Chapter Four #2
Her eyes flew to his, and she could feel the shivery panic in her belly. God, what she would give to have a man like August Bellecote at her side permanently.
But she was spared from what he was to say next by an insistent rapping on her chamber door. That was no servant’s polite query.
“Sybilla! Are you awake?”
‘Twas Cecily.
“You should go, August.” She would not look at him again. “Yes, Cee.”
Her chamber door opened and her younger sister rushed into the room with a demure swish of drab skirt. As soon as Cecily saw August Bellecote standing at the bedside, she gasped and brought a hand to her eyes.
“Oh my! I am sorry.” Cecily turned bright red and her eyes were directed to the rug under the bed. “Sybilla, why didn’t you tell me you weren’t alone?”
“He’s not naked, Cee. And you didn’t ask if I was alone, only if I was awake. It’s alright—Lord Bellecote was just leaving.”
“Lady Cecily, lovely to see you again.” August bowed toward her sister.
“Lord Bellecote. Er … ah, good morning,” Cecily stammered.
August turned back to Sybilla. “I will be back, Sybilla.”
Sybilla met his eyes then, although she had been determined not to. It was the only way. “Don’t bother,” she said flatly and succinctly.
He stared at her for a long moment and then bowed to Cecily. “Good day.” Then he stormed through the still-open chamber door, slamming it closed after him.
Cecily jumped at the crash.
Sybilla only sighed. Then she turned to Cecily. “What is it, Cee?”
“Alys isn’t in her rooms. It doesn’t look as though she’s slept there, either. You don’t think she actually went to the ring, do you?”
“Oh, probably.” Sybilla threw the covers back and lighted from the bed nude, crossing the floor to her wardrobe. “Where else would she be?”
“I’ll send a rider to fetch her,” Cecily said and then turned to go.
“No.” Sybilla’s command stopped her sister.
“No? Sybilla, ‘tis December. She’ll freeze. Or starve!”
“Oh, Cee, she will not. If she gets hungry enough or cold enough, she’ll come home. And I’ll wager that when she does, Blodshire’s comfortable manor will have begun to appeal to her. Let her teach herself a lesson for once. I tire of it.”
“That’s mean hearted, Sybilla.”
“It is not. It’s quite fair, and Alys needs learn that not everything goes according to her wishes. This match is the best thing for her. You know it as well as I.”
“I do agree that Alys needs … handling, but …” Cecily bit her lip for a moment.
“Even now, Etheldred Cobb is near to shouting down the hall because her future daughter-in-law has insulted her by not joining her and Clement for breakfast. I do believe the old woman wants to show off her son’s prize.
God forgive me for being malicious, but that woman tries my charity, Sybilla!
She or Alys will kill the other one inside of a fortnight. ”
“They’ll come to an agreement, I’m sure,” Sybilla said over her shoulder as she searched through her clothes for a robe.
“What should I tell Lady Blodshire, then? She’s said she won’t go home until she sees Alys.
Clement, too, but for entirely different reasons, I suspect.
And I have to be at chapel again in a half hour, so I can’t entertain them.
I’m certain with as engaged as you have been entertaining our guests that you have simply forgotten that it is the Sabbath. ”
Another rap at her door. “Your tea, my lady.”
“I’ll get it.” Cecily turned to the door and admitted Sybilla’s personal maids. There were three. One carried the silver tray bearing Sybilla’s typical light breakfast, one hugged an armful of bolts of cloth, and the other wielded a thick, bound ledger—Sybilla’s dragon of a schedule.
Sybilla buried her face in two handfuls of gown and steeled herself against the scream that wanted to explode from her throat. Could she not have one single moment of peace? A bit of privacy to mourn what might have been with the man who’d just left her room?
She raised her head when she felt the silk of her missing robe drape over her shoulders—one of her maids was wrapping it around her—and Sybilla pushed her arms through gratefully.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
And, just like that, her armor was donned.
Sybilla cinched the belt of her robe tightly about her waist and turned to face her sister.
“Go attend your obligations, Cee. I shall deal with Blodshire myself. If Alys has not returned by supper, I shall send Clement after his beloved. Mayhap they will have a romantic encounter and she will fall hopelessly in love with him if only because of his enthusiasm and semi-daring at riding his horse for a quarter hour through the drizzle to fetch her. I’ll engage Etheldred in the fabric selection for Alys’s dress. That should please the old toad.”
Cecily smiled her pleasure at Sybilla’s words and Sybilla could not help but think again how lovely her sister was. Out of the three girls, Cecily was the best, by far.
“I’ll pray for you and your sharp tongue, Sybilla,” Cecily teased, and then blew her a kiss as she departed the chamber.
“Pray for us all,” Sybilla whispered under her breath before turning to the work her maids had brought her.