Chapter 19 #2
With the first light of morning, Keane rose from the chair he’d slept in and wandered close to the bed.
She hadn’t had any true notion what to expect from the marriage bed, but this was not it.
The look Keane had given her last night had turned her flesh to ice, and the tone of his voice engendered tears she’d refused to shed.
Whilst he’d sat staring into the brazier during the long night, alone in the bone-chilling darkness, she’d lain in the bed they were meant to share, curled up as far away from the stain of his blood as she could possibly get.
For a moment, Lianae could feel him standing there, a shadow behind her lids, but she daren’t open her eyes to see what he was doing. He lingered but a second before turning and walking out the door and in his absence, the room felt colder and more barren than before.
Confused and uncertain how to proceed, she lay abed now, reluctant to rise—not the least for which she was still wearing her accursed wedding gown, never having bothered to undress. But she had no wish to wear it again today. She’d had enough of wedding gowns for an entire lifetime!
Had she dared to hope for more? What could she expect? That he would simply overlook her many lies and find himself enamored enough to love her as his wife?
Her fabrications might have sent him to the gallows; it was no wonder he loathed her so much. If any one thing had happened any differently, she might be laying here this instant, listening to the din outside her window as they waited for the executioner to appear.
But nay. Somehow she had known it would not come to that… hadn’t she?
She must have known.
Remembering the way Keane had looked at her only two days past, standing beneath that precious whitebeam tree, she felt a pang in her heart and desperately wanted him to come back as he was.
Would he never forgive her?
The kisses they’d shared—every one—gave her reason to believe. Even the one he’d given her at the altar… it made her tremble merely at the thought.
After a long while there came a knock on the door, and Lianae’s heart skipped a beat. She sat upright in the bed. “Come in,” she said.
The door opened and a lovely young woman pushed her face into the crack of the door. “Good morn, Lianae. I am Kenna—Jaime’s sister.”
Embarrassed to be caught in the state she was in—tear stained and fully dressed, Lianae scrambled from the bed. “Oh, please… come in.”
The woman smiled and came into the room, and Lianae saw the resemblance nearly at once. Their eyes were the same as the laird of Keppenach’s, that odd steely blue.
“The maids will be along soon,” the girl said. “In the meantime, I brought you these.”
In her hands there was a stack of folded garments—a generous pile.
Only belatedly did the girl seem to realize that Lianae was still wearing her wedding dress.
Surprised perhaps, she averted her gaze from the bed, blushing profusely.
“The lady Lael would have you keep your wedding gown,” she explained.
“And these…” She pointed a chin at the stack of garments she held, all without meeting Lianae’s gaze.
“They once belonged to a lady she once knew. She said to tell you that Aveline would have wished to share them with you.”
“Who is Aveline?”
Kenna shrugged. “I barely knew her,” she said.
And Lianae didn’t press, because there was something in the girl’s expression that didn’t welcome any more discussion along that vein.
Coming forward a little nervously, Kenna dropped the stack of clothing on the edge of the bed, her gaze automatically scanning the bedding, and discovering the blood, she appeared confused, once more averting her gaze, to peer over at the chair by the brazier.
If it were possible, Lianae sensed Keane’s warmth in the chair, ready to decry her a failure as a bride.
Watching the girl, Lianae considering the emotions that flitted across the woman’s face. Relief perhaps? “I trust you slept well?”
“Quite well, thank you.”
A knowing smile touched the woman’s lips. “I must say, there’s nae been a lass belowstairs who dinna swoon over that kiss.”
The one at the altar, Lianae realized and tried to smile. Somehow the thought did seem to improve her mood. He could scarce loathe her so much if his lips spoke a different tale.
“You’re a lucky woman,” the girl said, and her ensuing smile was genuine.
“You admire him?” It was perhaps a fortunate guess on Lianae’s part, and the girl’s answer might have given her dread, save that there was little in her tone or expression to give Lianae pause.
Kenna’s cheeks bloomed with color. “I do… er did,” she confessed. “But that is neither here nor there. Alas, but Keane never once looked my way, and certainly not the way he looks at you.”
“Me?” Lianae asked. Her fingers plied through the stack of garments Kenna had placed upon the bed. After all, she chose the one on top, a soft, golden-yellow wool dress without embellishments.
“I would give my legs and my arms for a single heartfelt glance like that,” the girl confessed. And when she sighed, it came from the very depths of her soul.
Lianae hid a tiny smile—not for Kenna’s heartbreak, but for her own burgeoning sense of hope.
After all was said and done, there must be something between them.
And for the manner of their marriage she would beg his forgiveness evermore, but before she could do that, she must win his favor again.
She would make Keane a good wife, she vowed, or the effort would kill her.
One way or another, she would make it up to him.
And even despite everything that had occurred, she had more hope for the future than just a few days before.
Aye, then—unfurling the dress, she decided it was time to win back her new husband. Whether or not she ever found her brothers, her place was now by Keane’s side. She held the dress up to her breast, testing the length of the hem. “’Tis pretty,” she said, and looked to Kenna for confirmation.
“That one will be lovely,” the girl said.
“It matches your eyes. But ’tis too long!
” She came forward then and chose another—one from the bottom of the pile.
This one was pale green, made of wool as well, but with a golden girdle.
“Try this,” she said. “It will fit you best, and we’ll mend the others together. ”