Chapter Thirteen
She just felt silly.
Silly and clumsy.
Laying on her bed with her right ankle elevated on a pillow, and throbbing, Lista felt absolutely ridiculous for having twisted her ankle. With wounded in the hall, and guests visiting, it was a terrible time to be crippled with an injury.
Louis seemed to feel responsible, which was ridiculous in Lista’s opinion.
He was off trying to find someone to help her as she lay on that bed with her throbbing ankle, hoping it wasn’t as bad as it felt.
She had to laugh, an ironic sort of sound, when she realized she was thankful that Louis had been present because if he hadn’t, she would have had to crawl on her hands and knees all the way back to the castle.
She would have made quite a sight.
At one point, she sat up and tried to stand up on the ankle, only to feel that same sharp pain shoot up her leg.
Oddly, if she turned her foot slightly, the pain wasn’t so bad, but it was still achy.
Achy, she could live with. But that shooting pain was uncomfortable.
As she stood there, leaning against the bed and trying to decide just how badly she was hurt, there was a knock on the chamber door.
Before she could answer, it creaked open and Louis entered, carrying a bucket of hot water.
“My lady, you should be off that ankle,” he said, lifting a dark eyebrow as he set the bucket next to a chair that was positioned near the hearth. “Standing on it will not help it.”
Lista knew that, but she made a face at him, just because she didn’t have a sharp answer for him. Once he set the bucket down, he came over to her and picked her up again, depositing her into the chair.
“Now,” he said. “Get your foot into the bucket. While the water is hot.”
Her shoe was already off, courtesy of Louis when he had set her on the bed earlier, so Lista lifted her leg and gingerly slid her foot into the water. It was hot and she hissed, but it felt good.
She sighed.
“Thank you for taking the trouble to do this,” she said. “I fear that I have ruined your plans to leave early, but truly, you can go now. I will not detain you any longer and the servants will help me from here.”
Louis didn’t make any move towards the door. He acted as if he didn’t hear her. Kneeling down, he moved the bucket slightly so her foot would fit more easily.
“Is that better?” he asked.
Lista nodded. “It is,” she said. “Truly, Louis, you can leave. I hate that I have detained you.”
“You have not detained me.”
“But you said you needed to be in Kelso today. You must leave soon.”
He was still kneeling, still looking at her foot in the bucket. “I am more concerned that you have injured yourself,” he said. “Had my reflexes been faster when you slipped, we would not be in this predicament.”
She shook her head. “That is nonsense,” she said. “You are not to blame. I am, for being clumsy.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he was peering intently at her ankle, which was rather scandalous. Naked feet and ankles were off limits as objects of study for unmarried men and women.
“I am not particularly accustomed to modes of healing, unfortunately,” he said after a moment. “I am better with battlefield wounds. Most knights are, in truth. We all receive basic training in such things, but this… I wish I had some knowledge to utilize.”
He seemed somewhat pensive and concerned, which Lista thought was sweet. She’d told him that if there had never been a Julian, she might very well allow Louis to court her. She could see that he was a kind individual and she didn’t sense that it was a pretense.
But he wasn’t sweet enough for her to throw over Julian.
He had all of her attention.
“Truly, you needn’t worry,” she said. “I am a fast healer. I am certain I will be walking tomorrow with ease.”
“I hope so.”
“That is kind of you to say so.”
He looked up at her as if he wanted to say something more. There was a glimmer in his eyes that was curious and intense. Lista lifted her eyebrows expectantly, prepared for something to come forth, when Addington suddenly entered the chamber.
Her focus was on Louis.
“You will leave us,” she said.
It was a command. There was no mistake. Louis’ gaze moved to her and, obediently, he stood.
But he was looking at Addington strangely.
Challenging. As if he took her command as a challenge.
Suddenly, there was something strange in the air, something tense.
It was there for a moment, quickly gone as he left the chamber, as silent as the grave.
Lista looked at Addington curiously.
“Why did you order him out like that?” she said. “What is amiss?”
Addington went to the chamber door and shut it, throwing the bolt. When she turned to Lista, it was with a good deal of restraint, of contemplation, and of limited patience.
She was a woman with a good deal on her mind.
