Page 14 of Lily of the Valley

"Sounds delicious."

Scout smiled briefly before returning her attention to the partridge, getting it on spits to roast over the fire. "Want to help me with dinner? Could use someone to turn the spits while I clean up."

"Of course!" Lily said, putting the sewing away for the night and slowly crossing the room, where Scout showed her how to keep them turning steadily so the meat cooked evenly and nothing burned. Her arms and shoulders wouldn't love her by the end of it, but she was happier being helpful and sore than completely useless.

An hour or so later, always hard to tell exactly inside the quiet cabin, dinner was ready, and they sat at the worktable across from each other as they ate. Halfway through the meal, though, Lily started yawning so much she could barely finish bites between them.

Scout looked at her with amusement and a softness Lily couldn't interpret. Probably Scout thought she was a child. An oh-so-mighty queen, and here she was being treated like a child by a woodcutter. "What?"

"You're exhausted. Go to bed. If you wake up hungry later, the food will still be here."

"I'm not a child," Lily replied, scowling at her half-empty plate.

Scout snorted softly, drawing her head back up. "No, you're most certainly not. You are a woman who has been through a lot of physical, emotional, and mental trauma, however. Trust me, after going through everything you did, all your body wants is rest. Something you seem stubbornly determined not to give it."

"Speaking from experience?" Lily asked, brow furrowing, because she honestly couldn't tell if it was experience talking, or Scout being her usual know-it-all, infuriatingly calm and confident self.

"Yes," Scout said shortly. "Even the part where you saw your father die." She gathered up the empty dishes and Lily's half-full one. "Only difference is, I did the killing."

"What!"

Scout, though, true to form, had already vanished outside. Lily was going to clobber her. Saying something like that and then—and then—and then running away. It was like she went out of her way to be as confounding and infuriating as possible.

Throwing up her hands in exasperation, Lily stood and slowly went about getting ready for bed, sighing in relief when she was finally able to slide beneath the warm blankets. Despite her best effort to stay awake and confront Scout over her shocking statement, the lull of a crackling fire and a cozy bed was simply too much when she was already so tired…

Sometime later she woke up, heavy and groggy. What had woken her? Lily dragged her eyes open and sat up slowly, staring blearily at the only significant source of noise in the cabin—and went hot in the face when she realized she was staring at Scout, bathing by the fire, outlined by the light, every detail of her beautiful body on loving display. Cheeping in alarm, Lily dove back into the blankets and pulled them up, heart pounding.

She'd seen people naked before! She was hardly an innocent, blushing maiden! What was wrong with her? Yes, Scout had nice…well, everything…but that wasn't sufficient reason to act like this. Lily muffled a groan of frustration in the bedding—and then shrieked as a very loud crack-boom filled the air and shook the cabin.

Before she could say anything, light filled the room, a blinding, searing flash that was over nearly as soon as it had begun. There was also a crashing sound, but this time of something being struck. Some poor tree, no doubt.

Scout, dressed now, thankfully, looked at her in amusement. Somehow her voice carried over the rain that started drumming down. "Surely Your Majesty has endured thunderstorms before."

Lily glared. "I lived in a palace, deep in the palace, so it's harder to reach me should the walls be breached. Thunderstorms are a bit different there."

"Fair enough," Scout said with a laugh, then went to the back window and peered out, though what she thought she'd see in all the dark and rain, Lily couldn't begin to guess. "Damn it, that was my shed. All these tall damn trees around and the lightning went for my poor, innocent shed." She groaned and dropped the curtain. "That's going to fuck over the rest of my week, damn it."

Another deafening crack of thunder prevented Lily from replying. Giving up on going back to sleep, she joined Scout at the window. "Your valley is going to turn into a pond."

"Hasn't yet, but each time it rains I wonder," Scout said with a laugh. She smelled like the soap she made herself, woodsy with hints of lavender, soft and comforting, like everything else about her home. Lily wanted to lean into it, let Scout take her weight, but that would be presumptuous at best.

Anyway, she was Queen. It was her job to take the weight of everyone around her, not foist it onto others. Nobody wanted a weak queen. So she stood tall and straight, holding the blanket she'd wrapped around her shoulders, missing the soft, cashmere shawl Leigh had crocheted for her a few years ago as a birthday present. Lily had given her a new chatelaine decorated with filagree and delicate enameled flowers.

If anyone was still alive, it was Leigh, because surely they would not kill a woman lying sick in bed. Then again, Leigh had been part of her inner circle, and so likely eliminated as a threat. The minute she got within reach of that backstabbing cretin Ferdinand, she was going to stab him in the throat. With her embroidery scissors.

"What has you so tense all of a sudden?" Scout said, and Lily jumped slightly when a hand rested, warm and heavy, on her shoulder. "Don't like storms?"

Lily shook her head. "I was worried about my friends, all of them probably dead, and thinking about how much I can't wait to make Ferdinand pay for this. My father trusted him, respected him, thought so highly—And Ferdinand murdered him. Murdered so many, I don't even know how many yet. I need to get home."

"You can't save anyone until you save yourself," Scout said. "Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way. The hardest way, some might say. Come on, I'll fix us some tea to enjoy until this storm abates."

Not really knowing what to say, or even really what she was feeling, Lily quietly let herself be led over to the fire and settled into a chair. Like some poor, scared child. This couldn't continue. She was a queen, damn it, she needed to start acting like one.

Starting tomorrow, she damn well would.

Alone

It did indeed take Scout the whole week to replace her shed. Thankfully, most of the contents had been salvageable.

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