Chapter Six
The Wix
The Wix had a vast flower garden on the side facing the river, a beautiful spread that was carefully attended by several servants on a daily basis.
The duchess loved to walk in her garden at least twice a day and she was very particular about her blooms, so the garden was tended to with the utmost precision.
It was also a place where the duchess’ ladies would come and collect flowers that would at first sit in the duchess’ solar, in full bloom, only to be taken to the kitchens as they dried to be put into a variety of pomades made from suet.
Daisies, carnations, calendula, violets, and roses were just a few of the many varieties that grew in the garden, all of them now blooming wildly after a particularly wet season.
It was going to be a warm day. Lyssa knew that the moment she awoke next to Juliana.
The window of the bower they shared overlooked the river and the breeze that was blowing in from the lancet window was already warm and sticky.
After the evening she’d had, with too much drink and a knock on the skull, Lyssa’s head was throbbing uncomfortably as they lay there, feeling her stomach roll.
It was going to be a long day.
But it was also to be a day of reliving the memories from the night before.
It gave her some pleasure in the midst of her discomfort.
In fact, she wasn’t at all sure the evening wasn’t a dream until she touched the lump on her head to remind her that, in fact, none of it had been a dream.
All of the wonder and excitement she’d felt had been real, as had the interest expressed by the knight every woman in England wanted – Garret de Moray.
Oh, but surely it wasn’t true. Had she misunderstood him?
Had he been drunk? She was still trying to find an explanation for what he’d said to her – God’s Bones, woman, do I have to make myself plain?
I should like to call upon you. She heard those words a thousand times last night, rolled over and over in her mind, even after hitting her head and regaining consciousness as they were heading back to The Wix.
Perhaps they were the only words she heard, cradled against Garret as they’d ridden the darkened streets of London.
Garret had asked her how she felt, if she was seeing double, but all she could hear was I should like to call upon you.
He probably thought she was an idiot, responding distractedly to him as she had.
But she’d never heard more beautiful words in her entire life.
Now, she was returned to The Wix and life was back to normal for the most part.
Her magical night had ended but she knew that wouldn’t be the last she saw of Garret.
At least, she prayed it wouldn’t be. She hoped he meant what he said, that it hadn’t been something he’d spoken of in the heat of the moment.
Doubts plagued her, but that was normal with her.
She still couldn’t understand how a man as fine and powerful as Garret de Moray would want to court her when no one else ever had.
With thoughts of the black-eyed knight on her mind, she’d rolled over in bed and closed her eyes, dreaming of the man with the silver flecks in his dark hair and eyes that were the color of obsidian.
His voice was deep and soothing, a sound that made her heart flutter simply to think on it.
But those warm dreams were quickly dashed when Juliana awoke and swatted her bedmate on the arse to make sure that she was awake, too.
With a groan, Lyssa was forced out of bed.
Because Lady de Nantes liked her women to smell sweetly and bathe regularly, maids brought warmed rosewater into the chamber and helped the ladies with their bathing and dressing.
The Wix was overrun with serving women – mothers and daughters, and sometimes entire families served the Duke of Colchester.
He had a massive entourage that he was able to maintain from the yearly stipend he received from the crown, so the ladies-in-waiting for the duchess had maids who also had maids.
It was a hierarchy structure at The Wix, but Colchester wanted it that way so people would speak of how rich he was.
Therefore, Lyssa and Juliana had a good deal of help as they bathed and dressed for the day.
Rose came to visit when they were bathing and informed them that after they broke their fast, the duchess wished for them to go to the garden and harvest the violets that were growing like mad and threatening to overtake the rose bushes, which were also blooming in a riotous array of colors.
They were then instructed to take the violets to the kitchen and help the cook process them into creams and salves, and also candied for garnish on food.
It wasn’t an usual order. Instructions like that came down from the duchess consistently, so Lyssa thought nothing of it as the servants helped her dress in a long-sleeved garment that was made from linen.
Undyed, it maintained its off-white color and was light enough to protect against the humid temperatures and scratchy thorns.
The servants also pulled forth the wicker bonnets woven from water-reeds pulled straight from the river.
