Amaskan's Blood, Raven Oak [read me a book .TXT] 📗

door that would take her near the state rooms. At this hour, all state guests would be at supper, and the hallway was blissfully empty.

As she turned the corner, a voice called out, “Please wait. Why are you here?”

Adelei took the corner with much faster steps than the girl of her disguise would do, and she rushed toward the stairwell. For a woman of her age, Millicent moved with remarkable speed. She called out to Adelei from the base of the stairwell. “Are you here to stop the wedding?”

Her hand stilled on the banister, and Adelei faced the woman. She kept her voice light and airy as she spoke. “I-I don’t know what you mean, my lady. Is there a reason the wedding should be stopped? Being new to this land, I am unaware of local customs.” The disguise wavered as the lady’s strong perfume tickled Adelei’s nose, roses and the hint of something sweet. Her nose twitched unbearably at the scent.

“Oh. My apologies, my dear. Something about your face, I mistook you for…” The woman’s eyes rested on the scar along Adelei’s jaw. As her companion in green caught up, the younger woman’s breath came in haggard gasps as she leaned against the archway for support. The woman in rubies gestured toward her friend and said, “This is Lady Angelina de Gant of Hersh, and I am Lady Millicent Sebald of Loughrie. Who might you be, dear?”

Fairly prominent houses. “I’m afraid I don’t recall my name, as odd as it sounds,” said Adelei as she fell back on the ruse Ida had used as they traveled.

“What were you doing in the library, child? And why were you spying on our conversation?” Angelina said, and she pursed her plump lips. “I don’t believe for a second you don’t know your name. Sounds more like a servant who doesn’t wish a sound lashing for being where she ought not to be.”

She could ask them the same thing—why weren’t they at supper with the rest of the court? Instead of the retort on her lips, Adelei shrank in on herself like a terrified child. “I-I was only looking at the books. There are so many, and–and I thought they might help me remember. Captain Warhammer found me wandering the forest and thinks I must’ve hit my head or been accosted by highwaymen.” The women gasped appropriately, and Adelei continued to lay the trail. “I have no memories before she found me, naught but a fuzzy memory of this man.” Adelei shuddered, blinking her eyes rapidly as if she were fighting back tears.

“Oh, you poor thing. That must be ghastly.” Lady Millicent patted her shoulder.

“I’m sorry I startled your ladyships,” Adelei whispered. “Did you recognize me? Maybe you know who I am?”

“Your face. It’s similar to someone I saw earlier in the day. I mistook you for another, but unfortunately, I have little knowledge of your house or name. Whose colors are those?”

“Captain Warhammer brought this dress from the launderer. No lord’s colors, I suppose.”

“You speak well enough. And despite your… dress, your manners are good, and your looks noble. You must be of a house of some repute. Though you move more like my master huntsman than a lady. Do you recall any training you may have had?”

Damn, I’m more out of practice with this than I thought. “I-I do not, my lady. As embarrassing as it is to say, I was found with naught a stitch on. Only wearing scratches all over—and I know not where I got them.” Adelei rubbed her arms and pulled up part of her sleeve. Light scratches healed beneath the fabric. Luckily for her the rush through the forest lent her tree scratches enough.

Both ladies glanced around the stairwell as if expecting more ears to be listening in. “Have a care, dear, who you say such things to.” Lady Millicent’s voice shook as she hooked her arm through Adelei’s elbow. “No need to mention that again. I’m sure the captain did the best she could for you. You say you remember a man? Do you recall his looks?”

Time to find the kernel.

Adelei closed her eyes and pretended to visualize the scene. “He bore black hair like ashes. And his eyes… brown again, b-but terrible. They held such cruelty, but I know not why. And the scratch under his eye—a jagged thing, all puffy and white.”

The two ladies traded looks, and Lady Millicent asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, my lady. It stuck out so from the dark brown of his skin.”

“Do… do you remember anything else about this rogue’s appearance?”

Adelei allowed her shoulders to slump. “His frame was large and strong. It made me want to trust him, but then he changed. Those eyes. His clothes were nice. No offense to your ladyships, but much nicer than yours. His long tunic was soft and bore a tiger on it. I think it was a tiger—I mean, I’ve never seen one, but my father used to tell me stories of them, animals of living flame from the south—”

“So you recall your father?” Angelina asked, and Adelei shook her head.

“No, my lady. I only remember this now because I thought of the tiger.” Adelei wrung her fingers and swayed on her feet. “Oh Gods, the images my brain paints for me, surely I must be trapped within a nightmare.”

“Here now, it’s all right. You are among friends,” said Lady Angelina, who wrapped a thick arm around Adelei’s shoulders. Adelei twisted away from the woman’s grasp. “I c-can’t bear it—his eyes on me.”

“Come.” Lady Millicent ushered Adelei down the stairs and through the short hallway into the lady’s guest chambers. The room was warmed by a private fireplace, lavish where Adelei’s room was not, and Adelei kept her expression neutral. If these were Lady Millicent’s rooms, she carried higher status than Adelei had originally thought.

Adelei took a hesitant seat on the edge of a chair that cost more than Adelei’s battle steed and shuddered as if holding back great sobs. “I