“I’m an honest woman!”
“Have I asked you to lie about anything?”
She shook her handkerchief at him. “When you make free like that, you put my reputation at risk!”
“Nobody can see us.”
“What about the sea? And the sun? And the wind?” Adelaide was flirting. Why not? I don’t want to be too strict with him. And… Adelaide was used to regular intimacy. Alex was far away, and she wouldn’t see him again soon. She thought she might lead Jess around by the nose for another month or so, and then she would give in. She would most definitely give in.
“How about I kidnap you?”
Adelaide laughed. “And take me where?”
“To my cabin. It’s a comfortable one.”
“No, My Lord. I could never do that. You’re just toying with me. I won’t let myself be ruined.”
“Adele, my dear,” Jess crooned in a velvety voice, “you’re much more than just a game for me.”
“You’re married, My Lord.”
“I would have married you, but my father never asked my opinion.”
“Then don’t break my heart.”
“Adele, my dear, I could never…”
Her answer was a sultry glance from under her eyelashes. She was enjoying this game. She knew that the sun was hitting her hair just so, and she reached up to touch the necklace that rested on her breast.
You’ll end up in my nets, Jess Earton. You’ll come right to me and bring all that money with you. I’m an intelligent woman, and I know how to train a man like you.
***
The bottle of sleeping potion was pleasingly heavy in the woman’s pocket. She knew that the large, fair-haired woman would check on his Lordship one more time that night, and she was ready. When her husband told her to leave his room, she would have time to pour some of her potion into the pitcher of wine that the guards drank from. Then, she would pour the rest into two more pitchers—one for the Countess and one for her Virmans. Her lover had brought the pitchers to the inn earlier that day.
She could do it. She knew she could. She was sick of the old pig who had bought her. Sick of his snorting in bed, his sweat, his beard… She hated her husband enough to poison him, but she couldn’t get away with it. A harem offers no place to hide, and his other wives would certainly find out.
They would kill her, and she wanted to live. That was a new feeling. Before she met Chika, she had just been existing, but Ali’s nephew was young and handsome and brought her joy she had never known before. How I want to be his wife! She would wash his feet every evening. The only thing stopping her was the old merchant.
The woman had thought for a long time about how to get rid of him. She couldn’t get her hands on poison. It was just by accident that she had managed to steal the sleeping potion. She would use it now.
A pitcher for Ali. A pitcher for the guards. One for the Virmans, and one for the fair-haired cow. If she had any left over, she would add it to the food in the kitchen.
Everyone would sleep soundly. She would, too. In the morning, she would cry the loudest.
***
Lily was extremely pleased with the innkeeper. A mere mention of the next day’s church service had sent him off on a very informative monologue. She learned that the temple was beautiful and that the glass panes for the windows had cost a fortune, and the priest was an excellent speaker. His name was Father Leider, and he had come all the way from the capitol.
Lily hinted that she would like to attend the service along with everyone else for safety and to avoid getting lost. The innkeeper thought that was odd but agreed.
Then Lily went upstairs, where she checked Ali’s wounds before heading to bed.
There was a pitcher of wine on her bedside table. At first, she thought it was juice, but when she poured herself a glass and sniffed it, she winced. It smelled terrible.
Who brought this in here?
She pulled on a nightgown and stretched it tight around her waist. She tried to judge how much weight she had lost. A mirror would help. All she needed was a piece of glass that she could paint black and then silver.
As a small child, she had broken her mother’s mirror and been surprised to find the layers of paint behind the glass. It was worth trying. She wondered if she would be able to find silver paint or metal powder. There were artists in her new world—someone had painted the murals in the Baron’s office, after all. That would be a good place to start. Or should I use a silver sheet as the base for my mirror? Silver and nitric acid shouldn’t be too hard to come by. It was worth a try. Lily made a mental note to find out the price of silver.
She sighed. She still had rolls of skin on her stomach, and her thighs would have sent a top model running for cover. But there was definite improvement. Her waist was smaller, and she could already manage to do fifty squats in a row when even one squat had been impossible not that long ago. Her aching joints worried her. Lilian Earton was just twenty-two years old—too young to have creaky joints. Then she remembered that women in her new world got married at the tender age of fourteen to sixteen.
From talking to her nanny, she had learned that her father had married her off when she was eighteen, almost nineteen. Three years of married life, and still no children. But that’s no surprise. Anger started to rise whenever she thought about her husband. Lily was used to the feeling. He sent his wife to live in the middle of nowhere and visits once a quarter; of course, they don’t have children! It takes more than holding hands to get a woman pregnant. What a pig!
Then she reflected that, in all honesty, she was no prize herself. She wondered why in the world the Earl had agreed to marry an overweight girl with a temper. Was it her dowry? How much did he get? Could she get her hands on any of it? Why not try?
Lily vowed to go through all the paperwork she could find at the castle and then write to her father. She was his only child, after all. If he thought her request for money was strange, she would remind him that she had recently taken a tumble down the stairs and had a miscarriage. Or I’ll tell him it was a miracle that healed me of my bad attitude.
