The Remarkable Myth of a Nameless Lady by Emma Linfield

Author:Emma Linfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-08-30T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

I t was a long walk home.

As the afternoon slipped away, Alicia’s steps slowed. She had little desire to go home, honestly. Her cheek still bore the handprint her father had placed there, and from the swelling of her eye she knew she had a beauty of a bruise forming that had the added effect of giving her a glorious headache.

That she was allowed to leave said more than a dozen speeches would have. They had not been so stunned that they couldn’t have brought her back. That meant the Lord of the Manor, the Duke himself, had obviously given orders regarding her person. For the time being she was safe enough, she supposed.

Such things could change, though. So she was wary of sounds on the road behind her, though none traveled past save a single rider, a boy who never spared her so much as a glance as he went past.

She was nearly back to the village when she realized what an unnatural stillness lay over the day. The road itself lay quiet and still. Where was the bustle of life within the town? There was a subdued air to the place, with nary a man, woman, or child upon the road. She was near to her own home when she saw the horse tied to the rail in front of the Moore house.

Here were the villagers. She saw them gathered in silence, as from the house there came a long drawn-out sobbing wail, followed by another.

It was Erin Moore who spotted her first, a lean rail of a woman with cheeks scoured by the wind that came over the fields. Erin worked the land along with her husband, Ian, the brother of Elias.

“You!” Erin planted herself in front of Alicia, hands upon her hips, eyes flashing fire. “That ye would dare be showin’ yer face here is an audacious thing, Alicia Price. Ye might as well ha’ killed him yerself.”

Alicia stumbled to a halt, eyeing the crowd uncertainly, people she had known her whole life, who turned from her now as though they could not bear to lay eyes upon her. Her own father stood at the gate, his hat in his hands, head bowed.

Alicia broke away from the crowd, going to him despite the repulsion that churned inside her, to be within his proximity. She had not forgotten the pain he had caused her, nor would she. But it seemed clear that nobody else would tell her what was going on. Her father might, if only to give himself the satisfaction of bringing her low in such a public forum. He could rarely resist that.

“Father, tell me. What happened?” she said, coming to stand near, keeping control over her temper. It would not serve her well here, if she wanted to understand why folks were looking at her so.

Her father’s gaze was unfriendly and cold. “You were there, were you not, when our Elias was killed by the British Lord?”

Killed? Alicia stumbled backwards, seeing in her mind’s eye what she had forgotten.

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