In order to protect against the summer sun, the ladies would wear these wide-brimmed bonnets as they worked in the garden.
Noble women did not allow themselves to become reddened from the sun.
Properly armed with her long sleeves and bonnet, Juliana dashed down to partake of the morning meal but Rose held Lyssa back. Curious, Lyssa watched as Rose chased the servants from the chamber and shut the door quietly. There was an odd tension in the air between them as Rose faced Lyssa.
“W-What is it, Auntie?” Lyssa asked.
Rose genuinely loved her niece, but that love came across as protective and domineering sometimes. She cleared her throat softly.
“What happened last night after you left Westminster?” she asked quietly.
Lyssa stared at the woman. It was an unexpected question. “W-What do you mean?”
Rose snapped her fingers. “Do not play games with me, Lyssa. Tell me where you went after you left Westminster.”
So her aunt knew that she hadn’t come straight home last night from Westminster.
But how? Regardless, Lyssa wasn’t going to lie to the woman.
Garret had told her not to tell anyone, but she was being asked a direct question from a woman she loved and trusted.
She could not, in good conscience, give her anything other than a direct answer.
“I-I was taken from Westminster by Sir Rickard’s brother, Sir Garret,” she said.
“Y-You were there when he took me away. H-He said that he felt badly that my party had to end early so he took me to a tavern to watch entertainment. T-Then he brought me back to The Wix. I-I assure you, Auntie, that was all that happened. N-Nothing improper occurred at all.”
Rose was staring at her intently as if trying to deduce if she was lying or not. “Do you swear this?”
Lyssa nodded her head. “I-I swear.”
Rose sighed heavily. “You should have come straight home, Lyssa,” she scolded. “You should not have let the knight take you somewhere else. It was wrong. What will people think now that you have let a man take you away, alone?”
Lyssa shook her head. “N-No one knows but me and Sir Garret and his friend, Sir Zayin. O-Of course, now you know, but no one else. W-We watched some men play games and dance. I-I have never had such fun, Auntie, not ever. I-It was the most wonderful evening of my life.”
Rose didn’t like the idea; not any of it. She couldn’t understand why Lyssa didn’t see anything wrong with it. “The knight had a friend, yet?”
“A-Aye, Auntie.”
“So you went off with two men?”
Lyssa nodded hesitantly because the way Rose said it made it sound like something terrible and dirty. “H-He was polite and kind, just as Sir Garret was,” she insisted, becoming hurt. “C-Can you not believe me when I say there was nothing improper?”
Rose was nearly beside herself. “Of course I can believe you,” she snapped.
“But I am not at issue here. You may think that no one else knows of your adventure, but someone saw you return late last night just before the rest of us returned from Westminster. If you think you and the knight and his friend are the only ones who knew you did not come home right away, then you are mistaken. I heard the whispers this morning.”
“B-But we did nothing wrong!”
Rose grasped her. “Lyssa, listen to me,” she said.
“You are a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Colchester. That means that you are judged by a higher standard. Any woman who would be seen alone with a man is a woman of questionable morals. You should have never allowed Sir Garret to take you to this – this tavern. It was unseemly and wrong. Do you understand me?”
Lyssa did, for the most part. But she was still hurt that her aunt would think so poorly of her. “B-But nothing unseemly happened, not in the least. W-We watched some entertainment and then returned to The Wix. A-Although… A-Although we did have a bit of a folly on our way back.”
“What folly?”
“W-We were beset upon by bandits and in the chaos, I hit my head. I-I have a big lump on my skull.”
She was rubbing the spot and Rose reached out to touch it, also, feeling the walnut-sized bump. She groaned unhappily.
“Lyssa,” she sighed, shaking her head, “you will never again do this, do you hear? As a lady to the duchess, you must always behave properly. That means you do not go off with men you do not know. Is this in any way unclear?”
Lyssa was starting to feel great guilt coupled by great disappointment. “B-But I know Sir Garret,” she said. “H-He is the Captain of the Royal Guard. H-He is a great and powerful knight and….”
Rose cut her off. “No more, Lyssa. Promise me.”
“A-And he wants to call upon me. A-Auntie, he wishes to court me!”