Page 15 of Beholden
As we made our way to the hatch, she nibbled on her roll. “You need not spend every moment with me,” she said when we were out of earshot of others.
“We must put forth some effort at being seen as a couple.” I leaned closer so our arms brushed. “Or people may suspect other motives for our being together.”
She chewed and seemed to contemplate my words. “What do you suggest we do to convince everyone?”
At her naïve question, I stumbled. Was Lady Gabriella so innocent that she didn’t know how to pretend to fancy a man? Hadn’t she witnessed other women flirting, even if she’d never done so herself?
I was tempted to tease her by encouraging her to express lavish compliments or use other such feminine wiles. But I wasn’t at court, and this was certainly no game we were playing.
“Perhaps,” I replied, “if we work near each other and engage in conversation, that will suffice.”
She angled her head at me. “Very well. I shall endeavor to do so.”
“Endeavor? Let us hope my company isn’t overly distasteful.”
Standing at the ladder protruding from the top of the hatch, she smiled, then bit off another piece of roll, effectively hiding all traces of humor. She tucked the leftover wedge into her pocket before she descended into the shaft.
I watched her climb down, and for the first time since arriving, I found myself eager for the long day of work ahead.
Though Gabriella was impatient to begin her weapons training, I convinced her to delay a week until the other slaves had the chance to see us together and conclude we harbored mutual fondness.
Most of the time we worked side by side, close enough to converse above the pinging and tapping of hammers and chisels. The first day, she was reticent to share much about herself. But as the hours and days passed, she opened up and divulged more.
I learned that her father, Lord Haleigh, Earl of Rockland, had once been an important advisor to King Alfred the Peacemaker. When the king had been on his deathbed and had divided his kingdom between his twin daughters, he’d beseeched Lord Haleigh to reside in Warwick with Queen Margery and advise her. Since Lord Haleigh already had a vast estate near the city of Kensington, he’d moved his young family to Rockland Castle where Gabriella had lived most of her life.
She’d been but a wee lass when her mother died giving birth to a stillborn brother. Crushed at the loss, Lord Haleigh hadn’t remarried. But from how Gabriella spoke about her father, he’d been a devoted and adoring father, pouring out his attention and love upon his one remaining child. When I pressed her to tell me more about how her father died, she always changed the subject.
Of course, with her kind nature, Gabriella never talked about herself for long before she turned the discussion around and asked about my past. With the warnings about the volatile nature of the Great Isle and Queen Margery fresh in my mind, I’d hidden my true identity and told people I was a distant relation to Lord Kennard, that I’d fallen out of favor with my family, and as a result, I’d been relegated to work in the mine for six months as punishment.
To assuage my guilt for deceiving Gabriella, I tried to be honest in relaying all the other information about my family and my past. Leaving out a few minor details about my royalty and the Testing wouldn’t matter, not in the long term when we parted ways.
Our charade seemed to be working, at least with Farthing, Ernie, and the other new slaves who jested with me mercilessly about Gabriella every night when we retired to our hut. And though I kept up the façade with them, I found it increasingly easy to do. The truth was, I enjoyed being with Gabriella. Her presence made me forget about the drudgery of the work and caused time to pass quickly.
The other truth was that the more I got to know her, the more concerned I was for her well-being. I’d tried again to probe into her situation and her unnamed enemy. When I asked her about the duchess’s steward who had leveled the accusations of stealing against her, she’d offered little in her defense. My guess was that the steward had pilfered from the coffer to line his own pockets and had allowed Lady Gabriella to suffer for it.
How could I blame her for keeping secrets from me when I’d done the same to her?
“May I start training today?” she whispered as she stopped to wipe the sheen of perspiration from her brow. “Please? A week has passed.”
I scooped up pieces of rock that had fallen to the ground and dumped them in my basket, bringing the level nearly to the top.
After pretending to be enamored with each other for the past week, what would Curly think if I pulled Gabriella aside today for a few minutes alone? Would he allow it? Or would he come after me the way he had the first day Gabriella and I had started talking? He’d pressed a sharp rock against my back and told me I’d fare much worse if I did anything to hurt Gabi, especially leading her on only to break her heart.
I glanced down the drift to where the leader and his gang of loyal followers worked, not only filling their baskets but also completing quotas for the people in the infirmary.
There was only one way to find out his reaction. We had to sneak off.
“I’ll go first.” I tucked my tools into my rope belt. With my shoulders in a perpetual hunch and my head low to avoid hitting the ceiling, I crept toward the end of the drift, heading for a tunnel that had already been mined for anything of value.
A minute later Gabriella stepped into the passageway. She paused, uncertainty wrinkling her brow. “Do we have enough light here?”
It was dim, with scant illumination from the main drift. While it would be enough to hold any rats at bay, such conditions weren’t ideal for teaching her how to wield a knife.
“We’ll stay on the end closest to the light.”
She searched the shadows, her fear palpable. “We cannot take long, so shall we begin?”
I slipped the knife out of the secretive sheath built into my boot. At the sight of the small but sharp blade, she blanched. She was the gentlest soul I’d ever met. I doubted she’d be able to kill anyone, even if she trained for it and tried.
