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“It’s just that Reese can be unsettling.”
“You could refuse to see him the next time he comes to the house.”
“That would be so rude! And he’s been so kind lately—” Madeleine fell into a brief and somewhat melancholy reverie. “I’ve just never been one of thoseromanticgirls,” she said at last. “I’ve always thought liking someone was more important than having a grand passion that would burn out in a couple of years. Running an estate and managing a business takes work, and that takes compatibility. I can picture living happily with Tivol for the next sixty years. Whereas Reese and I argue all the time.”
Jayla felt like she needed to say something, so she commented, “That’s certainly a consideration.”
“My parents married for love, but I don’t know how happy they were together.”
This was so astonishing that Jayla couldn’t let it pass. “Your father married for love? It’s not what I would have expected.”
“No! He is so closed and cool-headed you would hardly think he had any emotions at all.”
“Do you know how the marriage came about?”
“My mother was an orphan who was—oh, the third cousin of one of the Kissidells. Something like that. So the Kissidells took her in and raised her, though I never had the impression they were particularly generous to her. My father met her at some ball he hadn’t even wanted to attend, and a few months later they were married.”
“How long were they married?”
“Almost twelve years. She died in childbirth.”
“With your brother?”
“No, actually, with her third child. She and the baby both. Apparently my father wanted a houseful of children—though I don’t know why, since he was never that interested in spending time with the children hedidhave. She’d had a difficult time with the other two births and the doctor had told her not to get pregnant again, but she did.”
“How old were you?”
“Nine. I remember her, but not as clearly as I wish I did. I don’t have any memories of her laughing or singing. Mostly when I see her face in my mind, she looks sad.”
“Maybe life as a rich man’s wife wasn’t much better than life as a poor relation.”
Madeleine sighed. “Maybe life as my father’s wife was too hard for anyone to bear. I never got a chance to ask her. Anyway, the point I was making was that my father’s marriage was romantic—but maybe not successful. So I hope mine will be more successful even if it’s less romantic.”
“I think you know Tivol well enough by now that there will be no surprises,” Jayla said. “That sounds like a good way to start a marriage.”
“It does. You’re right. Yes,” Madeleine said. “And I’m very much looking forward to my wedding day.”
She smiled, nodded a goodnight, and slipped inside her room. Jayla continued up the next flight of stairs to her own room, wondering if Madeleine really had convinced herself that she was marrying the right man.
Jayla and Madeleine didn’t have any more extended private conversations over the next few days, which were filled with excursions and parties. Tivol was present at most events, Reese at none of them. At one of the balls, where Jayla stood in the shadows watching the dancers, she amused herself trying to guess which of the other young men Madeleine had kissed. Frankly, she found it hard to tell them apart. Maybe Madeleine had kissed them all and not known the difference.
Once Jayla had been working at the mansion for two weeks, she earned a day off. Norrah agreed to watch Aussen, so Jayla made plans to explore the city. With Cody.
She had thought about it a long time before she sent Cody the details of her new position. She had been on her own long enough, had been traveling long enough, to know that an acquaintance of the road should never be considered a true friend. Situations arose on a journey that made it advisable to work with others, and those encounters were often enjoyable, but the man who helped you free your wagon from a ditch might be a thief or a liar or tedious political fellow that you wouldn’t want to welcome into your life. Friendships formed from expediency tended to fall apart under the stress and wear of ordinary life. Jayla was always ready to move on.
But Cody had asked her to stay in touch. And she didn’t know anyone else in Corcannon. And she might be a tiny bit lonely.
So she’d sent him a note to tell him where she was, and he’d replied the very next morning, and they’d agreed to meet on the first day she had free.
She stepped through the front door of the mansion to find Cody waiting for her in the circular drive. He wasn’t wearing the red vest that marked couriers as they dashed through the city, but he might as well have been, since his bracelet full of gems flared with sunlight every time he moved his wrist. By contrast, Jayla was out of her Alayne livery, wearing her old worn leather clothes. Any casual passer-by would have a harder time assigning her an identity.
“You found the place,” she greeted him.
He nodded. “Knew where it was. I’ve brought messages to Alastair Alayne plenty of times.”
She waited a beat. “Did you knowIwas here? Before I told you?”
He narrowed his eyes, as if trying to determine whether his answer would anger her, then nodded.
