Courtly Masquerade Read online

  Instantly, I found no ground to plant my feet on. At once, I realized the carriage bounded along a steep mountain ridge.

  Only I found this out too late.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes to the worst headache I have ever experienced as I lay on a straw-filled mattress in a tiny room. A young, red-haired girl stood watching me in the doorway. Her blue eyes rounded as her mouth formed an “o”, then she dashed out of the room.

  “Momma! Momma! The lady is awake!”

  I closed my eyes to lessen the pain that radiated through my whole body.

  A young woman hurried into the room, wiping a floury brown powder on her tattered brown gown. Her dark hair was coiled on top of her head and some of the powder colored her nose.

  She quickly curtsied. “My lady.”

  “I’m beholden to you for taking me in.” I tried to sit up, but the pains in my head intensified.

  She touched my shoulder and made me lay down again. “You had a nasty fall.”

  “But nothing is broken?” That’s all I cared about. I had to move on...to find Duke Yalovon before the brigands discovered I no longer rode in the carriage. Then I noticed sunlight filtering through a burlap sack hanging over the window. I groaned. “How long have I been here?”

  “Since early this morn, my lady. My husband was out chopping wood and found you unconscious. He returned to his task once he brought you home to us.”

  “Do you know who I am?”

  The woman’s blue eyes rounded, and she quickly shook her head. “But you are a noblewoman. We know because of the gown you wore, the money you carried, and the jeweled dagger.”

  I swallowed hard, just then noticing my gown had been removed, and I now wore a cotton bed gown. Had the lady read my note?

  The woman wrung her hands. “My husband said as soon as he cuts the firewood and hunts for fresh meat, he will go into town and send word that you are resting at our home.”

  “No!”

  The lady’s lips parted.

  “I’m sorry. Someone is trying to harm me. I must find my way to Castle Ro.”

  “’Tis a week’s journey on horseback, my lady. You seem to have enough money to buy a horse, but a lady dressed as you are wouldn’t make it very far without escort. In fact, any woman traveling alone would be fair game to bandits along the road, or off the main roads, too.”

  I thought it odd the lady didn’t ask my name. On the other hand, it was the noblewoman’s prerogative to tell what she wanted, and not for someone of lower rank to question her.

  “Do you know where I’m from?”

  The lady’s gaze shifted to the floor, as her daughter rejoined her and hung onto her skirts. “We assumed from Foxmoor Castle as it’s the closest to these mountain roads.”

  I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in my skull forced me to see lights across a black velvet backdrop. I winced and groaned instead. “I fear for you and your family. I need to get on my way.”

  She nodded. “My husband can call on his brother to help get you into the village. It isn’t close to the mountain path. If you were on the road and jumped from a conveyance in the dark of the night, it might have been a very long time before your escort reached their destination and discovered you were not with them. We suspect it would be the next town along the mountain road, not down here in the valley. Unless they took the treacherous way down that you did—and they could not on horseback or by carriage—they would not reach the village here for another whole day.”

  Somewhat relieved, I offered a weak smile. “Then I must go as soon as I can. Did you read my note?”

  The lady shook her head. “Neither my husband nor I can read, my lady.”

  How dumb of me. Of course not.

  “The fewer people who know who I am, the better.”

  “I understand. I will fetch you some porridge.”

  When the woman left the room with her daughter clinging to her skirts, I wondered what to do now. My escort undoubtedly didn’t know I wore my black cloak because my lady-in-waiting must have slipped it inside for me unbeknownst to them. But would my brown velvet gown give me away in the village? As far as my wealth and position in society went, most assuredly. Though the idea of swapping clothes with the lady of this house wouldn’t work.

  For one thing, if any investigated her home, they would know she didn’t own the gown. And most mountain folk didn’t own more than one set of clothes. Plus only ladies of my class were permitted to wear the kind of fabrics I wore.

