Page 6 of The Raven and the Rose
Yet still my heart’s afire.
Her pulse quickened. “Very pretty,” she told Alice, trying not to let her excitement show too obviously.So,she thought privately,he feels as I do.The thought pleased her inordinately. What a lovely day this was! Only yesterday everything had seemed clouded, and now this day seemed shining; it felt as if it were a new beginning. And perhaps it was.
Everyone noticed that Roseanna was preoccupied. Her thoughts had carried her off to some secret place; she answered with sighs when she was spoken to.
When she took her place for the evening meal in the great hall, which seemed empty after the crowds of yesterday, she found a white rose lying beside her plate. She took it up, cupped its delicate beauty, and buried her nose in its heady perfume. She smiled and felt positively light-headed from its fragrance.
She raised her eyes to search the hall and like a magnet found the face she sought. She smiled brilliantly; then, overcome with sudden shyness, which was most unlike her, she lowered her eyes to her plate. When the meal was over, from the corner of her eye she saw Sir Bryan leave the hall. She felt a small pang of disappointment that he had not waited until she rose so they could have the excuse of leaving together. However, as she walked from the dining hall through the archway that led to the courtyard, she saw that he awaited her, and her heart lifted dizzily. Her footsteps slowed, and he fell in beside her. They strolled across the courtyard, sending the pigeons and doves flying up to the eaves.
“Did you mind my sending you a verse?” he asked tentatively.
“I thought it very pretty,” she began. Then she asked, “Do you have more?”
He laughed happily. “I’ll send one each day, now that I know you won’t scorn me.” He hesitated, “Lady Roseanna, you are so beautiful. You must have scores of knights pouring their hearts out to you.” It sounded like a question.
“No, none,” she answered simply, knowing it was the answer he sought. She was suddenly glad that it was the truth.
“Do you think that someday you could ride out with me and show me your beautiful countryside?”
She smiled at him. “Are you busy tomorrow?” she asked daringly, holding her breath until his answer came.
“I had not dared hope so soon.”
“I think I shall go hawking tomorrow at dawn. If you care to join me, Sir Bryan, it would be my pleasure.” It was the longest sentence she had uttered in his presence, and it left her attractively breathless. His eyes, which had lingered on her mouth, now fell to the rose in her fingers. Gently he plucked it from her hand and tucked it inside his doublet above his heart.
Castlemaine Manor had only one turret, and Roseanna had claimed it for her chamber long ago. Slightly removed from the rest of the household, it gave her the amount of privacy she needed to be happy.
The sky was still dark the next morning when she awoke and lit up the turret room with a dozen candles. Alice, used to Roseanna’s arising early but not at this ungodly hour, shivered. “I’ll send for a page to light a fire.”
“No time for that, Alice. Help me with my hair. We’ll braid and loop it and fasten it with ribbons. I need it very secure so it won’t come tumbling down, for I’m hawking this morning.”
Alice shivered again just at the thought of riding in the wind at dawn. Later, the summer day would be lovely and warm, but at this hour the outdoor world was decidedly chilly.
Roseanna chose a linen underdress and long tabard in matching forest green. Her riding boots were soft red Spanish leather, and her cloak was scarlet. She was well aware that scarlet was one of the colors that showed off her dark hair to perfection. She pulled on her leather gloves, then took a bright green apple from a bowl of fruit and bit into it lustily.
Alice shuddered. “Ugh, isn’t that sour?”
Roseanna’s tongue shot out to catch the juices, and she laughed. “It’s so tart it sets my teeth on edge, but it’s delicious!”
The two girls made a startling contrast: one very alive, the color high in her cheeks for what adventure the day might bring; the other pale and thin and shivering.
“Go back to bed, Alice. Here, put on my velvet bedgown. If I’m hawking, I have to be up with the lark, but you most certainly do not. I’ll tell you all the juicy details when I get back.” She winked suggestively and whirled from the turret room, raced down the long flight of stone steps that led to the second story of the manor, then went quietly along to the backstairs, which led to the ground floor and out into the courtyard.
In the stables not even old Dobbin was astir yet, but Roseanna noted with pleasure that Sir Bryan was already there—as if he were impatient for the very sight of her!
He drew in his breath at the lovely vision in the scarlet mantle. She smiled up at him, not even trying to hide the pleasure in her eyes. “Come and select a hawk for yourself,” she bade as she led the way through the stables into an annexed building and then up into the loft.
The birds, now disturbed, set up a screeching cacophony that was almost deafening. The light in the loft was very dim, and the musty smell of straw and bird droppings made Roseanna wrinkle her nose in protest. Then she unlatched the shutters and threw them back to let in the first light of day.
The birds were on wooden perches in long rows. Some were privately owned; the names of their owners were carved into the perches. One or two wore hoods with ornately fancy crests, but there were many varieties of hunting birds that were for general use by any of Castlemaine’s inhabitants.
Sir Bryan chose a fine falcon with a massive wing-spread and claws that could tear a man apart, let alone a bird. Roseanna almost chose a small sparrow hawk so that her companion would show to advantage in the hunting, but she changed her mind. She must not be too obvious, or he would know what she was about. She passed over the harriers, for she had been out with them before, and she knew that they did not always make a clean kill on the first try. She chose a female kite because of its smooth gliding motion and its forked tail and long pointed wings. Also, it went immediately from a view to a death.
Sir Bryan attached his falcon’s jess to a leash, and Roseanna did the same. “Perhaps we’d better take a lure. I don’t know how well trained your bird is,” she admitted. Downstairs, she fastened the birds’ leashes to a stall while Sir Bryan saddled his horse. She admired his deep-chested stallion and knew immediately that although it was a fine mount, it was not as many hands tall as Zeus. She moved along the stalls and selected a young mare for herself. A little voice inside Roseanna mocked her for playing devious, womanish tricks to make the man look and feel superior to her, but she ignored the little voice. As they rode out of the stables, Dobbin, who was now about, scratched his head in mystification at why the young mistress was not mounted on her favorite wild animal.
The sun was up now, and the dew sparkled before them like a carpet of green and silver. Roseanna had taken in every detail of Sir Bryan’s appearance without seeming to do so. He wore deep blue hose, a doublet of the same color, and soft leather boots that reached to his thighs. Perhaps it was the deep color that made his eyes such an intense shade of blue. She found herself wondering whether, if he wore green, the shade of his eyes would change to match. The sun turned his hair and beard to spun gold. Roseanna found him most pleasant to look upon. On his shoulder was the Duke of Clarence’s badge, a black bull.
“Is the Duke of Clarence very like his brother, the King? I have never seen him. I’ve seen Richard when he was a boy, but never George.”
