Library

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Fremington Castle

S he had a guard on her.

Elisiana's parents were so afraid she was going to try to run again that they'd assigned a servant to watch over her, a woman who went everywhere with her and never let her out of her sight. She'd known the woman since childhood and although they'd never been close, they'd had a pleasant relationship.

Not anymore.

It had been days since her return home, and with each passing hour, Elisiana was becoming more and more determined to escape. The only time she was allowed a moment alone was when she bathed or slept. Everything else was monitored. Her mother tried to spend time with her daily, as did her father, but she shut them out. She was miserable, longing for the life she'd built for herself, longing for the man she'd left behind.

She was in turmoil.

But she still had her drawings. Vellum and charcoal were plentiful at Fremington because over the years, she'd managed to acquire quite a supply. Therefore, she took to drawing the lewdest pictures she could conceive of, mostly of women naked above the waist, and passed them out to soldiers and servants. She would leave them in the hall for all to see, including her father, who flew into a frenzy when they first started appearing. He and Aristeo ran all over the castle trying to find them, like hidden gems, until all of them were confiscated, but even then, the soldiers kept them hidden. They were quite beautifully done and very realistic. Considering Elisiana had used her own breasts and torso to draw them, they were quite realistic.

Today, she sat in her mother's garden in the midst of a warm summer's day with her drawing implements at hand, like weapons. Weapons against her parents. She'd had a small table brought out for her and sat on a bench while drawing naked women. Her guard, the female servant, tried to speak to her about them, to tell her to stop, and she'd barked at the woman so viciously that she made her cry. Normally, she would have never done such a thing, but her misery was coming out all over the place. She wanted her parents and everyone else to know just how unhappy she was. If they knew, maybe they'd have more sympathy.

Maybe they'd take her back where they'd found her.

Her latest drawing was the image of a woman from the neck to her breasts, and she was in the process of drawing a man suckling the woman's breasts. She couldn't quite get the lips right, however, so she'd been working on it since morning, carefully sketching, using a small, polished silver mirror to look at her own pursed lips to get it right. She was so intent on the curve of the bottom lip that she failed to notice someone entering the garden. The figure lingered for a few moments, watching her, before speaking.

"Lisi." It was Aristeo. "We must speak."

Since her brother had stayed away from her since her return to Fremington, his appearance was somewhat surprising. Elisiana heard his voice, realized who it was, and then paused in her drawing.

"I have nothing to say to you, Téo," she said. "Go away."

"I will after we speak," he said. "But we must talk. We have always been able to talk. I am sorry if you view me as the enemy, but I was carrying out Papa's orders. You know that, so I do not understand why you are so angry with me."

She stopped drawing and looked at him. "You do not understand?" she said as if he'd just said something ridiculous. "Of course you understand. I explained it to you when you came to the Black Cock. But rather than show compassion to your only sister, you chose violence against me."

Aristeo took a deep breath, averting his gaze. "I am not proud of that," he said. "I would have killed anyone who hurt you as I did. But you gave me no choice. You were trying to hit me with that spiked club."

"I was defending myself!"

"Why are you being so stupid?"

"Me?" she said, aghast. " I'm being stupid?"

He nodded. "You are," he insisted. "You seem to think that your desires are the only thing that matter in this world, and that is stupid."

"It is not!"

"You are part of a family, Elisiana," he said angrily. "We all have family obligations that we cannot ignore, yet you run off as if the mere gesture will cause Papa to change his mind and exclude you from the obligations we all have. Just because you do not want to be part of us does mean you aren't part of us. You are. And you are teaching Diaz and Esteban to be rebellious and not listen to Papa. Is that what you want to teach them? To be wicked to our parents like you have been?"

Elisiana was taken aback by his passionate scolding. Technically, everything he said was true. But that didn't stop her from feeling so very alone in what she was going through. Maybe she was wrong—maybe she'd been wrong to revolt against her parents from the beginning. But she knew, in her heart, that it wasn't wrong to want to be happy.

