s-or Sir Theodore, as it is now, of course. Ah!” His eyes fell on Pia and Jack. “I see Captain Rovin arrived ahead of me. He does so enjoy spoiling everyones’ fun.” She gestured and he stepped into the room. “I have been tasked with looking after you and your… friends, and to see that you have everything you need to make yourselves comfortable.” He looked warily at Pia and Jack, then turned to her and continued.
“But there is another matter I need to speak of.” He motioned to his companion. “Come, ambassador.”
The second man entered, wheezing. He was old and overweight.
“Let me introduce Sir Cecil. He is the ambassador to West Ardougne.”
Behind her, Kara heard Pia gasp. The fat man’s eyes fell on her immediately, and he spoke sternly.
“There is no easy way of saying this, Kara-Meir, but these two are wanted in my city. I recognised Pia’s accent when she cried out at the festival this afternoon, and knew that only very few people would undertake such a long journey unless they had to. And I am afraid your journey was one of necessity, was it not, Pia? For you will hang if you ever return to Kandarin. Hang for murder.”
Pia gasped and fell to her knees.
Jack ran to her and placed his arms around her.
“It’s not true! It’s not!” he shouted bitterly. “Pia didn’t kill anybody!”
“I have a description of both of you and a warrant for your arrest. You must be sent back to Ardougne to face trial. Justice must be done.”
“Justice? King Lathas’s justice?” Pia wept. “There is no justice there.”
“Speak ill of your King again and I will have you flogged!”
“Not here you won’t,” Kara said suddenly. “How dare you come here and make demands? These people are my property now, given to me by the King of this land-not yours.”
“But they were never his to give, Kara-Meir. They are King Lathas’s serfs. And one of them is a murderess, the other an accomplice.” The ambassador turned. “I didn’t believe you had so little respect for justice, Kara-Meir. But mark my words, we will talk of this again. And soon.”
Lord William pursed his lips as the ambassador turned on his heel and vanished down the hallway.
“This has been badly handled,” he admitted. “Sir Cecil can be prickly but I fear he may also be right. I do not think you can protect them, Lady Kara.”
“I am no lady, Lord William. Kindly stop referring to me as such. My name is Kara.”
She ran her hand over her face and growled in anger. Pia had told her at the barn that she had never killed anybody before.
And I believe her. The look on her face when she saw the dead bodies. Thief, yes-murderess, I doubt.
“Jack, you and Pia can sleep in my room tonight, on the floor,” she said as gently as she could. “Go now, and try and find rest. But remember, both of you-I will help you if I can.”
Lord William shook his head doubtfully and made to leave.
“Wait a moment, Lord William,” she said. “I would like a private word with you.” She closed the door behind the noble and waited until Pia and Jack had disappeared into the bedroom. “Can you tell me, honestly, what Theodore’s relationship is with Lady Anne?”
The young man stretched his face into an apologetic smile, and then back, perhaps believing it wasn’t at all appropriate.
“She wants him, Kara-Meir,” he admitted. “That’s the truth of it I fear, and what she wants, she usually gets.”
“Wants him? Or has already had him?”
Lord William blushed.
“I couldn’t be sure, Kara. They had a meeting in the galleries, a traditional place where people wish to meet unseen. But that was only this morning. And I don’t think… no… I really don’t think that’s what happened.”
The young nobleman backed toward the door, his face a deepening red.
“I should go now. Things to do.”
Kara watched him retreat, and a slight smile played upon her face.
So, they met only today, she mused. Perhaps Lady Anne feels her hold is weak, being so recent. She was relieved, and yet she wondered if she had any right to feel so. She hadn’t seen Theodore for months, and he was a famous knight at a court of ambitious young women. Had she any right to be jealous?
Especially since I never wrote to him. Perhaps I have lost him.
Kara sighed, and then cursed. She had forgotten to ask Lord William to send a maid to help her dress. Panic gripped her suddenly. She ran to the door and drew it back, to see if he was still near.
But instead it was a woman who approached. A maid of declining years.
“Lady Kara?” the maid asked stiffly.
Kara nodded.
“Lady Kara, my name is Lucretia. I bring compliments from my mistress, Lady Caroline. She has asked me to assist you in preparation for the dance. She has also asked me to tell you that you should arrive a few moments before the time you were advised.” The woman blinked once. “No doubt Lady Anne is playing one of her funny tricks again. She’s a lady only in name, that one. It is unfortunate my mistress associates so closely with her. Now, come along, for we haven’t much time.”
Kara flashed her most brilliant smile.
Lady Caroline. I am in your debt.