  So no, I couldn’t switch my clothes with her. Somehow, I would have to keep my gown well hidden beneath my cloak until I could find another change of clothes.

  I sipped the porridge and once I was done, lay back down, just to close my eyes and rest my head as the pain pummeled everything inside.

  * * *

  I woke again when I heard men’s voices in the other room, arguing. Already the night had overcome the cottage. I wondered how I’d managed to pass out so completely and for so long after eating the porridge. Drugs, came to mind.

  The little girl poked her head into the bedroom. Seeing my gaze meet hers, she dropped her mouth open as before and her eyes widened. She whipped around and yelled, “Papa! Papa!”

  Boots clomped toward the door, and I took a deep breath.

  A grizzly man with a dark brown beard and another behind his shoulder who looked like a brother, only his beard was fairer, peered through the doorway.

  “Beg your forgiveness, my lady,” he said, gruffly. “The missus is in the village.”

  “Did she speak to you about your taking me to the village and leaving me there?”

  He shifted his coal black eyes to the other man’s, then back to me. “You’re still too weak to leave here. I’ve been into the village once, and there are rumors men are looking for a runaway bride.”

  I groaned. If I had wanted to run away from Duke Farthington, I would have planned my escape much better than this. “Anything else?”

  “They’re offering money for any word of where you might be. They suspect you made it to the village. Several are searching it now.”

  “But they’re not from the castle, are they? They’re brigands, aren’t they? Why would the king send those kinds of men to return a duch...a noblewoman who has run away from her intended?”

  “That’s what made me and my brother suspicious. They’re only after money any way they can get it. The king wouldn’t have hired thugs to return you to Foxmoor. We only have a rickety wagon, and we will have to take the long way around, but my brother is willing to return you home.”

  “I must go to Castle Ro. Someone at Castle Foxmoor is responsible for my being where I am tonight. Until I know what is going on, I wouldn’t be safe returning there.”

  The other man said, “’Tis too far.”

  “I can pay you.”

  He shook his head and walked off.

  “He takes care of our elderly parents, but has no wife and children to worry about. A week would be too long for him to be gone though.”

  “A day and a half then in the direction of Castle Ro? It would take that long to reach Foxmoor Castle.”

  The man shook his head and strode off after his brother. The arguing began anew in the other room.

  I didn’t like the way things were developing. Did the men think if they returned me to Foxmoor they would receive a bigger finder’s fee than if they turned me over to the brigands? I was afraid they thought so.

  I tucked a gold coin into the mattress, hoping the woman of the house could buy material for a new dress for herself and her daughter, some other niceties, and maybe even white flour for some bread. Then I dressed in my own gown, pulled my belt on, sheathed dagger, water pouch, and food pack. My cloak fitted neatly over everything, and I pulled my hood up, lifted the window, and slipped into the woods.

  Nippy air circulated about me, but my concern with getting caught warmed my blood. The smoke of peat wafted in the woods and late blooming wild roses scented the br
eeze. Owls hooted and crickets cricketed as I found a well-traveled trail I hoped led to the village. If I could find a fellow mage, he or she might give me a map that would aid me.

  I feared anyone else would be tempted to hand me over to the brigands for money. I also worried I might step right into their hands if I wasn’t careful. But without a map or some direction, I had no clue as to where I needed to head. Would the woodsman tell the brigands where I was going?

  For money, perhaps. Or for fear of reprisals, maybe.

  From now on, my destination had to remain a secret. And who I was, too. A duchess. I’m sure my name was as well known as the princess’s in these parts, being that I was the only duchess at Foxmoor.

  Lady Arabella, my baroness’s niece. That’s who I had to be from now on. Not the Duchess Arabella.

  At least I wouldn’t forget my name.

  My cloak brushed against evergreen shrubs that shivered in the breeze. I tilted my nose up to smell something different...a bite in the air, tinged with a crisp dampness—an unseasonably early snow coming.

