Page 23 of Nightshade
“Do you honestly think I believe your lying tongue, girl? Do you think I believe your claims about the young baron?”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You would not know truth if it spilled from the sky like rain. Come. We shall deal with your punishment later.”
* * *
Lustina wrung the skirt of her dress as she waited by the carriage for Bishop Venable, who stood just a short distance away, speaking with the baron’s father, Lord Praecepsia. The glares he’d sent her way since the incident earlier told her punishment was forthcoming. If there was one thing Bishop Venable despised most, it was embarrassment, and she had surely embarrassed him with her insolence. Her mind ran through all the many punishments she’d already suffered at his hands for lesser infractions, and she hoped that whatever he had in mind would be swiftly carried out.
Movement at the corner of her eye diverted her attention to where the young baron stood leaning against the other side of the carriage, arms crossed, watching her. His icy blue eyes left her skin feeling cold and exposed, all of a sudden, while they raked over her with contempt.
“How perfectly you await your master,” he taunted.
“I have no interest in engaging with you, My Lord.”
“Nor I with you. I simply find the observation amusing.”
Attention turned away from him, she inwardly groaned. “Perhaps you can seek out other diversions that are much more entertaining.”
“I am afraid they’d pale in comparison.”
A very quick glance over her shoulder showed he hadn’t diverted his attention, at all. “Must you always stare that way?”
“Do I make you nervous?”
“If I may speak candidly, you frustrate me.”
The corner of his lips twitched as if he would smile. “Ah, well, I suspected nothing less.”
“The purpose of your visit before I leave is to further torment me with your taunting?”
“Yes.”
“Forgive my saying so, but you are …” Lustina bit her tongue--nearly off, with her insistence on not speaking what was truly on her mind. Horrible. Detestable. Rude.
“What?”
“I choose to hold my tongue.”
“By all means, cut it loose with your words. Here, allow me to help. You are despicable. Atrocious. Reprehensible. Utter evil in the flesh. Am I close?”
Frighteningly so. In fact, Lustina may have been inclined to add those descriptions, as well.
“I suspect, living in a monastery, you have learned a great many things. But I can tell you with certainty that not everything is as it seems.”
“Are you saying I dreamed what happened in the woods?”
He nodded toward something, and she followed the path of his gaze toward an impressive oak tree off in the distance. “What do you see there?”
“The tree?”
“What about it? Describe it as you see it.”
Although she was hesitant to humor him, her curiosity beckoned her to play along. “Majestic. Beautiful. Sturdy.”
“It is, isn’t it? One might say it is the perfect specimen of a tree. Would you agree?”
“Yes. It’s quite perfect. What is your point?”
