The Other Elizabeth by Elsa Watson

Author:Elsa Watson [Watson, Elsa]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Whistling Marmot Press
Published: 2017-02-18T05:00:00+00:00

Grit Bexley

Panic surged through Grit. She could run. She might reach the door before he did, but she might not. Besides, what if he ordered the guards to send her back in? If her maids were really gone, and Kat hadn’t come yet, then she was on her own. On her own against the Admiral of the Navy. The fingers over her face felt like a paltry shield.

Pressing her back against the headboard, she gritted her teeth. He’s about to lunge—any second. The muscles in his neck tensed. Shadows danced on the bed hangings, cast by the admiral’s candle on the bedstand beside her.

He sprang for her. Grit snatched the candle and flicked it at him.

Hot wax splattered his chest.

“God’s teeth!” he roared. “You vile vixen! Look what you’ve done!” He clawed at the wax on his neck and chest. Grit flung down the candle and ran out of the room, grabbing her veil as she went. Her maids were gone, just like he’d said. Pressing her veil to her face, she put her head out the door, into the hall, and screamed for Kat.

Her lady-in-waiting came racing down the corridor. “My lady!” she cried when she saw Grit, standing all alone in her nightgown. “Why are you in the hall? Where are your maids?”

“The admiral,” Grit stammered, pointing to her bed chamber. “He sent them a—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish. Kat flew to the bed chamber door.

“For shame, my Lord Admiral,” she cried. “Shame on you, coming bare-legged into my lady’s chamber! Shoo! Shoo away and leave the girl in peace. For shame, my lord!”

The admiral came to the doorway, holding the burnt patch on his neck. “Fancy words, Kat, when I’m the one in pain. God’s precious soul! I meant her no evil!”

He walked past them. When he reached the door, he spun back. “You needn’t be so vain about whatever blemish you’re hiding,” he said to Grit. “It’s not as if your face were ever perfect, anyhow.”

Grit huddled behind Kat’s back until she heard the chamber door open and close, then she sank against the wall. Now that he was gone, her skin shivered with fear. So that was the admiral, even worse than I’d expected. Poor, poor Princess Elizabeth.

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