AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"There," the Englishman said loudly. "I am sure your vision will correct itself soon enough. Just keep the damp cloth on it and be patient for now."
"Are his eyes still troubling him then?" Averill's soft voice asked as the door closed. Her footsteps moved closer to the bed.
"'Tis still blurry," Will lied, sounding terribly glib. "I am sure 'twill improve as he regains strength though."
"Aye. I am sure you are right," Averill murmured, but she sounded concerned, and Kade felt a moment's conscience at tricking her like this. He even considered taking the cloth away and telling the truth, but then he thought of the old woman, Mabs, and being stuck with only her for company between quick visits from Will, and he let the lie stand.
"I see you have brought him his nooning repast," Will commented, as the scent of what Kade suspected would be more chicken broth reached his nose. His stomach immediately rolled over, letting him know it was hungry. However, he was hardly pleased at the prospect of another liquid meal. He needed solid food to rebuild his strength and was about to say as much when the other man added, "Bread and cheese, too? Is he ready for solid food, do you think?"
Kade could hear the teasing in his voice, but found himself rising to the bait and snapping, "Too right, I am."
Will chuckled with satisfaction, the sound moving away as he headed for the door. "Then I shall leave you to your meal and take myself off to the lists."
"I shall join ye soon," Kade promised.
"I am sure you will, friend," Will said, and the door closed, leaving the room silent but for the rustle of Averill's gown as she moved around the bed.
"How is your head?" she asked, the question accompanied by a sound he suspected was her setting down the tray.
Kade's hands itched to remove the cloth over his eyes, but he restrained himself, and admitted, "It aches a bit, but no' like it did."
"Then perhaps we can remove the cloth from your eyes long enough for you to eat," she murmured, and he felt her fingers brush against his face as she reached for the cloth. Kade blinked his eyes as she lifted it away and turned to set it back by the bowl of water. His gaze slid swiftly over her, taking in the hair so many disliked, then moving to the birthmark on her cheek. It was all as he recalled: a fall of glorious flame-colored waves and a tiny strawberry on her cheek. Neither what he would have considered ugly or disfiguring. And then she turned back and paused. Sucking her lower lip into her mouth, she nibbled at it worriedly, then asked, "C-can you see me?"
Kade's eyebrows rose at the tiny stammer and the way she lifted one hand as if to cover her birthmark. Recalling Will's suggestion that she might avoid him if she thought he could see her, he cleared his throat, and pointed out, "Will told ye that me vision is still blurred."
"Aye." She relaxed, her shoulders almost sagging with her relief, then smiled widely, appearing quite beautiful in that moment. "I just thought--Never mind, it does not matter," she interrupted herself, and turned to the tray of food she'd brought with her. "I brought you both broth and some watered-down ale, but also some bread and cheese. I thought if the liquids stayed down, you might like to try more solid food after."
"Aye." Kade sighed at the very thought. He'd rather just stick with the solids but had already learned that his stomach--like the rest of him--wasn't as strong as he would have liked.
"Here." She turned back with the broth in hand but paused and frowned, then set it aside and turned back to bend over him. "Let me help you sit up."
Kade grimaced at the need for aid but allowed her to help him sit and arrange the pillows behind him so that he was upright to eat. She then retrieved the broth and held it to his lips, allowing him to sip a bit.
"Your men have left for Scotland," she commented as she waited for him to swallow before offering more. "It took hardly any time at all for them to pack and make ready."
Kade smiled wryly around the mug she held to his lips, knowing they'd had little enough to pack. They'd arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs after three years in their prison and left with little more. They would ride to Stewart with the message of his well-being, then stop to collect his chest from his uncle's on the way back to Mortagne.
"Cook packed them some food to take for the journey," Averill commented as she raised the broth to his lips again. "She said they were very polite for Scots."
Kade nearly burst out laughing at the--he was sure--unintended insult, but his mouth was full of broth, and he caught himself at the last moment to keep from spitting it all over her.
"I am sorry," Averill murmured, seeming to realize what she'd said. "I just meant...well, most Scots are a short, taciturn bunch, a-and--"
"'Tis all right," he said quickly, catching the slight stammer and trying to ease her discomfort. "Most Scots are a rude lot...But Domnall, Ian, Angus, and I were all raised and trained by Ian's da, me uncle Simon. While he's a lowlander, his wife was English and 'twas from her we learned our manners."
"Oh." She smiled uncertainly, then cleared her throat, and asked, "How is your stomach? Could you manage any solid food, do you think?"
