Chapter 18

Eighteen

Minnie could hardly believe her ears.

“My mother and father are coming here?” she asked, too shocked to worry about whether her nose was too red or her voice too stuffy. “Coming here to Godwin Castle?”

The men, who had all gathered around Lawrence’s statue to discuss her fate, or so it seemed, glanced to her with expressions that ranged from Lord Dunstan’s worried alarm to Lawrence’s sheepishness. Lord Gerald Godwin, the patriarch of the family, looked more amused than anything else.

“Ah. There she is now,” Lord Gerald said. “Your would-be corpse bride.”

Minnie didn’t know whether to laugh at Lord Gerald’s wicked humor, to take him to task for inviting her parents to Godwin Castle to seal her doom…or to gasp in astonishment at being referred to as Lawrence’s bride.

As felt most comfortable to her, Minnie chose the path of indignation, since contemplating the possibility of Lawrence wishing to marry her was more than her nerves could handle at the moment.

“Did you not think to consult with me before inviting the very people who would wish to end my life as I know it through a commercial marriage to join me under your roof?” she demanded, marching forward to stand with the men. Kat moved with her, and Mrs. Weatherby inched forward to stand at the ready.

Lord Gerald laughed, which did not improve Minnie’s mood one bit. “I like her,” he told Lawrence. “She has fire in her and life, though that seems a bit ironic.”

Lawrence sent his father a look as though he was not being helpful, then shifted to stand by Minnie’s side.

It was Lord Waldorf who spoke, saying, “My dear Lady Minerva, we believed you to be dead when the invitation was sent. It was not done as a means of insulting you.”

Immediately, Minnie deflated, feeling foolish and out of sorts. Of course they had sent for her parents before knowing she was not dead. All they had received was a strange and uncharacteristic letter from Lawrence, one that Mrs. Weatherby and Kat had told her about while attempting to settle her in the duchess’s parlor, saying that her death was imminent.

“Can you not send another letter telling them not to come?” she asked with a heavy sigh, rubbing her head slightly in an attempt to clear the throbbing ache that had formed there.

Lawrence glanced to his father as though he seconded the idea, but Lord Gerald shrugged and said, “I doubt it. Even if a second letter were to be sent, Lord and Lady Llewellyn have most likely departed Salisbury already and would not receive it.”

The impish old man had a devastatingly good point.

“There is nothing to be done, then,” Minnie sighed, wishing she had a settee to sink dejectedly into. “My fate is sealed. My parents will arrive at Godwin Castle and see that I am alive and whole. They will send for Lord Owen, wherever he might be, and I shall be forcibly married to him after all.”

A beat of silence followed her gloomy proclamation before Lord Gerald burst out with, “What a load of nonsense!”

Minnie snapped straight, her eyes widening at the man. Lawrence, and everyone else, quickly looked to him as well.

“And here I thought you had fight in you,” Lord Gerald said, tsking and shaking his head.

“Father, Lord Owen has prior claim over Lady Minerva,” Lawrence explained. “Her parents have arranged the marriage, which I believe means something under the laws of the Kingdom of Wales. And Lord Owen is in possession of a special license.”

“What does that signify?” Lord Gerald snorted, still indignant. “We are not in Wales, we are in the great and mighty Kingdom of Wessex. And we are at Godwin Castle, my home. If you do not wish to marry this Lord Owen fellow, then you will not.” He shrugged. “It is as simple as that.”

For the first time in what felt like ages, hope stirred in Minnie’s breast. She tested the strength and practicality of that hope by saying, “Lord Gerald, you realize that if my parents do arrive, and if they bring Lord Owen with them somehow—” She stopped and turned to Lawrence as a thought struck her. “Do you know, I would not put it past Owen to have had a hand in my parents being so close by. In fact, I would wager the reason he did not pursue us on our heels all the way to Godwin Castle is because he, perhaps, went to rendezvous with them.”

Minnie paused, blinking for a moment as that idea sunk in, then shaking her head, as there was not a thing she could do about it.

