Chapter 20
I came out of the bath a new woman. The tub didn’t make it out quite as well. The water was a grimy brown, and even the towel bore the scars of my former filthiness. I was left with a burning question: what did I need to do with all this stuff?
I dressed myself in my new attire and tiptoed over to the door where I peeked out into the quiet hall. There wasn’t a sign of anyone, but I heard the faint sounds of voices. I eased down the passage and stopped just shy of where the last room ended, and the balcony over the foyer started.
Cassian stood in the entrance with a plump, short woman in front of him. She wore an apron over her plain gray dress, and she held a steaming teapot in one hand. Her graying hair was tied back in a small bun behind and at the top of her head. She had a jolly laugh that made me smile.
“Oh, do you go, Mr. Cassian!” she teased as she swatted his arm.
He winced and rubbed the spot. “You have quite the strength in that arm, Mrs. Arvina.”
“Well, I should, since I chop all the wood around here myself!” she crowed as she put her empty hand on her hip and puffed out her ample chest. “And I have to deal with all that meat in the larder. It isn’t easy tossing half a hog on the table and cutting it up.”
“Does the squire throw parties so frequently that you need to do that?”
She rolled her eyes toward the top of the stairs. “No. ‘His highness’ thinks it’s cheaper to buy them that way, so whenever he wants a slice for his breakfast, out it goes from that cold cellar and onto the slab.”
“Can we be expecting such a rare treat tonight?”
Mrs. Arvina lifted her chin. “No, but I doubt the master will appreciate my choosing his generosity. He ordered a simple meal of chicken, but-” She wagged her finger and winked at Cassian, “-I’ll make sure it’s stuffed with the best herbs and vegetables we have, and I’ll throw in some tasty potatoes with it. ”
Cassian smiled and bowed his head. “My bride and I are looking forward to it. Aren’t we, darling?”
I started at his addressing me, and I sheepishly stepped out of my hiding spot into full view of the pair. Mrs. Arvina’s eyes widened. “My goodness, Mr. Cassian! You didn’t tell me she was such a pretty little thing!”
He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at me as I joined them in the foyer. “I didn’t know myself until recently.”
“Well, hello there, dearie!” Mrs. Arvina greeted me with one open arm. I felt myself sucked into her embrace, and she drew me into a tight hug. She gasped and drew us apart. “But my goodness, Mrs. Holt! How thin you are! We’ll need to get some meat on those bones before you leave!”
“We won’t be here that long,” Cassian warned her.
She lifted her chin at him. “You just see. Vesta and I will make sure she’s a pound heavier before she goes. Now then-” She held up the steaming pot, “-I suppose you won’t be wanting any more hot water for your bath?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, I’m pretty sure I’m done.”
“But I’d like some,” Cassian spoke up as he used both hands to brush down his person. “I’m as filthy as a pig in a sty.”
“I’d say more like a fox who was caught in the henhouse and got nothing for his trouble except their droppings,” Mrs. Arvina countered.
That got a laugh out of the king. “You may have something there, my lovely Mrs. Arvina. Is there any chance for a worn-out fox to receive a bath?”
She waved her hand at the stairs. “Only if he hurries. Dinner is cooking, and unless the chicken is as much trouble as you, it’ll be ready soon.”
“The tub water isn’t very clean,” I warned him.
He smiled at me and bowed his head. “It would be my pleasure to drain it out.”
“You’ll do that in the garden, but mind, if you do it out the window, the master won’t like it,” Mrs. Arvina warned him before she turned and disappeared into the west wing.
I followed the king up the stairs and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Do you know her?”
His eyes twinkled. “I do now, and quite well. Our supper should be quite a treat.” He stopped at the doorway and turned to face me. “This won’t take long, as soon as the lovely Mrs. Arvina brings fresh water. Entertain yourself as you wish until then.”
I glanced down the dreary hallway. Only half the lamps were lit there, as well. “If I don’t kill myself over the furniture.”
“The west wing where we’re to eat is much better lit,” he assured me as he studied my features. “But you’re most becoming in any light, my dear wife.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“It isn’t every day a man is married after such a short courtship,” he teased as he grasped the doorknob. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, your bridegroom must make himself more presentable.”
I shook my head as I strolled back down the passage. He’d drive any wife mad with distraction.
I had just reached the bottom of the stairs and was still deep in thought when a voice interrupted me. “Mrs. Holt!”
I started up at the calling of my fake title and found my host hurrying toward me out of the east wing. He had a broad smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes. My host reached me and bowed his head. “I hope everything is to your satisfaction.”
“Oh, very much so.” Other than the outhouse’s ventilation and crookedness.
A tinge of worry slipped into his words. “And your husband? He’s quite satisfied, isn’t he?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but a loud, exuberant, sing-song voice interrupted me.
“Oh, I pine for my lady! My lady pines for me! We pine for each other under the pine trees!”
The squire stared bewildered at the top of the stairs. My jaw hit the floor before I shut my eyes and slapped my forehead. His Royal Highness was singing in the tub room.
Mrs. Arvina scurried out from the west wing with a laugh on her lips and two large jugs in either hand. “Your husband has a fine voice, Mrs. Holt!” she called out as she swished past us and up the stairs.
I snorted. “I didn’t know he had it in him.”
The cook paused at the top of the stairs to partially turn back to us. “The food’ll be ready in twenty minutes, sir.”
“Excellent!” Torquatus praised as he returned his attention to me. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them enthusiastically. “Now then, that gives us enough time for me to show you my collection.”
I cocked my head to one side. “Your collection of what?”
“Of maps, of course!” he practically squealed as he looped both arms around one of mine and half-dragged me toward the east wing doorframe. “You’ve hardly seen any of my collection!”
My face drooped. “You mean more of your property maps?”
“Of course! What else is as magnificent as seeing one’s property writ large for all to see!”
I discovered a new circle of hell that night.
The one with dozens of maps of the exact same property, etched and drawn in different hands, but all having the same shape.
It was like looking at a hall of marble statues.
It’s interesting enough at the beginning, but after the twentieth naked guy, all the faces and other parts start to blur.
The pictures hung on every inch of wall in the entirety of the east wing.
The study and parlor had both been turned into a shrine of property, and not even the blankets on the furniture were spared the vanity of the wealth.
The seamstresses had been commanded to sew more pictures of the property on the cloth.
I was thoroughly sick of maps by the time I heard footsteps on the stairs. I’d tuned out Torquatus’ talk ten minutes before and focused all my attention on listening for those padding feet.
I perked up at the call of freedom. “I think I hear my husband!” I practically shrieked.
Torquatus lifted an eyebrow. “Do you? Perhaps he would-”
I didn’t give him a chance to finish his suggestion, but freed myself from his loose grasp and hurried through that heavenly doorframe and back out into the foyer. Cassian paused at the bottom step, a Cheshire grin on his lips.
“You have good ears for your husband,” he teased.
I heard Torquatus behind me and darted over to Cassian, where I latched onto him in a desperate hug. “Of course, darling. I’ve been waiting for you.” To save me from this narcissistic madman.
Cassian chuckled. “I’m glad to see you’re so eager to greet me.”
Torquatus came up to us with his hands clasped together like a peddler looking for a sale. “Perhaps you would like to see the rest of my collection of-”
Mrs. Arvina’s loud voice bellowed through the house. “Supper’s ready!”
I was saved.
Cassian looped one of my arms through his and positioned me at his side. “Shall we?”
I clutched onto him. “Gladly.”