The Scot's Secret by Cecelia Mecca

Author:Cecelia Mecca [Mecca, Cecelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2017-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

16

C lara stood next to Sara’s lady’s maid, Faye, just around the corner from Kenshire’s great hall. Though the kind woman had been extremely helpful, it worried her that yet another person knew her secret. Not for the first time, she wondered if she’d made the right decision.

“Will ye come down to greet Lady Emma, or are we to stand here instead?” Faye asked.

“Stand here,” she ventured, though the look on the maid’s face told her that was not the correct answer.

“Lady Susanna,” she said in the same motherly tone she’d used all afternoon. “You’ve nothin’ to be afraid of. You can trust my lady with your life.”

That, Clara worried, was exactly what she was doing.

“Come.” Faye walked ahead of her, and Clara allowed herself to be escorted to the hall dressed in one of Emma’s simple day gowns.

Even though Clara had been raised a noblewoman and had frequented plenty of such halls, this one was special.

Spectacularly appointed with a ceiling that seemed to never end and more tapestries than she’d ever seen in one place, Kenshire’s hall had to be the most elegant one in all of England. She spotted Sara with a stunning woman by her side. Could this be Emma?

“There you are! Are you quite all right, Susanna?”

The black-haired beauty walked briskly toward her, grabbed both of her hands as if they were long-time acquaintances, and stared at her with a pair of piercing, light blue eyes. Clara didn’t know what to say.

“’Twas the ride, was it not? I remember the first time I travelled any distance on horseback. I was exhausted as well.”

So she was to play the weary companion to this raven-haired woman? Clara looked from Lady Emma to the other expectant faces. A small crowd had gathered, and Clara fought back the temptation to run back to her bedchamber.

Except, it was not hers. It belonged to the woman who was holding her hands and awaiting an answer.

“I’m feeling much better,” she managed.

Emma’s broad smile was rivaled only by Sara’s.

“Wonderful,” the countess said, clasping her hands together. “Faye, can you please advise Cook we will take a late dinner? I’ve much to discuss with these two.”

The handmaiden nodded, though not as deeply as one would expect. The familiarity between the countess of Kenshire and her servants was another unique aspect of her household. Picking up her gown from both sides, Sara nodded to a corridor. Clara assumed they would speak there, in relative privacy, but Sara kept walking, the twists and turns convincing Clara that she would never be able to make it back on her own. After a time, they climbed a set of stairs and emerged outside. The gate in front of them was locked, but Sara pulled out a key.

“The sea gate,” she said. Unlocking it, she gestured for them to follow.

The scene that greeted her was even more resplendent than the castle’s interior.

The North Sea stretched beyond them. As they made their way through a path in the tall grass surrounding them, Emma caught up to them from behind, her laughter breaking the silence.

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