Page 21 of His Forsaken Bride

“Pshaw!” burst out the King in high dudgeon. “If you weren't such a stickler for decorum Vawdrey, we'd have faced this out between us! But now, you've let this woman work her wiles on you and you're well and truly leg-shackled!”

Fenella stood frozen to the spot, not knowing what to say. The King was clearly in an ill temper.

“What did you do, get him drunk?”" The King squinted at her balefully. “He'd never have fallen for such a ruse if he'd been in possession of his faculties.” Fenella's mouth fell open, but before she could even speak the King had turned back to Oswald. “It's well known you've no head for alcohol, Vawdrey,” he tutted. “And it's not natural to live like a monk for as long as you have. Only told you the other day. It's a sure way to fall prey to unscrupulous females! I knew something was wrong when you didn’t turn up to supper. I wish now I’d sent an armed guard to escort you!”

Fenella did not dare to turn her head to look at Lord Vawdrey, as he muttered some non-committal reply.

“One of your household no doubt gave her admittance to your bedchamber,” carried on the King grouchily. “You should beat your manservants soundly. Teach 'em all a lesson.”

Fenella didn't even hear the reply Oswald made to this. She had just noticed there were a few other shadowy figures in the room who were witness to the entire humiliating spectacle. Strangely enough, one of them was an old woman with a face like a sheep and a fussy headdress. Fen wondered if this was the foreign queen everyone spoke of.

“Well you're a more forgiving man than me!” harrumphed the King. “That's all I can say, Vawdrey!” He turned back to Fenella and inspected her from head to toe. “Humph!” he snorted in disgust. “I daresay you're vastly proud of yourself, madam! But you'll find there's more to being a countess than bedding an earl!” Fenella just about managed to bite back her gasp of dismay. Her face flamed as the King made a dismissive gesture with his hand, “Get her out of my sight,” he said. “Damn dismal start to the morn!”

“Of course sire,” said Oswald Vawdrey and she felt his hand at her waist, guiding her tottering steps from the room. When they reached the outer chamber, she held her head high and faced straight ahead. Even then, she could hear the excited whispers around her. The cool rush of air as they exited the King's apartments back into the corridor, told her it was safe to draw a shaky breath. Her head was spinning. The King seemed to think she had seduced her way back into Lord Vawdrey’s life! There could be no other explanation of his words. When she stumbled on an uneven flagstone, Oswald Vawdrey’s grip on her righted her at once “Well, that went most satisfactorily,” he murmured.

Fenella’s feet stopped walking, though he carried her a few steps on his own momentum.

“Fenella?” he turned back to her.

“Satisfactorily?” she echoed. She took a deep breath. “My lord, the King did not seem at all pleased!”

“He'll be fine presently,” he assured her with a slight smile. “You'll soon become familiar with his ways.”

Fenella thought she would be hard-pressed to think of anything she would like less. “I find that difficult to believe,” she responded stiffly. “He seemed to take a strong disliking of me. He called me an ‘unscrupulous female’,” she pointed out indignantly.

“Fenella, if he had taken a strong disliking, you would be in the dungeons right now,” he answered dryly. “He'll soon recover his spirits, when he's found a new sacrificial lamb.”

Fenella stared a moment and then allowed him to pull her forward into a measured step by his side. “I scarcely ever know what you're referring to my lord,” she admitted hopelessly. “Do you mean to take me into your confidences?”

“Good lord no,” he said lightly. “I don't think that will be at all necessary.”

Fenella swallowed hard. It was most disconcerting, but sometimes, his words felt like a slap to the face. “I - I find myself quite at a loss around you,” she confessed. “I don't know how to act or even what to say.”

“You will soon become accustomed to me, Fenella,” he assured her. “I am sure we will deal admirably together.”

Fenella was not so sure. “There were other people in the King's chamber just now,” she said awkwardly after a moment's pause.

“Yes,” agreed Oswald. “After all, the King is very rarely alone.”

“They must have overheard every word!” fretted Fenella. “I do hope no-one will speak of it.”

Lord Vawdrey’s eyebrows rose at this. “You have not been much at court have you Fenella?” he asked with a twist of his lips.

“Only once when I was presented,” she agreed. “But I did not see the King in close quarters then. He seemed taller. And a good deal more benevolent.”

“We all have good days and bad days,” said Oswald Vawdrey enigmatically. For a moment she almost thought he would laugh at her. She could not read him at all, she thought despairingly, and gave up even trying. “Who was that lady in the headdress?” she asked instead. “Was that the queen?”

“The Queen?” he repeated with a short laugh. “Dear me no, The King would never admit Armenal until noon. That was his old nurse, Bathilde.”

“His nurse?”

“She is the only person permitted to wake him every morn.”

Fenella digested this astonishing piece of information and then asked in a small voice: “What will happen now?”

“Now?”

“Will you take me to Vawdrey Keep?” she asked hopefully, thinking of the old Vawdrey seat which bordered her own late father’s estate. It was deep in the countryside and she could hide herself there and try to recover her wits.