After a time, I wearied. I went out onto the terrace, took off my cloak, and sat on a bench there, watching through the windows. The evening was still and warm. I heard the song of a nightingale among the trees.
“Will you dance, ma’am,” said a voice at my shoulder.
I looked up. It was Giles. There was no need to speak. I simply rose and let him take me by the hand. We danced, as they danced inside, bowing and circling, only our hands touching. He looked at me, smiling, in his eyes something almost like recognition.
“I did meet you,” he whispered. “I wish I could remember where.”
“At Westfaire,” I agreed. “On some occasion or other. Perhaps at one of the wedding banquets.”
He shook his head, laughing. “Oh, ma’am.”
“Catherine,” I said. “My name is Catherine.”
“Oh, Catherine.” He bowed and led me in a circle around him, one hand on his hip, his soft shoes making a brushing sound on the stones. “I remember those banquets well. The lady Sibylla, her face all screwed up. Beauty, the duke’s daughter, like a rose. All the aunts. If I’d seen you there, I’d have remembered.”
When he said “Beauty, the duke’s daughter,” his voice had been soft and yearning. I could not help it. I let enchantment happen. Not a lot. Not to be sixteen again. But to be beautiful.
He smiled at me, his own face becoming younger. We danced. “You look like her,” he said. “Like Beauty. Are you related to those at Westfaire?”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “Edward of Wellingford’s wife was kin to those at Westfaire. He was Elly’s father. And I am her aunt.”
“I didn’t know anyone got out of Westfaire except Beauty,” he said softly. “And she had to go back. I thought they were all there still.”
“Some weren’t there at the time,” I said. “Elly wasn’t born yet. And I was elsewhere.”
His hand tightened on mine. His eyes feasted on my face. Mine were as greedy. We danced, and he drew me closer to him as hours spun away.
In the nearby monastery, the bell rang for Matins, and I drew away from Giles, reluctantly.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked me.
I nodded, smiling at him. Oh, yes, tomorrow night.
I turned to the window, saw Elly’s head come up, listening. She wavered. She knew if she left, the prince would go on dancing with the others. She knew if she stayed, she might not come back the following evening. Prudence won, and she slipped out of the ballroom and across the terrace to the drive where the horses waited. The carriage got halfway to the main road before the prince realized she was not coming back. She, meantime, lay in the rocking carriage and dreamed, a curved and sensual smile on her face, while I watched invisibly from the opposite seat, wishing I were back there on the terrace, dancing with Giles.
We were home in time. I disenchanted my supplies, storing my mice and lizards away in a box in an empty manger and then sent Elly into the house to sleep. She did not want to rest, so I told her she would be ugly if she did not, and that decided her. I napped myself, then put on my boots about midday and went back to Prince Charming’s home, desirous of knowing what he thought and felt and, perhaps more important, what his parents thought and felt. I had seen his papa staring at Gloriana last night and knew there might be some considerations of which I was not aware.
As there were. The prince was in full spate, screaming in a high, trembling voice at his parents.
“She’s ugly. She’s huge. She’s dreadful.”
“Her younger brother is heir to a large fortune. He would settle a good bit on her.”
“He might settle the moon and all the stars on her, and I would not have her.”
“Duty is not always pleasant. If we are to regain the throne …”
“Throne! Until the people throw out Uncle Richard, there is no throne to gain. And if there were a throne, would you want me to marry without any possibility of an heir? I swear to you, I could easier mate with a sow in a sty than with that woman, and if I were forced, I would sooner kill myself.” He was sulky and vehement.
“But we have no idea who this other girl is. None at all!”
True enough, they did not. Nor would they, until Elly was safe from Gloriana’s retaliation. I felt the matter stood well enough for my purposes and went home to sleep.
That night Elly wore blue. That night she begged to be allowed to stay until the bell rang for Lauds. It was too close to dawn, and yet I allowed it. How could I not when she begged me? How could I not, when I wanted to stay, myself. When she arrived at the ball, her eyes were dreamier yet, and her movements more sensual and languorous. The young cock might be pretty as a girl, but he had it in him to stir this little hen. I envied her. Oh, how I envied her. The only true attraction of that kind that I could remember in myself had been toward Giles and toward the ambassador from Baskarone. Even in Ylles, where I had seen what passed for love all around me, I had not cared enough to consummate it. Not so, Elly. If one touched her, she burned. I envied her lust, the lubricious waves she swam upon, the elegant titillation she was prey to.
Envied, and emulated. Giles waited for me
