But they were good. Not brilliant, but quite good. Just as good as any of the musicians at the Wool Guild ball.
They played a mix of the sorts of pieces that she would have expected to listen to at a concert, and dance music. And eventually, as her toes began tapping her evil mood got charmed right out of her.
“It’s too bad we can’t dance,” she said to Sapphire, wistfully.
The musicians paused. She got the feeling that they were talking among each other, even if she couldn’t hear it.
Sapphire began writing again. “Wait,” she said.
Just as she was beginning to get impatient, a parade of…laundry…came wafting in.
That was her initial confused impression, anyway. Eight shirts and sleeved tunics, seven skirts or petticoats and bodices. As they lined up, she suddenly realized what this was — these were her dance partners, enough for two “sets” of four dancers!
She picked a floating tunic as her partner at random, and the musicians struck up a Running Set, as if they somehow knew this was her very favorite sort of dance.
She quickly got used to grasping invisible hands at the ends of sleeves; she wished she could see the faces — if they had any — of her fellow dancers, in order to know whether or not they were enjoying themselves, but they did seem to be. They were certainly enthusiastic.
And tireless! As the light coming in the windows began to darken, she finally called a halt to the fun. She was actually starting to get a stitch in her side, and was a little winded. But the sore muscles she’d had when she’d awakened were quite worked out now!
“Thank you!” she said, and applauded them all, making a little curtsy toward her partners, and a larger one to the musicians. “Thank you so very much! This was glorious! Can we do this again?”
Sapphire scratched on her slate. “Evry day.”
She laughed with glee. “Then — about this time? For about two hours before supper?”
“Yes.”
“And did all of you enjoy yourselves?” she persisted. Because she wasn’t going to make this a daily exercise, no matter how much pleasure she got out of it, if they hadn’t had fun, too. After her tirade at Sebastian, she was suddenly aware that if her lot was onerous, how much more was theirs? Hard enough to be a servant, but to be a servant who was treated as blockheadedly stupid, and requiring no consideration at all? Poor things…and she was not going to inflict something on them that they really didn’t want to do.
But Sapphire’s enthusiastic “YES!” set her fears to rest.
“Wonderful!” She beamed at them. “Thank you so very much, again! If something comes up and I am going to be involved in something else, I will be sure to have Sapphire let you know.”
The clothing and instruments gave her a little bow, and sailed out the farther door again. She and Sapphire took the nearer one back to her rooms, where Sapphire did her best with hair that had turned into a tumble of waves with a mind of its own.
When she came in to supper, she was a bit surprised to find that she was there first this time. While she wondered if she should wait for Sebastian, the Duke came in, and looked at her hopefully.
“It’s all right, I won’t bite you,” she said, with just a touch of sarcasm. “I’m back in temper again.”
“I heard the music and followed it to the Mirror Hall, but you were so engrossed that I didn’t want to disturb you,” he said, a bit wistfully. “I didn’t know they could do any of that — the music and the dancing. You’ve found out more of what they can do in a few days than I have in years.”
“You never asked them,” she reminded him, applying herself to her soup.
Even though her temper had settled, she couldn’t help stinging him a little. Vindictive, Bella? she asked herself. Probably. Certainly a bit shrewish. But she didn’t want to get too comfortable in this role of prisoner — because, mule and freedom to ride it outside the Manor notwithstanding, she was still a prisoner here. There was absolutely no doubt of that. If she ever did try to ride away, not only would Eric, an excellent tracker, be on her tail in no time at all, but Godmother Elena and probably the King would be told at once, and she would be caught and probably locked into that pretty suite of rooms. A gilded and comfortable cage is still a cage.
He regarded her with a faint frown. “I thought over what you said this afternoon. Some of it was very unkind.”
“It was meant to be,” she countered.
“And you’re right about how we’ve been keeping you in the dark and not telling you anything, or at least, I have,” he continued. “I expect if you ask the Godmother she’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“I — don’t like to disturb someone that important,” she murmured.
He laughed ruefully. “Oh, don’t worry, if she’s busy, you won’t get past that green-faced Mirror Servant that acts as her gatekeeper,” he assured her. “If you think Godmother Elena is withholding anything from you, you can just abandon that idea. If she hasn’t told you something, it’s either because she hasn’t had a chance yet, or because she just doesn’t have anything to tell.”
“And you?”
“I must say, it’s embarrassing to meet you over supper every day and say, ‘Well, I got no results again today.’ I’ve had a lot of failures.”
“My father always says that a failure is just the success of proving one way doesn’t work,” she said, tartly.
“Then your father is easier on himself than I am on myself. But then, if he slips up, he isn’t taking the chance of turning into a beast that will rip the throats out of innocent people,” Sebastian retorted grimly. “And if you really want to know what I am doing all day, I will be happy to tell you, but it will likely be boring and involve a lot of not finding anything.”
