Chapter Twelve
Emelisse had never seen so many men.
Great armies were departing and heading south, for she could see them from her window, in the distance beyond the outer wall.
The countryside looked magical, covered in white beneath a bright sun and blue skies, and the armies were moving through that white, down roads that weren’t particularly passable, but they were moving anyway.
They were determined to return home.
It had been Hallam who had come to her chamber to inform her that she would be escorted back to Hawkstone that morning, but little beyond that.
He’d simply told her to prepare and departed the chamber as Lady de Wrenville rushed after him.
Shocked, Emelisse had waited for Lady de Wrenville to return and explain more of the situation to her.
But when the woman returned, it was with cloaks and traveling dresses, boots and gloves against the snowy conditions outside.
She didn’t tell Emelisse much more than Hallam had, which left her both terrified and thrilled.
She was returning home.
After a quick wash in hot water that smelled of fresh pine, Lady de Wrenville and her well-clad maids dressed Emelisse in at least two heavy shifts followed by a traveling dress made from wool, dyed a dark green.
It was all one piece, meant to travel well and to be easy on, easy off, and because the front of it was trussed up with ties like a girdle, they were able to tailor it to Emelisse’s figure.
In fact, it looked quite fine even if it was a little long because Lady de Wrenville was taller than she was.
The maids put woolen hose on her legs and leather slippers on her feet.
They took to combing her hair, arguing about the best way to style it when Emelisse, who had never had a maid in her life, politely asked that they should simply comb it.
That evidently wasn’t enough for the maids.
Nay, they said. You shall be properly groomed, my lady.
Therefore, Emelisse sat in silence, afraid to speak up again, as they braided her hair and dressed it beautifully with a silk net.
Part of her braids were wound at the back of her skull while a single braid trailed from that, draped over her right shoulder.
But the end result was spectacular. Emelisse was better groomed than she had ever been in her life, with a silk net in her hair and fine clothing on her body.
She even smelled good, as the maids had put perfume on her neck, behind her ears, in her hair, and on her wrists.
She smelled like flowers and she kept lifting her arms, smelling her skin.
The final piece came once she was finally scrubbed, dressed, and brushed.
Lady de Wrenville, who had been supervising the entire event, approached her with a necklace.
It was a golden chain that had purple stones upon it, as part of the chain, and there was an elaborate pendant on the very end with dark purple and dark blue stones set within a cross that also had pearls as part of the design.
It was magnificent.
“My lady,” Emelisse gasped, grasping the woman’s arm. “I cannot wear this. I do not know when I will be able to return it to you.”
Lady de Wrenville smiled faintly. “You need not return it,” she said. “It is a gift.”
Emelisse stared at it, astonished that Lady de Wrenville should gift her with something so expensive.
“But…” she protested. “Surely this cost you a great deal of money and I…”
Lady de Wrenville shushed her quietly and as Emelisse shut her lips, Lady de Wrenville ordered her maids from the chamber, instructing them to pack a small satchel for Emelisse to take along.
As the maids rushed off, shutting the chamber door, Lady de Wrenville took a step towards Emelisse and reached out to lift the pendant of the necklace between them.
“Can you read what this says?” she asked.
Emelisse peered at the back of the pendant. It was solid gold, but there was something etched into the back of it. She turned it so the light from the hearth fell upon it and she could see the words clearly.
“It says ‘Quia Oportet’,” she said. Then, she looked at Lady de Wrenville in surprise. “Because I must?”
Lady de Wrenville nodded, putting the pendant back where it belonged and making sure it was hanging straight around Emelisse’s neck.
“I received that from my husband on the eve of our wedding,” she said.
“It is an exquisite piece of jewelry, and very costly, but instead of inscribing something pleasant on the back of it, he inscribed ‘because I must’. He meant that he gave it to me because it was required of him. Not because he wanted to.”
Emelisse looked at the woman with some sympathy before returning her focus to the bauble.
“That was not very kind of him,” she said quietly.
Lady de Wrenville shook her head. “Nay, it was not,” she said.