  From time to time, my water-repellant wool cloak caught on a ragged branch, which forced me to stop and release the fabric in haste.

  But the snap of a twig behind me sent my heart leaping from my chest. Spurred on, I darted off like a frightened rabbit away from the sound that sent panic skittering through my blood.

  CHAPTER 3

  Boots crashing through the woods behind me, heavier boots, the kind worn by bigger feet...men-sized feet, tromped so close, I could feel two, maybe three men’s hot breaths breathing hard against my neck as my hood fell away from my head. Before I could scream, a hand clamped over my mouth, and I was hurriedly taken deeper into the woods, away from the path. I can see now why I stay home. I am not good at escape and evasion. Well, maybe I don’t do too badly at escape, if I forget how much my head is still throbbing, but the evasion part...

  I couldn’t see a thing in the blackness as the trees hid even the sliver of the moonlight. But I could hear several scuffling through the woods around me. Though for now I was resigned to be sold off to slavers, deep inside, I was already thinking about my next escape tactics as my blood boiled in anger.

  But then a hood was pulled over my face and a rope was wrapped around my body, confining my arms. I was lifted, then carefully laid down on something soft. Then I felt smothered as something covered me. Instantly, my hopes for escape were dashed, and I sank into a kind of despair.

  The next thing I knew, horses clomped again on a dirt road, and this time wagon wheels squeaked, shaking me as they struck more ruts in the road.

  Was it the man and his brother and others from the mountains that carted me off? Most likely. They would return me to Foxmoor. Then what? No matter what, I couldn’t return there. Princess Lynet wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. If she wished to be rid of me, she’d do it right this time.

  No one spoke so I had no way of knowing if the brothers rode with me. And because no words were passed, I didn’t know where they intended to take me. If they were the brigands though, they would be headed for the seacoast, a three-day journey by wagon.

  We traveled a while, I can’t say how long because I drifted off to sleep every now and again. But I quickly came to when I realized my new conveyance had stopped. Music played nearby and laughter and talking caught my ear. We had to be in some town or maybe the valley village I’d been aiming for.

  Or maybe a seacoast town where pirates waited on a nearby ship.

  Suddenly, whatever lay on top of me was moved, and hands grabbed my shoulders and feet, then carried me from the wagon.

  They jostled me about as their boots clomped on stairs, then a door creaked open.

  Again no one spoke and I wasn’t certain if this unnerved me more, or if I heard what they intended to do to me, would do me in.

  They stood me on my feet and through the dark hood, I could tell the room was dimly lit. The ropes were removed and then the hood.

  I stood blinking, trying to adjust to the lantern light and the toasty fire that warmed the small room. Furnished with one bed, covered in a thin brown blanket, a worn table, chair, the hearth and roll-top chest, I recognized it to be a room in an inn for travelers.

  Two bearded men grinned at me with smiling eyes. I imagined they were the ones who had carried me from the wagon, as I hadn’t heard anyone else coming or going. Then they bowed.

  “Who—”

  I didn’t get any further as they grinned again and hurried out of the room through one of two doors, then shut it. I immediately darted for the other, my third escape attempt on my journey to Ro Castle.

  I’m not the kind of woman who swoons, not usually. Maybe it was the head injury. But as soon as I shoved the door open and found a man naked, bathing in a tub, I swooned.

  * * *

  I woke to someone strumming a lyre, but I kept my eyes closed as I rested in a bed. If I could escape while my captors least expected it...

  “She hasn’t much fortitude,” a man’s deep voice said.

  A woman said, “I don’t know what in heaven’s name you’re going to do with her, Conlan. She’s much more trouble than she’s worth.”

  “Saving her from the slavers should be worth something, don’t you think, Moravia?”

  The woman scoffed. “You know that’s not why you want her. I tell you again, she’s not worth it. Leave her here for Foxmoor’s people to come get her. We’d best be on our way.”

