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Chapter Nineteen
Je
The serving maid came up behind her, a brush in her hand, and began wordlessly to brush the tangles from Je
The memory of that kept coming back to taunt Je
To endow him with a virtue like kindness was to be a fool. She'd seen with her own eyes the full extent of the cruelty of which he was capable: to murder a child for throwing a-a piece of dirt was more than cruel, it was barbarous. On the other hand, perhaps he'd never intended to let the boy die; perhaps he'd simply reacted more slowly than Je
With a sigh, Je
"Yes, my lady."
"It belonged to someone else, I gather?"
"Yes, my lady."
In the last two hours those were the only words the two maids had said to her, and Je
"The daughter of the former lord, my lady." They both turned at the knock on the door, and a moment later, three stout serfs were placing large trunks upon the floor.
"What is in those?" she asked, puzzled. When neither maid seemed able to answer, Je
A voice from the doorway made all three of the women whirl around. "I gather you're pleased then?" Royce asked. He was standing in the doorway, his shoulder propped against the frame, clad in an under doublet of dark ruby silk with an over-doublet of pewter gray velvet. A narrow silver belt with rubies at the clasp circled his waist and from it hung a dress dagger with a huge, fiery ruby winking in its hilt.
"Pleased?" Je
A faint mocking smile touched his lips at her modest gesture, then he glanced at the two maids. "Leave us," he said flatly, and they did so with almost panicky haste, sidling past him as quickly as possible.
As Agnes slipped behind him, Je
Alarm trickled down Je
"I haven't come to discuss servants," he said calmly, and started walking toward her. Acutely aware of her nakedness beneath the wrapper, Je
"With what?" she said, clutching her wrapper so tightly at the throat and breasts that she could scarcely breathe.
"With these," he said dryly, gesturing to the trunks. "They're for you. Use them to make gowns and whatever else you need."
Je
"W-what do you want?" she said, hating the shaky sound of her voice.
He stopped within an arm's length of her, but instead of reaching for her he said quietly, "For one thing, I want you to loosen your grip on that gown you're wearing before you strangle yourself. I've seen men hung on ropes no tighter than that."
Je
"Now," he said calmly, "I would like to talk to you, so please sit down."
"You've come here to-to talk?" she repeated, and when he nodded, she was so relieved she obeyed without hesitation. Walking over to the bed, trailing a yard of blue wool behind her, she sat down. Reaching up, she raked her hair off her forehead with her fingers and gave it a hard shake to move it off her shoulders. Royce watched her as she tried to restore order to the lush waves tumbling over her shoulders and down her back.
She was, he thought wryly, the only woman alive who could manage to look provocative in a gown that nearly engulfed her. Satisfied with her hair, she faced him, her expression attentive. "What have you come to talk about?"
"About us. About tonight," he said, walking toward her.
She shot off the bed as if her little derriere was on fire and backed two paces from him until her shoulders were pressed against the wall.
"Je
"What?" she gasped nervously.
"There's a fire burning behind you."
"I'm cold," she said shakily.
"In another minute you're going to be on fire."
She eyed him suspiciously, glanced down at the hem of her long gown, then let out a cry of alarm as she snatched it from the ashes. Frantically brushing ashes from the hem, she said, "I'm sorry. 'Tis a lovely gown but perhaps a little-"
"I was referring to the celebration tonight," he interrupted firmly, "not what is going to happen afterward, between us. However, since we're on the subject," he continued, surveying her panicky expression, "suppose you tell me why the prospect of lying with me suddenly seems to frighten you so."
"I'm not frightened," she denied desperately, thinking it might be a mistake to admit to any form of weakness. "But having already done it-I simply feel no desire to do it again. I felt much the same about-about pomegranates. After I tried them, I just didn't want them any more. I'm like that sometimes."
His lips twitched, and he advanced on her until he was standing directly in front of her. "If lack of wanting is what alarms you, I think I can remedy it."