"I thought you knew me better than that," she said. "I am not going to justify my actions to you, Téo. You see what you want to see."

"I see a sister who is refusing to honor her parents."

"And I see a brother who has stolen my happiness," she snarled. "I hope you are happy with yourself. I hope it was worth my hatred."

With that, she turned back to her drawing, fighting off the tears. He hoped he would go away, but he didn't. He came closer, to a bench that was a few feet away. She could see him in her periphery, sitting down.

"Téo, I will not tell you again," she said. "Go away. I have nothing more to say to you."

He sighed heavily. "Papa owes Uncle Robert a good deal of money."

"That does not concern me."

"He is paying the debt by marrying you to Adolph."

That brought Elisiana to a halt. She lifted her head, looking at her brother in horror. "And you know this for certain?"

Aristeo nodded. "I do," he said. "He thinks I do not know, but I overheard him speaking with Mama about it."

Elisiana was shocked. "What on earth could he owe Uncle Robert money for?" she said. "What did he do?"

Aristeo shrugged. "The new house that Mama wanted in the country, near Atherington?" he said. "Papa did not have the money to pay for it, so he borrowed it from Uncle Robert. When Uncle Robert demanded payment, Papa did not have all of it, so they discussed your marrying Adolph to keep him away from a merchant's daughter he is fond of. If you want to know my opinion about that, I think it was Uncle Robert's intention all along. Adolph may be a knight for the Earl of Lincoln, but he is not a very good one. He will never be more than he is. A marriage to you would make him the son-in-law, and eventually a brother-in-law, of a count."

Elisiana set her charcoal down. "And I become the sacrificial lamb."

"Exactly."

Elisiana didn't know what to say. So much made sense now, but in that knowledge came new hope.

"But if it is money Papa needs, then I have money," she said. "Mayhap he will take my money and cancel the contract."

Aristeo shook his head. "It cost Papa a good deal of money to build that house," he said, then added bitterly: "A house that Mama does not use. It simply sits, empty, watching the passage of time and probably wondering why no one lives there."

Elisiana wasn't giving up on the buyout subject. "How much did it cost Papa?"

"More than you have."

"I have a good deal."

"Do you have a thousand pounds?"

That question poked holes in her rising hope. "Nay," she said reluctantly. "But I can earn it if Papa would only let me—"

"He will not," Aristeo said, cutting her off. "He has promised you to Adolph to pay off the debt and there is no hope of changing that. Uncle Robert wants you for his wife's son. Papa can do nothing."

Elisiana was trying not to lose hope, but it was difficult. She could feel it slipping away. "Then why did you tell me if nothing can be done?" she asked.

He looked at her. "Because I did not want you to continue acting the fool while Papa has done this because he had no choice," he said. "If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with Uncle Robert. I believe this was his scheme. And Adolph—that idiot—is simply a pawn like you are."

Elisiana sat forward, elbows on her table while she rubbed her forehead as if to wipe away the pain the entire situation was causing her. "I am sorry that Papa has his troubles," she said. "But I should not be the means by which he gets out of those troubles. He is making his trouble my trouble, for life. He will not be married to Adolph forever— I will."

"I know," Aristeo said in a genuine show of sympathy. "But it is the way of things. Parents have dominion over their children and we must do as they say. I will do it to my children and you will do it to yours."

"I will not make my children miserable," she snapped back softly. "I will listen to them. I will try to understand them. And I will help them where needed."

Aristeo stood up from his seat. "And I am sure you will make a very good mother," he said. "But imagine if you had a daughter and she refused to do what you told her. She ran off and hid for six months. Imagine how much anguish you would feel."

Elisiana turned her head away. "I would never force her to do anything that would make her utterly miserable," she said. "Téo, I have met a man I intend to marry. He is wonderful and kind and handsome. Believe me when I tell you that Adolph will not be my husband."

Aristeo frowned. "Who is this man?"

