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She jumped slightly at the sound of my voice. The tension in her body was palpable. She looked tired and her eyes were red, as if she had been crying all night.
“Your father would like to see you,” she said, still not looking at me. “I told him to wait until after you had breakfast.”
“What’s happened?” I went to her. “Tell me.”
She turned to me then, and I saw a mix of hurt and anger in her eyes. “Why didn’t you listen to me?” she said. “Why? How could you be so irresponsible? Didn’t you know what kind of trouble this would cause?”
I reached for her arm. “Mother, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend with me, Thomas. You and Jeyne.”
I gathered my thoughts. “Then you know everything.”
“That’s the problem, I didn’t before,” she said as the tears began to fall. “But I do now.”
“I’m not going to deny how I feel.”
“Of course you won’t. It’s onlyyouinvolved in this whole affair, isn’t it?”
“I love her, Mother.”
“You think you’re the only one who loves her? We all do!”
“Then you should understand.”
She shut her eyes as if to block out the words. “This isn’t a thing to accept or understand, Thomas. You should know that by now.”
“What I know and what I feel are two different things,” I said firmly. “And these feelings are real and I can’t let them go. If I could change it I would.”
“You don’t have achoice!” she snapped. “The world says you must. Your position says it. Any action beyond that is reckless.”
“So, I deny all that I am for the world?”
My mother’s face turned red. “This is not the time to be defiant.”
“Mother, I—”
“No! There will be no further discussions on this issue. You will obey your father and doexactlywhat he says.”
“Or what? He takes me out of his precious will?”
Her eyes narrowed when I said that and for a moment I might have been looking at a stranger. “You don’t want to test him,” she said in a low voice before turning her back on me and
leaving the room in a rush.
I dashed out of the dining room into the kitchen to look for Jeyne. She was not there nor was she in any other room in the house in which I could reasonably be expected to find her. The mood throughout the mansion was eerily quiet and all of the house slaves averted their eyes whenever I passed.
Finally, breathless with anxiety, I gave up my frantic search and I went to my father’s study. He was standing at the window in the same place as though he had been there all night. “Sit down,” he ordered.
I sat in front of his desk for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally looked at me, I saw rigid determination on his face.
“I had a chance to talk to Keegan after you went to bed last night,” he said, his words slow and deliberate.
“Did the lies come before or after you offered him more money?” I replied flippantly and in spite myself.
My father gave a wry smile. “Actually, his lies didn’t come quite as quickly as your own. God knows Keegan has lied before. But considering what I’ve observed over these last few months, I had no choice but to take his story as the more accurate one.”
“If you insist.”
