Page 113 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Nine
Gavin had notcome home the prior evening.
And Edana had returned.
Senara woke with a hollow ache in her chest. Edana had avoided Senara all evening, but now she would get answers.
She put on her most regal dress, the one made of deep blue velvet and trimmed in the softest white fur she’d ever run her fingers over. Gavin had smiled when the tailor brought it. He had declared it made her eyes look like emeralds. The memory brought a pleasant warmth to Senara’s cheeks.
While she loved the feel of the fine fabric on her skin, she still had not become used to wearing such finery and still felt as though she were a girl again playing in Ma’s old clothing.
Senara found Edana in the great hall and tried to ignore the swirling unease in her stomach.
Edana’s brow lifted with incredulity at Senara’s approach. “I see ye took no time to dress the part of a lady.”
Her comment made the foreign feel of the clothing all the more uncomfortable. Senara kept her posture straight, in the same calm, measured way Ma did when she’d been affronted.
She stood beside Edana’s chair, but did not sit herself. “As is fitting my station.”
Edana snorted. “Ye have no station. And ye willna either.”
“Ye are mistaken—”
“Nay, it is ye who are mistaken.” Edana regarded her with a cold look in her dark eyes. “Do ye know where the laird is?”
This question left Senara mute.
“Ach, he dinna tell ye?” Edana pressed a hand to her chest in a play of horror.
Senara curled her hand at her side. The memory was still fresh on the satisfaction of landing a blow on the cruel woman.
Anice strolled into the room with her hips swinging and her hands laden with a tray full of food. She nodded to Senara. “Morning, my lady. Do ye need anything?”
She set the trencher in front of Edana. Near a floury disk of bannocks was a pile of sausage sitting in a puddle of grease.
Senara’s stomach churned and her mouth began to sweat with the need to vomit.
“Ye’re looking quite ill this morning,” Edana said. Her knife cut through the sausage with a soft pop and a line of clear grease oozed from the slit.
Senara swallowed hard and let her nails nip into her palms to keep her composure. In an effort to save herself, she wrenched her gaze from the plate of food and regarded Anice. “Have ye heard from the laird?”
Anice shook her head. “I only know he left with haste.”
“Ah, now that I can answer for ye.” Edana pulled the slice of sausage from the blade with her flat teeth. “He finally received the agreement to wed Colina MacKintosh.”
It was a trick. Some sort of mean trick, and Senara did not believe it.
She lifted her brow in the same manner as Edana often did. “He is marrying me. The banns—”
“Have no’ been completed.” Edana smirked. “And ye’re pregnant. What will ye do with the babe when ye dinna even have parents to return home to?”
This time Senara’s composure did falter. Edana’s chin notched upward with her victory. “Do ye think Anice wouldna report to me that ye’d no’ asked for yer monthly rags?” She indicated Senara with the point of her eating knife. “Look at ye, practically green at the appearance of food. Dinna tell me ye dinna know or I’ll think ye an even greater fool.”
Senara had suspected the pregnancy, in truth, but had wanted absolute certainty before telling Gavin. Her courses were late by only a week. While uncommon for her, she had wanted to wait a bit longer. Just in case.
She looked to Anice, who watched her with a pleasant little smile on her red lips. “Anice?”
The servant flung her red braid over her shoulder. “I guess knowing yer letters doesna make ye better than the rest of us after all.”