But first, she would have to find out what the law said. Sooner or later, her dear husband would pay another visit to Earton, if only to try once more for an heir. What will I do then?
Troubled by that frightening thought, Lily finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
***
Everything was ready. The whole inn was asleep. The woman held a candle to the window to show that the coast was clear. All he had to do was climb over the fence and do his job. A dog barked. He tossed it a piece of meat that had been marinated in the same sleeping potion.
Eat it, you stupid animal!
He was over the fence in one movement.
***
Lily woke in the middle of the night because she needed to go to the bathroom. Only instead of a bathroom, the inn had an outhouse in the yard. Her Virman guards always accompanied her when she visited it. The only other option was to use the chamber pot, which would stink the rest of the night unless she tossed the contents out the window. Lily found both options repellent, so she got up to go outside.
She wrapped a cape around her shoulders, lifted the latch, and pushed the door open. What she saw in the hall stunned her: her Virman guards were asleep on the floor up and down the hall.
What the hell?
Lily had grown accustomed to being guarded day and night. She nudged one of the men with the toe of her shoe. Nothing. She nudged another one. They’ve been drugged. And I recognize that pitcher. There’s one just like it in my room on the bedside table. Who would want to drug my guards?
Lily cursed under her breath. Obviously, someone had tried to drug her, as well. That was bad. But why? Hell if I know. I’ll go wake Ali and ask if I can borrow one of his guards. Or better yet, I’ll just spend the night on a cot in his room. His wives are there with him so no one will gossip.
Lily laughed at herself. She was past caring about gossip. She’d ra
ther be talked about than be dead. She walked down to the end of the hall and cursed for the second time. Ali’s guards were laid out on the floor, sleeping like the dead. Lily burst into her patient’s room, thinking nothing of the potential danger.
What if he’s been poisoned? He’s too weak to survive an attempt on his life!
Ali was lying in bed asleep. She could hear him snoring. His wives were asleep on mattresses on the floor. The shutters were open, and a candle was burning on the sill.
Lily frowned. I’ll put that out before it causes a fire… Oh, hell!
She thought she heard a noise outside the window. What was that? There was no time to think about whether she or Ali was the intended victim. She grabbed Ali’s chamber pot and ran to stand beside the window.
Whoever climbs in this window better watch out! This doctor doesn’t give up her patients without a fight!
***
Chika drove his dagger into the wall and used it to pull himself up to the second-floor window. It wasn’t hard for a man in his condition. The shutters opened noiselessly. He looked in. Everyone was asleep. His uncle’s belly rose and fell under his expensive silk blanket. His wives were snoring on the floor next to him.
He leaned into the room and listened to the soft breathing of the sleepers. Suddenly, out of nowhere, something crashed into his head. He fell off the sill, his head covered with clay and other things. Chamber pots are almost as good as a multi-tool if you have the right inspiration. Lily didn’t have time to stick her head out the window to see what happened to her would-be attacker, because a screaming, scratching beast landed on her back.
Normally, her weight would have given Lily an enormous advantage over most people, but she was out of shape. Even so, two hundred and seventy pounds can be an effective weapon if you sit down heavily on top of your opponent. Lily did just that. Underneath her, something whimpered. That’s what you get for pulling a Countess by the hair! I come from a long line of warriors! Well, I don’t know about the Countess, but I do!
Lily gave the whimpering creature under her a sharp blow with her elbow. Something cracked. She judged by the sounds the creature was making that it wouldn’t attempt to get up. She got off it and looked down to see who had taken such a dislike to the Countess.
It was Neelei, writhing on the floor in pain. How interesting.
“What do you have against me?” Lily asked.
Judging by the other woman’s furious black eyes, they wouldn’t be having a heart-to-heart talk anytime soon. Lily kicked her and pointed toward the door. She had no intention of leaving her helpless patient alone with this piece of trash.
Neelei shook her head. Lily kicked her harder. Then she took the candle from the windowsill and went back to Neelei, who was still hurting from Lily’s wrestling moves. She kicked her again and pointed toward the door. The young woman shook her head and hissed something that sounded angry.
Fine. Have it your way.
Hot wax burns like hell, especially on the sensitive skin of the neck and face. Neelei jumped up and dashed at Lily, but Lily was ready for her. She used her free left hand to grab the young woman’s black braid and pulled it with all her might. Neelei howled like an animal. Neelei shut her mouth when she saw the candle flame flickering an inch from her face. All of a sudden, she decided that it would be best to hold still if she didn’t want to smell like fried concubine.
Lily would have fried her but decided to leave that for tomorrow. She dragged Neelei downstairs and thanked her lucky stars when she found that one of the servant girls was awake. The girl couldn’t understand what the Countess was trying to explain to her, so she went and woke her master. The innkeeper crawled out of bed and listened to Lily’s explanation. Then he helped her lock Neelei in the cellar. They went out into the yard and found the man who had come through the window. He ended up in the cellar, as well. We’ll sort him out in the morning. Now, maybe I can get some sleep. Lily assumed the service in praise of Aldonai would be held early in the morning, so she resigned herself to lying down on her bed for a little bit.