She returned to the original course of her words as she glanced to Lord Gerald again. “If you stand up as my defender and contest the marriage claim already made by Lord Owen, there will be a legal challenge. The dispute could even be dragged into the courts in London for resolution, as matters of conflicting laws from kingdom to kingdom generally are. Would you wish to endure that sort of public display?”

Lord Gerald grinned impishly and said, “Try me.”

It was absurd in so many ways, but Minnie’s heart immediately swelled with love and gratitude for Lord Gerald. For all the grief he might have caused Lawrence in the past, although that seemed mostly to have come from Lawrence’s brothers and cousins, Minnie immediately counted Lord Gerald as among the very best of men.

“You know that I will stand by you,” Lawrence said, moving closer to Minnie and resting his hand on the small of her back. That gesture was more powerful even than his words. “Whatever you need from me, I will give it.”

“You have already given so much,” Minnie told him with a grateful, affectionate smile. That smile turned clever a moment later as she said, “What I truly need now is a warm, soft bed where I can sleep for a week, nourishing food of a higher quality than we have been given for the last several days, and perhaps some balm for my poor nose.”

Lawrence smiled, Lord Gerald laughed, and even Lord Waldorf and Lord Dunstan smiled.

“I can provide you with those things, my lady,” Mrs. Weatherby said, stepping forward. “If you would but come with me.”

Minnie smiled sheepishly at the spritely woman’s request. Mrs. Weatherby had already attempted to settle her once, but Minnie’s curiosity had gotten the better of her as soon as Kat informed her of Lawrence’s odd letter. She felt as though matters were now as settled as it was possible for them to be for the moment, so she stepped away from Lawrence, squeezing his arm quickly as she did, and turned to Godwin Castle’s housekeeper.

“I commit myself to your care now, madam,” she said, pretending to be penitent. “If you lead me to a cozy chamber, this time I will not attempt to escape.”

Matters seemed to be settled for the moment. Minnie was content to leave the great hall and to follow Mrs. Weatherby through the magnificent castle and up to the guestroom that had only just finished being prepared for her. Kat came with them, Napoleon following her, though Minnie sensed she was eager to return to her new husband.

“I could have the footmen bring up a tub and have the maids prepare a warm bath for you,” Mrs. Weatherby said once she had introduced Minnie to her room.

“Yes!” Minnie breathed out in relief. “I believe a bath would rid me of the lingering effects of this cold right away.”

“Have you been very ill?” Kat asked with all the worry of a friend who was like a sister as she helped Minnie go through the contents of her valise. Napoleon leapt onto the bed and came face to face with Clarence, who had been settled on one of the pillows. The two of them eyed each other suspiciously.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Minnie said. “Though I do not think I was at death’s door.”

“I am sorry I was not there to nurse you,” Kat sighed, then made a face as she pulled the blue, Scandinavian gown from among Minnie’s things. “Are you considering a change to your style of dress?” she asked.

Minne laughed and took the bright gown from Kat. She opened her mouth to say no, she would never leave off wearing the inkiest of black gowns, but something stopped her.

“Perhaps,” she said, running a hand over the cheery, blue fabric. Lawrence would like it. “Perhaps it is time for quite a few things to change.”

Kat hummed knowingly, reaching for Napoleon and stopping him from batting Clarence off the pillow and onto the floor. “I believe I know that sentiment well.”

“Everyone must change eventually, I suppose,” Minnie said with a sigh, setting her blue gown aside. “It appears as though the entire heptarchy teeters on the verge of change, so why not the members who make it up?”

“Why not indeed,” Kat said.

She assisted Minnie with sorting her things and sending the bulk of her clothing to Godwin Castle’s laundry as the tub was brought up and filled. Filling a tub for a bath took some time, but once it was all ready, Kat took her leave to give Minnie the privacy she needed.

Minnie was so grateful to sink into the tub that she sighed aloud in a way that would be seen as scandalous to nearly everyone she knew. Lawrence would be amused by her sounds, though. And perhaps, were she not a sniffly, dripping mess, he would wish to do something about it.

Minutes ticked by, and just as Minnie was rinsing her hair with water from the pitcher that had been provided along with her bath, Mrs. Weatherby returned to the room with a tray of tea things.