“Lista,” she said. “I want you to tell me what happened in the vineyard.”
Lista could tell by the tone of her voice that something was wrong. “I slipped in the mud,” she said, pointing to her foot in the bucket of hot water. “I wrenched my ankle. Why?”
Addington listened carefully, still standing at the door. When Lista was finished, she came closer, her gaze intense.
“But why were you in the vineyard?” she asked.
“Because my mother said she wanted some grapes so I went to fetch them,” she said. “Addie, what is wrong? Why the questions?”
Addington wasn’t finished with her interrogation yet. “And why was Louis there?”
Lista was becoming the least bit perturbed that Addington seemed to be avoiding her questions. “He said my mother sent him to say farewell to me,” she said. “Nay… that is not exactly what he said. He said my mother told him that I wanted to bid him farewell.”
“And did you?”
“I am not answering another question until you tell me what is wrong.”
It was a standoff. Lista was taking a stand against Addington, who was behaving most strangely.
Addington could see that she wasn’t going to go any further, but she was still brittle from her conversations with Julian and, subsequently, Louis.
She didn’t sense any evasiveness or deception on the part of Lista because the woman genuinely had no idea what she was talking about.
“Julian saw you in Louis’ arms,” she said simply. “He thinks you’ve been deceiving him the entire time.”
Lista’s eyebrows lifted. “Me?” she said. “Deceiving Julian? Why, that’s ridiculous. I’ve never deceived him with any thought or action, not in the entire time I’ve known him.”
Addington was starting to relax a little, realizing that her take on the situation had been right all along. Julian had simply seen something and took it out of context.
“That is what I told him,” Addington said. “But somehow, he saw you in Louis’ arms and he thought… he thought both you and Louis had made a fool of him.”
Lista had gone from shocked to immediate concern.
“Addie, that is simply not true,” she insisted.
“I would never hurt Julian, not while there was breath left in my body. When Louis and I were in the vineyard, for a brief moment, I thought I saw Julian in the garden gate but he was quickly gone. That must have been when he saw us.”
Addington sighed heavily. “He most certainly saw you,” she said. “He saw you in Louis’ arms and thought the worst.”
Lista took her foot out of the bucket. “But why?” she said, feeling a great deal of angst. “Why should he think such a thing? I have never given him any reason to think so poorly of me.”
Addington could see that this was becoming a big mess.
“I know,” she said. “But I told you that other women have treated him poorly. I told you that Julian was hand shy. I’m afraid my brother thought he was about to be struck again.
It has happened before and he knows that pain.
That humiliation. The worst part is that I think he’s liked you more than any other woman he’s ever known, so he’s hurt. Very hurt.”
Lista gripped the chair she was sitting on as she stood up. “Where is he?” she said, trying to walk. “Take me to him immediately, Addie. I must explain things to him.”
Addington reached out to stop her, trying to direct her back into the chair. “You cannot,” she said. “Lista, he left. He gathered his things and left.”
Lista came to a halt, teetering to one side because it hurt to put her weight on her right ankle. “Where has he gone?”
“Home. To Pelinom.”
The realization hit Lista and she looked at Addington with shock. After a moment, she lowered herself back onto the chair.
“God’s bones,” she muttered, bewildered. “He simply left? He did not even ask me what he had seen?”
Addington was feeling a great deal of sorrow at the expression on Lista’s face. “As I said, he’s been hurt before,” she said. “I know it is a weak excuse, but he told me he was not going to let you make a fool out of him. He already had words with Louis, which is why…”
Lista looked at her when she trailed off. “Why what?”
Addington took a deep breath, clearly reluctant to continue.
“That is why I came up here,” she said. “Louis was quite offended by it. From what I could gather, Louis must have asked if you and Julian were betrothed. He told Julian he would not pursue you, but when he saw how Julian would not believe the truth of what he saw, he said that Julian did not deserve you.”
Lista stared at her a moment before averting her gaze. Addington couldn’t help but see the tears forming as the reality of the situation began to settle.
“He did not ask me to explain, either,” she said tightly. “He assumed the worst and fled.”
“I know.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I know, Lista,” Addington said, trying to be of some comfort. “I am going to speak to Ashton and we will return to Pelinom and tell Julian that…”