Page 21 of Waking Roslyn

She let out a little chuckle and my chest got suddenly warm. It reminded me of those moments, watching her dance in the woods. “She seems like everything a little sister should be,” she said with a smile.

“Do you have a little sister?” I asked, though why this gently bred woman was still conversing with me, I could not guess. “Or are you the little sister?”

She shook her head. “No sisters. Or brothers. Just my cousin.”

“And does she have siblings?”

“Several, but they are all older and were married and living on their own by the time I went to live with her.”

“Do you and Lady Rockwell get along well?”

“We do,” she said with a firm nod, then looked up at me. “There’s no need to loom. You can sit down.”

It sounded more like an order than a request, and I was happy to obey. I sat on the other end of the couch, determined to give her a respectable distance. Though I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so comfortable with me, here in the dark. It would be scandalous if we were found. Then again, it wouldn’t be a good hiding place if I thought there was any chance of us being found. “There. I am sitting. Are you satisfied?” I asked with a teasing lift of my brow.

“Yes, thank you.” She cast her eyes about at the dark room around us. “Now, tell me. Why is this wing not occupied?”

I shrugged and cleared my throat. Something about her almost demanding tone appealed to me. “I believe it holds grief for the family. I’ve never fully understood it.” There was more I could have said, but I wasn’t dumb enough to speak ill of the duke’s family.

She sighed. “Right.”

“Who is the man you are hiding from?” I asked it abruptly on purpose, both to change the subject and also hoping I could startle honesty out of her.

She cut her eyes over to me but shook her head. “Just a nobleman.”

“One you felt the need to hide from?”

“It is not a crime to dislike a person,” she said with a bit of sass.

She was right, but I wondered if she was hiding something more. Back in the kitchens, I could have sworn she was genuinely frightened. “And what about your cousin? Does she dislike this man?”

She cast her eyes toward the ceiling. “He’s a friend of Edmund’s, so she doesn’t really have a choice, does she?”

“You think Lord Rockwell would force this man’s company on his own wife, even if she didn’t care for him?”

She sat up straight. “That’s not what I said. Things are just different now that Lisette is married. For years we lived a quiet life in her father’s home, and now…” She lifted her hands in a helpless shrug.

“Now what?”

“Now we live with Edmund, and he…” She gave me a wry look, and the way she tilted her head in the lamplight tempted me to stare. “I don’t wish to speak ill of Winberg’s future ruler.”

“Well,” I said, settling my shoulder against the couch’s back. “I can assure you that as a servant, I am excellent at never repeating words that are spoken to me in confidence.”

She shook her head. I got the feeling that she wanted to talk about Edmund, but she was too concerned that such criticism would make its way back to him. I couldn’t exactly start blabbing on about how I couldn’t stand the man, no matter how much I wished to offer her understanding. But perhaps if I spoke in vague terms… “I’ve spent the majority of the past seven years working here with no master or mistress in residence. I can tell you that having Lord Rockwell in residence creates a very different atmosphere than when he is gone.”

“Hmm.” She chewed on her lip for several moments as she thought. “Does he treat the staff…well?”

My brow shot up. What exactly was she getting at? Before I could form a response, she continued.

“Do I—” She paused, clearly unsure whether or not she should continue. “Do you think I have reason to worry about Lisette?” She looked up at me and her eyes were wide and worried.

My heart went out to her, knowing that her worry was likely a result of interactions she’d already seen. “I haven’t been around Lord Rockwell all that much, but I have never seen him be a physical threat,” I assured her. “However, I know there have been times when people, both servants and nobility, have felt manipulated by him.”

Her chest lifted as she took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “That…is some comfort.”

“Has he ever…” I let the question trail away. Blatantly asking if Lord Rockwell, the future ruler of Winberg, was a violent man wasn’t something I could bring myself to ask. Instead, I redirected the conversation. “So you came here to escape both the visitor and Lord Rockwell himself?”

She let out a breathy little laugh, though there was something feigned about it. “Yes, I suppose that’s an apt description.”