  The sound of a woman’s soft footsteps padded out of the room, then the door squeaked shut...in the direction my two guards had taken.

  The woman was gone. Now if Conlan would leave, I could slip out, maybe through the window. I should have thought of that in the first place.

  I could still envision the golden-haired man sitting in the tub, naked, though I couldn’t see anything besides his naked chest and shoulders and head. But nobody wore clothes when bathing, so I could only imagine the rest of him was well, naked, too.

  The only other thing I recalled was the lift to his lips and the smile that twinkled in his blue eyes when he saw me. Though I vaguely remember him rising in the tub as I was falling to the floor.

  Now, he rose out of the chair, I assumed as it creaked, and then he walked to the door to the “bath” room. The door opened, then closed.

  Instantly, I opened my eyes. And there was the naked man, only dressed this time, his blond hair now neatly tied back in a ponytail. He wore plain brown traveling clothes. He smiled again at me.

  He had tricked me into thinking he had left the room. He was cleverer than me, and that sent a trickle of irritation down my spine.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  He sat back on the chair and folded his arms. “The question is who are you?”

  Who did I want to be? He knew I was from Foxmoor, and he knew I was a noblewoman. But I could be any one of the baronesses, or their daughters. Or the princess or duchess.

  “It’s unimportant.”

  He chuckled. “It seems odd for you to be unimportant, when so many are searching for you.”

  “Who?”

  The smile remained fixed to his lips as he shook his head. Again he stood. “I am Conlan.” He made a sweeping, extremely elegant bow, and I knew then he had to be a nobleman himself, despite his simple clothes.

  “Well, Lord Conlan...” I paused for affect.

  His smile grew.

  “Perhaps you could take me to Ro Castle. I would pay you handsomely for the escort.”

  He lifted my money pouch at his belt and waved it. “With this?”

  I choked back the words I wanted to scream at him. “Yes, with that.”

  “As you can see, it is already mine. What else do you have?”

  My dukedom, but I could not offer that. Not that I wouldn’t if he’d take me safely to Ro Castle, and I could live out my days there as a governess and wouldn’t have to marry Duke Farthington. But I couldn’t give my dukedom away unless the king permitted it.

/>   “I’m afraid that’s all I have at the moment. But when I work for the duke as his governess, I can send more of my earnings to you as I make them.”

  He raised his blond brows. “A governess? You would work and then give me more money from your hard earned wages?”

  “Yes,” I said, vigorously nodding.

  “Why would you need to work?”

  I frowned, not able to conceal my annoyance with his question. “It seems all the money I had on me is now in your hands.”

  “For safekeeping.”

  “That’s what you call it?”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  “I’m Baroness DeChamplainet’s niece.”

  Again he smiled. “Really. And your name is?”

  I hated to say it. If he knew Duchess Arabella lived at Foxmoor, even if I said I was the baroness’s niece, he undoubtedly wouldn’t believe it. However, it was the baroness’s niece’s name, too. So if I were to play the game right, that’s who I had to be. “Lady Arabella.”

  His blue eyes widened and his brows pinched together. Had he made the connection? And now he was angry? I should have said nothing.

  “Get your gown on,” he growled.

  I glanced down at the brown covers and realized that now I only wore my soft chemise undergown, the fabric nearly sheer. My cheeks heated in embarrassment as I jerked the blanket to my chin, though I hadn’t revealed anything more than my shoulders. But then again, that was scandalous enough.

  He stormed out of the room through the door his men had gone, slamming the door behind him, and shouted orders to his men.

  As quickly as I could, I pulled my dress and boots on. Then I bolted to the room where he’d been taking a bath. In there, I found my dagger, water and food pouches, and cloak lying on the table. And his money pouch. I smiled when I lifted it as it felt heavier than mine. Quickly I attached them to my belt and threw on my cloak. I yanked the next door open from that room. To my relief, it led to the stairs outside.

  My heart, already thundering with panic, instantly lifted, but only for a second.