“Therefore, I am giving it to you. I have a feeling you will not be returning here, Emelisse. May I call you Emelisse? My name is Alice and you may call me by my name. I would consider it an honor. Now, I want you to sell this necklace at some point, take the money, and use it to help rebuild Hawkstone. Will you do that?”
Emelisse looked at Alice, a smile spreading across her lips. “I will, Alice,” she said. “Thank you for giving this to me. I wish I could say that I will treasure it always, but I will not. I shall be glad to sell it and take the money to repair what your husband has damaged.”
Alice started to chuckle. “Good girl,” she said. “But I do hope our paths will cross again someday. I feel as if we could be friends.”
Reaching out, Emelisse took her hand. “As do I,” she said. “I wish we could be friends and neighbors instead of… instead of whatever this is. I am sorry if I was unpleasant or difficult. You have been so very kind to me. I hope to repay you someday.”
“You will,” Alice said, “when you sell that necklace. Little does my husband know that his money shall help rebuild that which he has destroyed.”
Emelisse nodded. Then, she embraced the woman, her gratitude so great. Alice hugged her tightly before releasing her.
“Now,” she said. “Sit down and eat the remainder of the food on the table. There is no knowing when you will eat next, so feed yourself well.”
Emelisse did as she was told. She picked up a piece of bread with butter and was about to take a bite when there was a soft knock at the door. Alice went to open it, revealing Caius standing in the opening.
He was dressed as if he were going into battle, a mode of dress that made him look even more imposing than he already did.
His black hair was slicked back and the beard he had been wearing since Emelisse had known him was gone.
The man had shaved it off, which was odd considering it was wintertime.
Most men kept beards so their faces wouldn’t be cold.
But Caius was clean-shaven.
And extraordinarily handsome with his pale, pink complexion.
He didn’t even look at Emelisse, at first. His focus was on Alice, who greeted him pleasantly and informed him that Emelisse was prepared for travel. Caius thanked her and that was when he happened to look at Emelisse.
The moment their eyes met, it was as if everything stopped.
Time stopped.
Emelisse could feel it.
Confused, and perhaps even embarrassed, she lowered her gaze as Caius and Alice exchanged a few more pleasantries. Then, Alice departed, leaving Caius standing just inside the door. Emelisse could hear his footfalls as he came into the chamber and shut the door. She dared look up at him again.
“I… I hope I did not keep you up last night, my lord,” she said. “You were the last thing I remember when I went to sleep, but you were gone this morning. I fear I have put you to a great deal of trouble.”
He shook his head. “No trouble,” he said. “But we are departing for Hawkstone today, as you have been told, and I wanted to speak with you before we go. There are a few things you should know.”
Emelisse nodded, sitting down at the table and looking to him expectantly. Caius scratched his dark head in a thoughtful gesture before speaking.
“I will be honest,” he finally said. “I am afraid to tell you the truth because the last time I did, you tried to jump from the window.”
Emelisse lowered her gaze, ashamed. “I am very sorry for that, my lord,” she said. “It will not happen again, I promise.”
The delay in his reply was so long that Emelisse finally looked up at him to see what the trouble was.
The man was simply looking at her in a way that made her heart leap strangely.
Those black eyes, so intense, could have been the most soulless eyes on earth, but as Emelisse looked at him, she didn’t sense coldness.
Quite the opposite.
Finally, he smiled weakly.
“Forgive me,” he said. “I cannot get over… well, you look quite different than you did last night. And I can smell you from here.”
Her eyes widened and she began smelling her arms in a panic. “I smell?”
He snorted. “I meant you smell sweet,” he said. “You did not smell like that last night.”
“I smelled terrible last night?”
Caius was digging himself into a hole and he put up his hands in surrender as he started laughing.
“I fear I have not explained myself at all well,” he said. “I meant that you smell sweet today and you are in clothing that fits you. You look quite beautiful and last night… God’s Bones, this isn’t any better of an explanation. Forget I said anything.”
Because he was grinning, and his newly-shaven cheeks were flushing, she grinned at him as she sensed his discomfort.
“Let me see if I understand you correctly,” she said. “Last night, I stank, so this morning, I smell sweetly and you are greatly surprised because I am also clean and in clothing that fits, while last night, I looked like a horror. Is that right?”