Kade glanced to the bowl, surprised to see that it was now empty. He lay still for a moment, paying attention to his stomach as she set the bowl aside and turned back to await his answer. While the broth he'd had that morning had left him feeling full and even a touch queasy, this time he felt fine. A bit full, but without the queasiness, so he murmured, "I'm thinkin' I could manage some solid food."
Averill smiled and reached for the cheese and bread on the tray. This, too, she fed to him, breaking off a bit of cheese, slipping it between his lips, then offering him a drink of mead in between it and a bit of bread. While he wanted to eat it all and rush his healing along, he managed only half the small bit of bread and cheese she'd brought before he professed himself too full to eat more. He was disappointed that he'd eaten so little, but she seemed to think he'd done well and assured him he'd be back to normal in no time at that rate.
"Shall I read to you now?" Averill asked several moments later as she closed the chamber door behind the maid she'd called to remove the tray.
"Aye," Kade said at once, then commented curiously, "In Scotland, 'tis rare fer a woman to ken how to read."
"'Tis rare in England as well," she acknowledged. "However, Will was my only friend as a child, and I followed him everywhere, even into the classroom. When his teacher decided I was a quick learner with a fine mind, he stopped protesting my presence and set about teaching me as well." She smiled wryly, and added, "When Will left to train in swordplay and such at Lord Latham's, I think father kept our teacher on just to keep me busy. I continued my lessons for several more years and am proficient in English, Latin, French, and Spanish, as well as sums."
She settled back in her seat beside the bed and picked up an old, worn book he hadn't noticed lying on the chest, then admitted on a small sigh, "Unfortunately, intelligence is another strike against me in my father's hunt for a husband. I have been warned repeatedly to keep my learning to myself."
Though he knew what she said was true, Kade shook his head at the stupidity of it. He would think it a fine thing indeed to have an intelligent wife. His mother had been educated as a girl, and it had come in quite handy when she'd been forced to take over the running of Stewart from his father. That man had a problem with drink and was quite often too deep in his cups to manage it. She had taken on the chore without protest, then had seen to it that his sister, Merry, was educated as well. Kade had no prejudice against an educated woman.
He let that thought drift away as Averill began to read. It quickly became obvious the story was one she'd read often and knew almost by heart. He wasn't surprised. Books were an expensive item and, wealthy as Mortagne appeared to be, he doubted even here, there were many books to choose from.
Relaxing back in the bed, he closed his eyes and allowed her voice to flow over him. One part of his mind was enjoying the life she gave to the characters and the tale she was recounting, while another
part marveled that he was here, safe and comfortable in a soft bed, well fed, with a woman's sweet voice filling his ears after so long as a prisoner in a foreign land, with an empty belly, a hard stone floor for a bed, and little hope of ever enjoying anything else.
I could get used to this, Kade thought, and smiled slightly to himself.
Chapter Four
"Here you are, then."
Finished with her wash, Averill set the damp linen in the basin of water Bess had brought to her and turned to take the gown Bess held out. She froze, however, her hand drawing back when she saw which one it was. Eyes widening with horror, she breathed, "Nay."
Bess grimaced sympathetically. "Aye, your father said to dress you in your finest."
Averill closed her eyes, knowing what that meant. He only had her dress in her finest when she was going to be paraded before yet another prospective husband. The dark red gown Bess was holding out was indeed her newest and finest. It was also the one that had seen her repeated humiliations at the hands of rejecting suitors. Obviously, her father had decided on whom he wished next to approach about marrying her, and the suitor was arriving today.
She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. It had to happen sooner or later and more than a week had passed since the last would-be husband had rejected her so cruelly. That had occurred the day that Kade had awoken from his long sleep.
Despite her upset, Averill found herself smiling at the thought of her brother's friend. She had spent the better portion of this week in Kade's room, reading to him, talking to him and--after the second day--helping him walk to one of the chairs before the fire in the morning and back again at night so that he wasn't always stuck in his bed.
Kade was much improved from when he'd first woken. He no longer looked as pale and thin as he'd been on first awaking, and was even beginning to talk of joining Will at the lists. The only thing that hadn't improved yet was his sight. While Averill was concerned about that for his sake, for her own she was somewhat relieved, for she was not looking forward to his reaction when he was able to see properly again. Right now she was nothing but a voice and a blurry image to him, and she worried about what he would think of her when he saw her for the first time.
