Page 24 of Castle of Refuge

“Oh. No. No, not Derbyshire. I am from the south.”

Mistress Wattlesbrook seemed to be thinking. She picked up the cup and turned toward the door. “I will fetch you something to eat. You must be famished. Are you?”

“I am a bit hungry.” Truly, she could eat an entire roast pheasant. And with it some bread and butter. And several fried pasties.

“I’ll be back very soon.”

Audrey was relieved to be feeling so much better, but she couldn’t help imagining Lord Dericott remembering her as the viscount’s daughter that he had almost married. Or had he? Perhaps the hoped-for alliance had been all in her father’s head and he had not mentioned it yet to Edwin or his father. If he did remember who she was, he would certainly feel an obligation to tell her father where she was.

She needed to be prepared.

She glanced around the room and saw her bag sitting ona trunk in the corner. It looked as if all her clothing had been washed and folded and stacked up beside it. She would go put her things in her bag so she could leave as soon as she saw an opportunity.

Audrey lifted the covers to see what she was wearing. An underdress. She would put something over it and be ready to sneak out. Would they stop her if they saw her leaving?

She put out one leg, then the other. She stood on the floor and the entire room shifted. She held on to the bed.Please let the room stop spinning. Her face tingled and dark spots were closing in on her vision.

She climbed back onto the bed, collapsing on her stomach, her only thought about breathing in and out and not fainting. Finally, her vision returned and the stinging in her face subsided.

“Are you all right?” Mistress Wattlesbrook hurried over and helped her back under the covers.

“I thought I could walk, but I’m still a bit weak.” Audrey tried to smile.

“I brought you some oat porridge. I think it’s soft enough that you can swallow it.” She spooned it up and placed it in Audrey’s mouth before she could protest.

It wasn’t roast pheasant, but it was warm and soothing and tasted like it was sweetened with milk and honey and cooked apples.

Mistress Wattlesbrook helped her sit up straighter, and Audrey was able to hold the bowl and feed herself.

“It is delicious. Thank you.” After another bite, she said, “May I ask who found me and how long I have been here?”

“Our man Philip found you under a tree and came straightway and fetched the master.” Mistress Wattlesbrook seated herself by Audrey’s bed and talked while she ate. “A few of the grooms carried you inside and laid you in this bed. That was three days ago. You have been here ever since, and I have been tending you. You have been as sweet-tempered a patient as I have ever taken care of.” She smiled.

“I am very grateful to you.”

“Audrey is a lovely name.” Mistress Wattlesbrook picked up a different cup from the table, with a tiny cloth ball floating in it.

Audrey took the offered cup and drank it. The liquid tasted like dried grass and honey.

“I know it tastes bad, but it is good for you and will help your cough. Just take tiny sips.”

Audrey obeyed, sipping the warm concoction. She hadn’t eaten solid food in so long, her stomach was feeling a bit sick. But sipping the herbal drink seemed to make it feel better.

“Pardon me while I go and let Lord Dericott know that you are awake and talking.” Mistress Wattlesbrook left the room.

Lord Dericott had seemed like a kind and cheerful young man when he was Edwin, the knight’s squire. But four years had passed, and though she didn’t know all the particulars of the tale, she had heard that Edwin—Lord Dericott—had lost his arm in a fight with the king’s guards as he and his brothers escaped the Tower of London. That had stuck in her mind, the thought that the handsome young man, trained as a knight, strong and brave, should have to go through life with only one arm.

But now she needed to make sure she kept herself safe, andthat meant leaving this castle immediately if there was any chance that Lord Dericott knew who she was. She gazed again at her bag and her things. She had to get her strength back as quickly as possible.

As Audrey was finishing her drink, the door opened and Mistress Wattlesbrook said, “My dear, Lord Dericott wishes to speak to you.”

She came in and tucked the covers around Audrey, even though she was fully covered by her underdress. A moment later, Lord Dericott walked in. Mistress Wattlesbrook stepped aside.

Lord Dericott was no longer the nineteen-year-old squire who had shared a meal at her father’s table. He was older and even more handsome, with his serious eyes and his face more filled out and less angular. Someone had taken great care to hem the sleeve of his fine white tunic and sew it down over the place where his arm should have been.

“How are you feeling—Audrey, is it?”

So he did not remember her... hopefully.