***
In the morning, Lily put on her new green and white outfit, and headed off to the church feeling cheerful that at least women didn’t have to cover their heads in her new world. Since almost everyone was still asleep, Lily’s companion was the innkeeper’s family: his wife, two daughters, and three sons. The oldest girl was fifteen, and the youngest boy didn’t look to be a day over five. Lily’s peasants got up in time for church, too. She noticed that they were looking at her differently as if she was doing something right, something they found to be logical.
That’s strange. I don’t believe they go to church often back home in Earton. Ha! Here I am calling Earton home already.
Maybe it was her home. Lily sighed. She didn’t want to think of Earton as home, but there was no other word for it. And where church was concerned, she would need to avoid problems. She couldn’t go around showing off her knowledge of medicine and other dark arts without attracting attention. She had read enough historical romances to know that she was in danger of being tortured and executed if anyone so much as suspected she might be a witch. No, she would just have to go to church and pray, or at least pretend to. She could handle it.
Before leaving for church, Lily sent Tres Mattie to run back to the ship and tell Leif what had happened that night. Someone had drugged her guards and made an attempt on Ali’s life. The young man’s eyes flashed with fire as he listened to her story. When she was done, he ran off as if dogs were chasing him.
***
To Lily’s surprise, the church was an attractive, even comfortable building. The high ceiling and walls were painted blue and white, and the floor was green. There were no icons anywhere to be seen. Instead, she saw a painting of the sun with a white bird in front of it. Is that a dove?
Best of all, there were benches for the worshipers to sit on. Lily was used to Orthodox churches where you had to stand through the entire service, so it was with gratitude that she plunked herself down on a padded bench.
The smell of incense in the air combined with the odor of unwashed bodies.
“My Lady?”
“Honorable Torius.” She didn’t have to turn around to recognize that ingratiating voice.
“I am pleased to see you enjoying the service in our humble church.”
“Don’t be so modest. It’s a very nice church,” Lily replied. Torius was still standing. “My Lady, allow me to invite you to share my bench since you do not have one of your own here. I assume you do not want to sit among the peasants and tradespeople.”
Lily bowed her head regally. She reflected that having a little extra weight gave her gravitas and a noble bearing that she wouldn’t otherwise have. I have to lose weight if I don’t want to die young of a heart attack, but for now, these extra pounds are coming in handy.
The Baron gave her his hand and smiled. Lily sat down on the carved mahogany bench and straightened her back.
A retired ballerina once said that good posture can turn a cow into a queen…or vice versa.
“My Lady, people have told me that you have dealings of some sort with the jeweler Helke Leitz.”
“That is true.”
To hell with the small town rumor mill! I can’t let him see my annoyance.
“I have to say I was surprised that a highly placed noblewoman like yourself isn’t averse to dealing with an Eveer. They are heathens, you know.”
In her mind, Lily made the sign of the cross. She didn’t believe in God, but she needed all the help she could get. If the dressmaker’s girls hadn’t told her about this service, she would have slept right through it and hurt her reputation.
“Honorable Torius, money does not smell. Helke has fine ideas, and as Countess of Earton, I am pleased to help him in any way I can. He makes the most wonderful earrings; you should see them.”
“He has not shown them to me.”
Lily took off an earring and placed it in Torius’ palm. He
gazed down at the pearl and the special new clasp and whistled quietly. “This would sell well in the capital.”
“It would sell well anywhere, Honorable Torius. So, I suggest that you pay attention to Helke and make sure he has everything he needs to be successful. His success is your success, of course.”
“What do I get out of it? Am I the Baron or a dog’s tail?”
“We’ll give you a cut, but only if you help us.”
“Is that so? I could teach you a lesson!”
“And I could write to my husband. Am I a Countess or a dog’s tail?”
For a few seconds, the two sets of eyes waged such war that the church seemed to fill with sparks. Then Lily smiled and looked down.
The Baron is nobody’s fool. He’ll come for his cut of the money, but he knows I won’t give him much.
Just then, the priest, dressed in a green robe, appeared in front of the painting of the sun and began to sing. His voice was quiet, and Lily couldn’t understand the words, but she liked the singing anyway. He had a pleasant baritone. The congregation sat quietly as the priest sang his greeting of the dawn. Lily listened as long as she could, and then she began to doze. It was a warm, familiar feeling.
***
A new wave of memories broke over her… She was small. Not Aliya, but Lilian Broklend. She knew she was small because she was looking up at her father.
“Papa, are we going to the temple today?”
“Yes, my little one. How beautiful you look today.”
Lily looked down at her pink dress. More pink. Someone must have told little Lily that she looked good in pink. She could barely remember the dark streets, but she could still hear the priest’s voice and the taste of something harsh in her mouth…
She liked sitting in church. Lilian Broklend had always liked it, and present-day Lily could remember those feelings. Her mind was her own, but Lilian’s deepest memories were still there somehow, like reflexes.
The service did not last long, no more than about forty minutes. Then the priest walked along the benches and made the sign of the sun over each member of the congregation and put something in their mouths using a long spoon.
First lessons Page 24
