I took the plum and ate it. My mouth had gone dry from my outburst in the carriage and the sudden moisture of the fruit was a relief.
“Well,” she snapped impatiently once arriving at the far corner of the kitchen where she searched for something on a large, cluttered rack. “Why are you here?”
“Have you seen a musician, a stranger to your eyes, here to play for the coronation?”
Rosemont stopped her search and let out a large boisterous laugh.
“A musician? What will I be asked next this day, I wonder? If I’ve seen the fork who ran away with the spoon? I ain’t seen no musician here!” she concluded with another fit of laughter and left me standing unsure of what to do next.
It was only as I decided to leave and attend Duir before I truly was put in the dungeon for my tardiness, when the maid Rosemont slapped came close to me.
“He’s in the herb garden round the way. Come in early this morning with horrible cuts on his hands. I’d offered to bandage him, but he said he’d tear them off!”
I thanked the girl, hurried out the back door of the kitchen, and ran to the edge of the wall. A small herbal garden used by the lower kitchen grew there. I found him beyond the large, overgrown bushes of rosemary. He was sitting on a bench staring off into the distance, his precious lute in his lap, his shoulder erect, but he sat slumped as if he were enduring something.
“Seton!” I shouted and hurried to him.
I rejoiced to see a smile pull on his mouth.
“My love.”
“Yes,” was all I could think to say as his eyes found mine. I hesitated, was he truly in front of me? I took him roughly into my arms and held him long enough to hear his sigh.
“We mustn’t, I fear they know of our passions.”
The apprehension in his voice chilled me. Although the sun was out and the warmth of the nearby kitchens was present, I felt a shiver crawl along the base of my spine.
“You mustn’t think such things, they know only what they think they know. There is no evidence—”
Seton thrust his hands before my face, cutting my words short.
“No? I’d say this is evidence of the King’s mind.” Our eyes met and before he let his hands fall, he pressed one of his wounded fingers to my lips. “Don’t look afraid, it does not matter what they believe.”
My eyes searched his face. How I ached to let my tongue escape my mouth and ease his pain.
“You must go to him now, Virago. You are late in coming as it is. You will likely endure the tongue lashing of His Grace, and if he does suspect something, you are unwise to make him think more because of your tardiness.”
I wanted to soothe him, but before I could, a washerwoman came from the kitchen and seeing us, stopped, and stared.
“Go,” he urged. “I will find you when the coronation is over and the celebration has begun. I am fortunate the King is consumed with his duties this day for I am certain he would have me playing until I begged for his mercy. It is enough I will be forced to play this night.” He stared at his hands. “A maid offered to bandage my wounds, but I would rather they hurt so I am reminded of this kingdom’s true nature.”
He lifted a sleeve and swiped it across his face.
I could see his eyes were glistening with tears he wouldn’t let fall.
“Duir is a fool to think he can turn a man from his passions. I would make music with the bare bones of my knuckles and bleed across the marble floors of this palace before I will give way to his brutality.” He came to me, gathered my hands in his wounded ones, pain plain on his face as he attempted to clasp my hands tight. “You must promise me you will one day visit other lands and see for yourself the foolish tyranny of this place.” His voice was earnest and yet I felt distance in his words.
“We will go together.” My heart began to beat harder. “I’ve made you something to wear this night.” I removed a carefully folded garment from my pack. “It is a cape, not new, but lined with crimson velvet, the color of my heart when it beats in your absence. Swear you will wear it!” I handed it over to him and he clumsily took it from my hands. The need to have him close to me was so sharp, I felt a physical pain in my chest. “No one must know, but you alone will have your wish of wearing something grand as a king for you are far nobler than any fool in this realm. Will you wear it?”
He nodded, but said nothing.
Chapter 14
As I made my way to Duir’s chambers, a strange sense of foreboding haunted me. My pulse quickened with each step. The familiar had become strange. Even the sound of my boots upon the stone floors sounded ominous.
When I knocked upon Duir’s bedchamber, I was rewarded with not the shouts of many, but the resonating echo of Duir’s voice alone. I entered cautiously, aware of my surroundings. The room was dark save for the light streaming in through the large window overlooking the interior rose gardens. Duir stood at the window, his freshly shaved cheeks and stormy dark hair cut a dramatic, but handsome profile in the semi-darkness. One arm rose, found the support of the window and he rested the side of his face alongside it. He was dressed in
