My Lady Imposter by Sara Bennett

Author:Sara Bennett
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2012-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

Wenna was particularly short-tempered the following morning, and when Kathryn could not keep still for her dressing, she pulled her hair and called her a fool.

“At least I don’t whore for my daily bread,” Kathryn returned pertly, and was as stunned by it as Wenna. The color slowly faded from the other woman’s cheeks. They were already enemies, and now nothing could alter it.

Lord de Brusac was propped up in his bed, his head supported by an unyielding bolster. His black eyes fastened upon Kathryn as she curtseyed, and he beckoned her closer. Today, the shutter was opened to the morning light, and sunshine spilled coolly across the rugs on the stone floor and the embroidered bed curtains, picking out Kathryn’s clear skin and black, curling lashes.

“What eyes,” the old man breathed softly. Lord Ralf, in the background, smiled. Kathryn glanced up at de Brusac suspiciously, but he smiled and said, “Come child. Tell me what you think of being removed from your sheltered cloister-life by my Lord Pristine here?”

She bit her lip in thought before replying carefully, “I mean no disrespect, my lord...”

“Feel free to speak as you feel, child.”

“I did not like it half so much as I like it here.”

He nodded. “The piousness of such a place is all very well for those with the gift for it, like my daughter, but for those, like yourself, with so much life... I think you have spirit, Kathryn, and it would be a shame to see it quenched by the nunnery. Turn sideways, child, that I may see your profile.”

She did so, and stood with her head tilted up. There was a long pause, and then the old man sighed. Lord Ralf came hurrying forward, ready with his excuses if something were amiss. But the old man merely said, “She could pass for a de Brusac, my lord... She has the features and the coloring.”

“But you are not convinced, my lord?”

The old man’s black eyes were suddenly shrewd. “I will say nothing, not yet. Leave the child with me, Ralf. You hover about like an attendant nurse-maid. She will be quite safe.”

Lord Ralf paused a moment, but could hardly refuse. Bowing stiffly, he left them.

Sir Piers met Kathryn’s big eyes with a smile. And yet there was a sparkle in his gaze, a hint of wicked amusement. And suddenly she realized she liked him, very much.

“Now, child. Tell me about...”he hesitated, while her eyes fixed on his. “Tell me of your journey from Pristine,” he went on smoothly, and if he noted her sigh of relief, he pretended he had not.

He watched, rather than listened. Watched the play of expressions on her face, the flicker of lashes over her eyes. He seemed content to watch, and when she had done, said: “I am a dying man, child. An old man without an heir. The king is my liege, he will take my lands, and yet he is my deadliest enemy. On my son’s soul, I have sworn to hate him.

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