A Noble Inheritance (Castles & Courtship) by Kasey Stockton

Author:Kasey Stockton [Stockton, Kasey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Golden Owl Press
Published: 2023-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

VERITY

Mary stood at the dressing table behind Fanny, pulling her hair into the loose knot she was most comfortable in. I stood behind them, pacing back and forth. I’d gone over the conversation with Daniel in my mind since it took place yesterday and come to the same conclusion each time: he had a kind heart and only wanted to help. Making Fanny vulnerable and revealing my fears about her being dragged to an asylum had not been a mistake.

I would repeat the words to myself over and over again until I believed them. I ought to believe them, for Daniel had given me no cause to think otherwise. But I’d once thought the same of Colin, and he’d proved me wrong.

Fanny stood, finished readying for the day. I led her outside, having already breakfasted in our room, toward the location we’d last seen the starling. We checked every morning for it in the tall tree on the edge of Arden’s property but had yet to find it again.

Daniel waited for us in the garden, hiding a large silk contraption behind him. “Good morning, ladies.” He dipped in a bow, which Fanny and I returned.

“We are off to look for the starling,” I explained as we reached him on the path.

Daniel lifted the contraption, and I realized immediately what it was. “Would you care to help me fly my kite first?”

Fanny looked up at the earl for the first time. “It is a bird.”

“Indeed.” Daniel held it up, turning it this way and that so the light from the sun would reveal the shine of the silk. “My father gave it to me when I was a child, and it has taken many flights over the years.”

It really was a beautiful kite. “It must look marvelous once you have it in the air,” I observed.

“Like a real bird, I think.” He turned his attention to Fanny. “But I will let you be the judge of that.”

“Would you like to join Daniel?” I asked her. “We can look for the starling afterwards.”

Fanny consulted her watch and nodded. “Yes. I should like to see the kite fly.”

“You will tell us what to do?” I asked.

Daniel’s dark eyebrows lifted. “Have you never flown a kite before?”

“Never.”

His smile widened. “You are in for a treat.”

Daniel directed us to the long lawn so we would have plenty of room. Wind whipped around us, pulling at my bonnet. Once we were in the right location, Daniel gave Fanny the string, and I stood beside her. “Now I will run and hold the kite up. When I release it, you will be responsible for helping it fly. Keep a firm hold on the string, and you will know what to do.”

She looked at me uneasily.

“I will be beside you the entire time,” I said. “But you won’t need my help. You can do this.”

Fanny’s attention shifted to the string in her hands that was wound on a spool.

Daniel shrugged out of his coat and laid it over a stone bench at the edge of the garden.

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