“If Mirrie has such feelings for me, why did she agree to come here and act the part of my betrothed? Why did Jonah suggest it?” He took a breath. “’Twas all a ruse, Mother, agreed upon before we departed from Ember Hall. I’m sorry for it. But there it is.”
He waited for the axe to fall, but Morwenna only nodded slowly. “I know.”
He frowned, incredulously. “For how long have you known?”
“That day in your father’s bedchamber. When the two of you showed such resistance to announcing your betrothal at the ball, ’twas then I began to work it out.”
“Are you not angry?” He could not reconcile what she was saying with the calmness of her delivery.
“I would be hypocritical if I were.” She paused to send him a rueful smile. “I consider myself culpable in the deceit, Tristan.”
“How so? You were not e’en at Ember Hall when we conjured the plan.” He rolled onto his side so he could study her more closely, feeling more curiosity than anything else.
She stroked back his hair. “But ’twas I who sent you there. ’Twas I who made sure your head was full of our insistence that you find a bride.”
Tristan blinked in amazement. “I wondered at your sudden insistence on marrying me off.”
“I knew you would find Mirrie waiting there for you. Beautiful, kind Mirrie,” she added, emphatically. “She would be the perfect bride for you. But only if you began to see her in that light.”
He had no words. He rolled onto his back, put his hands behind his head and gazed up at the blue sky. Fluffy white clouds floated aimlessly above him, much like his thoughts. He could not decide if he were angry or amused at his mother’s meddling.
After all, she had only pointed him in the direction of Mirrie. He had done the rest.
“Haveyou begun to see her in that light?” she asked, softly.
He answered honestly. “I don’t know how I feel.” He threw her a rueful smile. “Except out of sorts with everyone and everything.”
“Well, that is the important question you must answer before anyone else’s heart is further compromised. Certainly before you visit Ember Hall again.”
“I have no plans to visit Ember Hall,” he said stiffly.
Morwenna pressed her lips together. “It is your sister’s home. Some day you must go back there. And you have hardly been happy these last days, Tristan.”
He plucked at a handful of grass and let it fall.
“Tristan?”
“Aye, you are right.” He sat up and clasped his hands around his knees. He had felt as if a part of him were missing ever since Mirrie rode away from Wolvesley.
And perchance he felt slightly lighter of heart just for acknowledging that.
“You must try to work outwhyyou are so out of sorts. I am unused to seeing my handsome son with such a scowl on his face,” Morwenna said lightly.
“I will endeavour to appear more cheerful.” He dropped some of the grass over her lap and she brushed it away with a chuckle before turning to him with a serious expression.
“And then you must decide if you truly love Mirrie. And if the answer is yes, I ask you this. What are you going to do about it?”
He fixed his gaze on the distant treetops. “That is precisely the problem, Mother. For if I have learned one thing these last days, ’tis that our friendship is very dear to me, and I would do naught to risk it.” He took a breath. “And if I have learned a second thing, ’tis that my actions all too often do exactly that.”
Morwenna watched him closely, a small smile playing about her lips. “But?” she supplied.
“But I find myself craving her company.”And her smile. And her laugh.Tristan added silently, struggling to articulate these new, deeply held emotions.
“Then you must talk to her.” Morwenna nodded firmly, as if it was all so very simple.
“But if I get it wrong again…” Tristan deliberately left his sentence unfinished.
His mother reached out and patted his shoulder. “You must curb your instinctive impatience. Take things slowly with Mirrie.”