She sat back from the table. "You are a knight, are you not?" she said. "You trained at Pevensey while I was there, so you understand how the world of knights work."

"I do."

"What do you know about the Blackchurch Guild?"

His eyebrows lifted. "Blackchurch?" he repeated. "I know they train killers. Men with no feeling, no soul. Warlords pay a high price for the men who do what Blackchurch trains them to do."

"Do you know anyone who has passed their training?"

He shook his head. "Nay," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Blackchurch was in the village where I was living. North of it, anyway," she said. "Did you know that?"

Aristeo had to ponder that. "I think I did," he said. "I knew it was in Devon, somewhere."

Elisiana studied her brother for a moment. Aristeo was a good knight, but a better administrator. He helped their father manage Fremington quite nicely, which was why she was surprised he'd allowed their father to borrow money for the country home that Sybil wanted, only to let it sit vacant.

But that seemed to be water under the bridge now.

She was to pay the price for her mother's folly.

"I worked as a tavern maid in a tavern that the Blackchurch trainers frequent," she said after a moment. "Men who train those soulless killers. I can say from experience that they were kind, considerate, and brilliant. They are also fiercely loyal to one another."

Aristeo shook his head, a distasteful expression on his features. "Interesting," he said, but he didn't mean it. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because the man I intend to marry is a Blackchurch trainer," she said. "He is also a former master knight of Kenilworth. He is the most accomplished, talented, and kind man that I know. And even now, he is coming for me. I know he is."

Aristeo eyed her seriously. "We have an army to stop him," he said. "If you truly believe that, then you must send him word not to come. Papa will kill him."

Thoughts of Sinclair brought her a warm, comforting feeling. "Not him," she said. "They call him the Swordsman. He will find a way."

Aristeo didn't know what to think. If what she said was true, then perhaps Blackchurch was over the hill, preparing to rain hell down upon Fremington, which hadn't seen a proper siege in decades. They had an army, but not a hugely experienced one, and any defense they every really needed came from Santiago, who moored his ships in their river.

He hoped she wasn't serious.

"Lisi, if Papa does not kill any man trying to take you away, then Santiago will," he said. "If any of this is true, then you would do better to send the Blackchurch man a missive and tell him not to come. Otherwise, he will be walking into his death."

She lifted an eyebrow. "A Blackchurch knight? A former master knight?" She shook her head. "You are fooling yourself if you think so."

"So are you if you think Papa will not do everything he can to stop him."

The conversation was taking a downturn again, and Elisiana didn't want to go down that road. She was already upset with Aristeo for what he'd done, and this conversation hadn't promised to improve things. Picking up her charcoal, she refocused on her drawing.

"Good day to you, Teo," she said as she began to shade the lip again. "I have work to do."

Aristeo watched her return to a drawing that looked like a head. When he peered closer and saw what it was, he hissed with disgust.

"Don't you know that what you are doing is horrifying at best?" he said. "You are putting Papa and Mama in a terrible position. You are embarrassing them!"

"Then mayhap they should not have sent you to brutally take me home."

Aristeo slammed his hand down on her table, snatched the vellum, and began to crumple it. "Mayhap they should not have," he snarled. "But they did. You are not worthy of the de Verra name, Elisiana. You have brought shame to us all with your behavior. I hope your marriage to Adolph punishes you for the rest of your life."

With that, he stormed off, leaving Elisiana pondering his words. She felt a little as if he'd smacked her around, a verbal assault that had been cruel and to the point.

But he wasn't wrong.

Pulling out another piece of vellum, she tried not to let his words bother her. They were wrong, she was right, and nothing was going to change her mind.

Where are you, Sin?

Comments

0 Comments
Best Newest

Contents
Settings
  • T
  • T
  • T
  • T
Font

Welcome to FullEpub

Create or log into your account to access terrific novels and protect your data

Don’t Have an account?
Click above to create an account.

lf you continue, you are agreeing to the
Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy.