Page 65 of Historical Hotties
Aye, she saw the perfect opportunity.
This was where Dacia was going to pay.
“It was very bad,” she agreed. “But some of the knights were from King Edward’s stable. They were not Doncaster men. And that was why I had to leave Edenthorpe– I am banished, Eloise. Banished by my own cousin.”
Eloise’s brow furrowed. “By Dacia?” she said, incredulous. “What has that terrible girl done to you now?”
It was the sympathetic ear Amata had hoped for. “One of those knights you saw fighting last night,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “This great knight is one of Edward’s knights and he had eyes only for me, but my wicked cousin seduced him.”
Eloise’s eyes widened. “Seduced him?” she gasped. “You mean…?”
Amata nodded firmly. “They kissed right in front of me,” she said. “Or, I should say, Dacia kissed him. And you know Dacia– she spends all of her time seducing her grandfather’s soldiers. She has had more men between her legs that I care to count, all the while telling her grandfather thatIam the wicked one. But this knight belonged to me and she knew it, yet she stole him from me anyway. Last night, I saw them retreat into the keep– together!”
Eloise’s mouth opened in astonishment. “Did they–?”
“Of course they did,” Amata said. “He bedded her and that is what she wanted. She did it to steal him away from me. So this morning, I fled. I will never go back to that terrible place where my terrible cousin does such immoral things.”
Eloise patted Amata’s shoulder in sympathy. “Poor Amata,” she said. “Your cousin is despicable in her behavior. If I ever see her again, I shall tell her so!”
It was the pity Amata had needed. She pretended to be quite heartbroken. “The knight and I were talking of marriage, but not any longer,” she said. “I would not be surprised if Dacia married the man. Little does he know what an awful person she is. Why… why, her own maid has told me such tales of her. Such tales! She told me that Dacia gave birth to a baby last year and buried it in the garden. A poor bastard baby!”
“Oh!” Eloise gasped, hand to her mouth. “Do the priests at St. George’s know this?”
Amata shook her head. “If they do, they will not speak of it,” she said. “The duke is a powerful man. He probably paid them to pray for Dacia’s black soul. So you mustn’t say a word, Eloise. Promise me.”
Eloise shook her head. “I will not, I promise,” she said, but it was a lie and they both knew it. “Poor Amata. Why not come inside and have some warmed wine? It has been a long time since we last saw one another and we can have a nice, long visit.”
Amata gladly followed Eloise inside, where the rear portion of the stall was the family home. Eloise’s mother and grandmother were there, welcoming Amata graciously, and the four of them sat down to warmed wine and bread with cheese. It was a lovely visit, but one in which Eloise forgot her promise and told her mother and grandmother about Dacia’s terrible behavior while Amata played the wounded cousin throughout the entire thing.
But inside, she was smiling.
It wasn’t long before that bit of gossip went flying around Doncaster, from ear to ear, finally reaching the priests at St. George’s. It was a morbidly glorious bit of rumor mongering, with Dacia of Doncaster at the center of it thanks to her liar of a cousin.
Dacia may have had the last slap, but Amata would have the last laugh.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Three long days…
That was howlong Cassius had slept. Dacia knew it was only sleep because he would wake if she roused him, but he had slept like the dead for two long days. She woke him periodically to force him to drink a small cup of boiled, salted water because she knew that the human body was comprised of fluids and if he didn’t have enough, his body would take longer to heal. She was also giving him a poppy potion for the pain, which contributed to his heavy sleep.
The poultices and the bandages on the wounds were changed regularly. There was a dousing with wine and a poultice of chamomile, repeated several times during the night and day. The wounds seemed to be doing well enough, which was good news, and Cassius had not developed a fever.
Dacia said prayers hourly for that very critical blessing.
No fever, no poison, and Cassius had a good chance of recovering completely.
Rhori and Bose were regular visitors to the sick room, as well. It was Rhori who would sit with Cassius while Dacia slept for a few hours, but the truth was that she was seriously sleepdeprived because she didn’t want to leave him. Sometimes, it took both Edie and Rhori to convince her that it would be okay for her to leave him for a short while. She would go to her chamber, fall asleep for a couple of hours, and then rush back to Cassius.
It had become a regular cycle.
On the morning of the third day, Dacia was sitting at Cassius’ bedside, reading a book from the faraway, mysterious kingdom of Harsha. The book was written in their mysterious language but, at some point over the centuries, someone had translated it into French, which Dacia could understand. It wasn’t a book of treatises or recipes, but more of a religious book, something that she was certain the priests of St. George’s would not approve of. As the fire in the hearth snapped softly, she continued to read, noting that the sky outside was becoming lighter as a new day dawned.
Edie slipped into the chamber, bringing food and tending to the hearth. She put a big pot of porridge over the flame, bringing honey and butter, bread and warmed wine for Dacia to eat when she grew hungry. The problem was that Dacia wasn’t eating much at all and often let Argos have her food. The previous night, Rhori and Bose had brought their meals into the chamber to eat with her, gently forcing her to eat with them so they would not be ashamed to eat in front of her. They coerced her to eat a full meal that way and Dacia was touched that they would be so concerned for her. Until she’d met Cassius, she’d never had anyone show such concern in her entire life.
Now, his knights were doing it, too.
When Edie brought the food this morning, Argos came out from his position under the bed and immediately turned eager eyes to the food being set out. Exasperated, Edie lured the dog out of the chamber with buttered bread, promising to take him to the kitchen and feed him a decent meal. That left Dacia as theonly partaker of the food left behind but, true to form, she didn’t touch it.
