Page 147 of Wolfkissed
This is a misunderstanding,I think, though I can’t fathom what I may have misunderstood.We can clear it up. I seem to have indeed overslept without realizing. It won’t happen again.
But he still hasn’t told me who the woman beside him is, and I find her gaze on me more than once, a smile on her face that feels cold and calculated.
I must be imagining it in my embarrassment. Lord Eorl will explain this to me, later. There has to be a perfectly good explanation for her place beside him.
I can’t wait to hear it.
Valen isn’t in the hall, I realize after a while, once the heat in my face and the buzzing in my ears has gone down enough to let me think more clearly. My appetite is mostly gone, but I nibble on some bread and bacon, washing it down with a dark, strong brew.
My stomach churns.
The people on either side of me go on talking. A woman on my right eventually leans closer to ask, “Are you really Lady Rosamund?”
I start. “Yes. Did you think I lied?”
She shrugs. “It could have been a ploy constructed by Lord Eorl to get those estates he’s been eyeing for years.”
“Those estates…myestates?”
She nods, but her eyes are on Lord Eorl who is chuckling at something the woman by his side is saying. “We were told you died, so your…rebirthhas raised some eyebrows.”
“I never died! That was the lie.”
“If you say so. It’s no skin off my nose.” She picks up her cup and takes a sip. “Nor would it matter whether you were the real Rosamund or an impostor. He will get his wedding, anyway, and might be even better off.”
“What are you talking about?” I breathe.
“Well, the rumor mill has it that the real Rosamund is an ugly, unsociable little thing, terribly scarred and disfigured, gone mad due to a wolf attack years ago. You seem to be sane, if you’d agree.”
“I do agree. This is all very weird.” I clench my chilled fingers around my cup. I can’t seem to get warm despite the fire roaring in the huge fireplace at the end of the hall. “Not as I thought it would be.”
“It never is,” she agrees. “It just never is.”
Eventually, after an eternity, the meal draws to an end, and one by one the guests get up to go rest, refresh themselves, or walk in the gardens.
I see my betrothed also rise from his seat, and, pushing my chair back, lifting my skirts, I run after him as he turns toward the staircase.
“Lord Eorl! May I have a word?”
He barely slows down, and I can’t help noticing that the woman he’d sat with is still by his side. “Not now.”
“Why not? And who is she?”
“That doesn’t concern you.” He starts climbing the stairs, the blond woman grabbing her skirts to follow him. “We have… business to discuss, she and I.”
Dismayed, I stop and watch him disappear from view around the stair bend, the blonde casting me a quick look and another arrogant smile before following him.
My eyes burn. What is happening? This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“What did you expect, girl?” An old maid approaches me, reproval in her watery gaze. “You need to start acting as a lady of this manor, as a noblewoman. Not a wanton village girl.”
I frown at her. “Wanton village girl? Mind how you speak to me. I’m his future wife!”
“Ah, but you aren’t married yet. Until then, your position is precarious. Careful not to shift it.”
What does she know about it? I shake my head. “He’s so cruel,” I breathe. “I didn’t think he’d be so cruel.”
“Cruel?” She cackles. She’s sharp-eared for an old woman. “You haven’t met bad men. My husband used to beat me with his belt every night. Just for fun.”
