Page 114 of An Inconvenient Vow

For a moment he seemed to struggle for words. Then they burst from him, “That unspeakablepiece of…” He ground his teeth. “I’ll kill him,” Jeffree vowed, bounding back off the bed.

“Jeffree!” Sabina squawked in alarm. “Come back!” He was already struggling into a tunic. “Where are you going?”

“To have a word with Lord bloody Kentigern,” he bit out.

“But why?” Sabina gasped. “What’s done is done! You cannot change it now after the fact!”

“Oh, can’t I?” he asked grimly. “Well, I can ram that damned crown down his throat now, can I not?”

“Actually, you can’t, for I did not keep it! Did not even set it on my head,” Sabina flung back desperately. “I left it in the stands.” He wasn’t even listening as he pulled on his boots so savagely that he snapped off one of the laces. “Jeffree please!” She slipped off the mattress and was heading around the bed toward him, arm outstretched, when he went barging out of their bedroom door.

“Wait!” Sabina called, hurrying after him. “Jeffree, please do not do this!”

He did not even pause, barging past his bewildered-looking cousin and manservant. “Jeffree?” Hugo said blankly looking from him to Sabina and back again. The door slammed after him and Sabina stared at it in despair. She could hardly pursue him down the corridor dressed like this, she realized glancing down at her revealing shift.

“Well, what on earth—?” Hugo asked in bewilderment as Sabina ran back into their bedroom chamber.

“They’re always like this,” she heard Osborn say glumly before the door shut behind her. “You’d best get used to it, Master Hugo.”

Sabina lay awake fretting she knew not how long. How Jeffree could deny he was a hothead, she had no notion! She had never known someone so impetuous and fiery-tempered in her life. She punched a cushion and rolled over for the umpteenth time. She could scream at him, honestly! Leaping out of their bed like that, and after they had been in such accord too. Just when they seemed to finally be on an even keel, he had to go upsetting the apple cart all over again! It beggared belief.

She finally fell asleep in the early hours of the morning and, when she woke, did so in Jeffree’s arms. Taking pains to extricate herself without waking him, Sabina dressed in haste, kicking the brown dress into one corner of the room, and donning her faded red one instead. The braids Jeffree had given her looked pristine, so she simply coiled and pinned them to the side of her head and then donned her heavy wimple.

As she dressed, she cast many backwards glances at his sleeping figure, but from what she could tell, he looked none the worse though the red marks down his side were starting to turn purple.

Wilton looked relieved when she emerged from the room. “I did not like to knock and bring you hot water when you… er, when Master Jeffree returned so late last night,” he said nervously.

“It is of no matter, Wilton. I used cold water.”

“Yes, Lady Sabina. I will see to the tub’s removal this morning.” He hesitated. “Is there any other way in which I can be of service?”

Sabina noticed with surprise that his manner was a good deal more obliging toward her today. “If the brown dress I wore yesterday could be laundered, Wilton, I would be most grateful.”

He bowed. “Of course, milady. I will convey it to the palace laundresses after you have broken your fast.”

“Thank you.” She walked into the adjoining room and found Jeffree’s’s cousin sat at table.

“Come in, cousin, and welcome,” he greeted her with enthusiasm. “I hope there is plenty at table to tempt you this morn.” Sabina drew out a chair opposite him and sat down. “Will you take some of this sop in wine?” he asked gesturing to a plate of breads which had been soaked in wine and toasted.

“Not for me, I thank you,” Sabina answered, feeling surprised he was so friendly this morning. When his face fell, she added, “For I cannot eat such rich dishes at this early hour.”

He cheered up at her explanation and urged her instead to try the toasted cheese, making haste to pour her a goblet of ale.

Sabina ate her fill as Hugo rattled on about yesterday’s tournament. From what he said, it seemed he had only attended the first two events and then ducked out after the melee. From his disappointed expression, she could tell he wished now that he had remained for the main event.

“As for myself, I prefer the melee also,” she admitted. “The joust takes so long to set up with everyone having to wait their turn.”

Sir Hugo’s expression relaxed into a beaming smile. “Why then we are of one accord, Lady Sabina. In truth, I felt it too hot to sit there in the blazing sun all afternoon. Though if I had known what would transpire….” He sighed gustily. “The court is quite agog with it this morning,” he said lowering his voice. “Queen Armenal will speak of nothing else. It is rumored that she hath invited Baroness Kentigern to join her this day in her Court of Love and Beauty.”

Sabina felt herself grow stiff and awkward again. “Has she?” she heard herself ask in a high, unnatural voice. “I am sure Lady Kentigern would grace any court for she is so very beauteous.”

Hugo nodded. “And yet, it seems there are some who can resist her charms,” he said slyly.

Sabina’s hand trembled where she held her toast. “Perhaps you are not aware that Lady Kentigern was not sat in the stands when Lord Kentigern was given the garland to bestow,” she said striving to keep her voice steady. “If she had been sat in her place then I am persuaded that her husband would have awarded the wreath to her.”

Hugo’s eyebrows rose. “Clearly you are not aware of how these Knights of Karadok often turn even so simple a gesture into a cause of contention and strife.”

Sabina paused in the act of raising her goblet. “That does not sound very chivalric.”