“Forgive my intrusion, my lady,” she said, keeping her eyes averted as she placed the tray on a small table. “I thought you would enjoy this medicinal tea to help speed your recovery. I’ve included several clean handkerchiefs as well, and a few lemon tarts, which are some of Cook’s best work.”

“Thank you,” Minnie smiled at her, sinking luxuriously lower in the tub.

When Mrs. Weatherby turned to go, Minnie stopped her with, “Before you leave, could you tell me something?”

Mrs. Weatherby turned back, smiling at Minnie without looking at her too closely. “Anything, my lady,” she said.

Minnie gestured for the woman to come closer and to sit in the chair beside the tub, then, instead of asking what she really wanted to know, she said, “I have never liked the subservience of one woman to another. Tell me your given name, and I will call you that instead of this Mrs. Weatherby nonsense.”

Mrs. Weatherby sat with a laugh. “You sound very much like Lord Gerald in many ways. No wonder he immediately approved of you. And my name is Carys,” she added. “Carys Weatherby.”

“And what happened to Mr. Weatherby?” Minnie asked.

Mrs. Weatherby, Carys, sent Minnie a sly grin. “I believe you are well enough versed in the ways of these things to know there is no Mr. Weatherby, aside from my father, and there never was. ‘Mrs.’ is a courtesy title for the position I hold.”

“Interesting,” Minnie said. “And how long have you held that position?”

“Since I was five-and-twenty, when my mother passed, handing it down to me,” Carys said, her expression slightly sad.

Twin feelings of shared sadness, but also curiosity, flared in Minnie’s breast. “I am sorry for the loss of your mother,” she said. Leaving the briefest of pauses, she went on to ask, “I take it your family has served the Godwins for quite some time?”

“Oh, for ages, my lady,” Carys said. “Long before my grandmother’s grandmother’s time. Godwin Castle belongs to the Weatherbys as much as to the Godwins.”

Minnie sucked in a breath and sat as straight as she dared in her current state of undress. “If I am to call you Carys, I ask that you call me Minerva,” she said. “Or Minnie, though I only let my closest friends call me that.”

“I am honored, my—Minnie.” The clever sparkle in Carys’s eyes told Minnie that she was precisely the sort of woman she liked to have as a friend.

“I am curious about the Curse of Godwin Castle,” Minnie said, twisting so she could lean her arms against the edge of the tub and rest her chin on her hands. “I adore curses and tragic stories of all sorts. I have been meaning to ask Lawrence about the curse, since he seems haunted by it, but it strikes me that someone who has lived and worked in Godwin Castle, and whose family has inhabited the place for ages, would know more about it than him. Is it true? Is the curse real?”

“It is,” Carys said, though she did not look happy or mischievous in reporting as much.

That had Minnie as curious as ever. “Is it truly?” she asked.

Carys sighed and clasped her hands together on her lap, over her apron. “Alas, it truly is. The Godwin family has seen generation after generation of tragedy because of it. Why, in this current time alone, not only was Lord Gerald’s beloved wife taken from him at an early age, but his brother and his wife perished as well, leaving Lord Gerald to raise all of the children.”

“That is sad,” Minnie said, tilting her head to rest her cheek on her arm.

“It extends farther than that as well,” Carys said. “As you have noted, all of the Godwin males have been terribly unlucky in love until only just recently. Lord Dunstan was treated abominably by his first, late wife, and none of the others were able to settle on women who loved them until this year.”

Minnie hummed and nodded. She recalled everything Lawrence had said about his failed love affairs. Perhaps that truly was the Curse of Godwin Castle.

“How long has the family been afflicted?” she asked, wondering if she still found the idea of a cursed castle romantic, since it had caused so much distress to people she cared for.

“As the legend goes,” Carys said, “it began at the time of the building of the castle, in the nine-hundreds.”

Minnie’s brow went up. “So long ago? And the family has survived the curse for this long?”

“They have, by the grace of God,” Carys said.

“How did it begin?” Minnie asked.

Carys smiled, her expression turning mischievous again. “Apparently, as the legend goes, it began with cruelty on the part of Aethelbore Godwin, the first Duke of Amesbury. He was betrothed to a local woman, Morgana Whitney, who loved him very much. He gifted her with an amulet as a token of their betrothal. But then he was offered the hand of the king’s daughter, which came with the title, and he threw Morgana over for personal gain.”

“How wicked!” Minnie gasped, loving the story.

“Morgana was devastated,” Carys went on. “She rent the amulet in twain, throwing half at Aethelbore in her fury, and cursed the family and the castle.”

“That must have been a sight to see,” Minnie said, loving the Godwin family even more for their legends.

“I’m told it was,” Carys said, grinning. “Aethelbore’s half of the amulet still exists, you know. It lies in a small, jeweled casket in the castle dungeon.”

“That is amazing!” Minnie said, forgetting her exhaustion, her thick head, and her propriety as she sat straighter in the bath. “Could it be used to break the curse, do you think?” she asked. “In legends such as this, usually, if the halves of the amulet are reunited, the curse can be ended.”

“You are correct,” Carys said, grinning. “There is a way to break the curse. It is said that if a Godwin marries a Whitney and the two halves of the amulet are reunited, the curse will end and the combined families will experience nothing but good fortune and happiness for the rest of their days.”

“The solution is simple, then,” Minnie said, beaming. “Why has a Godwin not married a Whitney sooner?”

Carys’s clever look faded. “Because the Whitney family died out centuries ago,” she said with a sigh. “And it is believed that their half of the locket was thrown into the sea in Morgana’s fit of rage, where it has been lost forever.”

“Oh, dear,” Minnie said, sinking back into her bath. “That does not ease the situation at all.”

“It does not,” Carys admitted. “Which means the Godwin family is doomed to be cursed for all eternity.”

As romantic a notion as that would have been to Minnie only a few weeks before, it only seemed sad to her now.

“Poor Lawrence,” she said, sighing and leaning back against the edge of the tub. “Poor all of them. The Godwins seem like such good people.”

“They are better than many, my lady,” Carys said. When Minnie glanced sideways at her, she corrected herself with, “Minerva.”

The two of them shared a smile.

Then, as if she’d decided she had permission to be bold with Minnie, Carys asked, “Do you have plans to marry Lord Lawrence?”

Minnie’s smile faltered. “To be honest, I would like to.”

She stopped and let out a breath. The bath had grown cold, and with Carys’s help, she rose and wrapped herself in a towel before moving closer to the crackling fireplace.

“I never thought I would wish to marry,” she confessed. “But Lawrence is so good and kind and funny.” She smiled at her memories of him. “I like him, which, in some ways, is even more important than loving him.”

Carys met that comment with a mysterious smile. “Yes, I believe I know what you mean,” she said.

Minnie’s smile grew. “Do you?” she asked, feeling as though Carys could be a great friend.

Carys cleared her throat and did not answer, keeping her smile mysterious. “Would you like something more substantial than lemon tarts to eat?” she asked. “I could have supper sent up to you, if you feel the need to rest and recover from the last of your illness, rather than joining the boisterous family downstairs in the dining room.”

Minnie laughed. “Ordinarily, I would want to join the family,” she said. “But I think it would be wise to rest at last.”

“I believe so as well,” Carys said, winking for good measure. “I will leave you to it, then.”

A few more arrangements were made, particularly to inform Lawrence of her decision to rest, before Carys left.

Minnie wasted little time before climbing into bed, foregoing her nightgown, as it had been sent to be laundered with most of the rest of her things. Clarence and her blue gown still sat on the bed, though, and as she tucked herself between the sweet-smelling sheets, she turned to her side and addressed Clarence.

“Well,” she said, “I believe we might have found a safe place to land at last. We must rest now and regain our strength. I have a feeling that as soon as my parents arrive, the final battle will begin.”

She was certain of it, but knowing the end was coming did not prevent her from falling asleep almost as soon as she blew out her lantern, then sleeping as if she was safe in the arms of family throughout the night.