Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [61]
Cenwyc bowed rather absentmindedly, then picked up the gear and slung it into the curve of the chamber wall, where it could lie out of the way.
Sevinna found her cousins down by the falcon house, and they resumed their walk. It was some time later when they passed by the broch again to find Lady Taurra coming out of it.
“There you all are,” the lady announced. “I was just looking for you. Shall we all go to the garden for a nice talk?”
Although the other girls went with her, Sevinna begged a headache, hurrying inside before she could be stopped. She was planning nothing more than going back to the women’s hall, but as she passed Cenwyc’s reception chamber, she noticed the door open and his lordship gone. On sheer impulse, she stepped inside, glanced round, and noticed that someone seemed to have moved Jill’s gear along the floor.
“How very odd.”
She knelt down and opened the saddlebags only to make sure that none of the servants had stolen anything out of them. Tucked to one side gleamed Taurra’s jeweled brooch.
“Fancy that!”
Sevinna got up fast, looking round to make sure that no one had noticed, then stuffed the brooch into her kirtle and hurried out. As far as she could see, only one person in the dun could have or would have put the jewelry there. No doubt Taurra would have later made some new remark to Cenwyc that would have him searching the bags after all, and there the brooch would have been, clear evidence that would have got one of Jill’s hands chopped off in the public square.
For some time that day, Sevinna brooded clever ways to ensure the brooch was “found,” then decided that simplicity was always safest. Up in the women’s hall, Babryan and Taurra had left a sack of herbs and feather charms lying on the floor; Sevinna slipped the brooch between it and the wall. Sure enough, right before the girls went down to dinner, Babryan picked up the sack, then squealed aloud.
“Oh, look at this! It’s Taurra’s brooch!”
Feigning surprise, Sevinna rushed over with Wbridda right behind.
“It is, indeed,” Sevinna said. “By the Moon herself!”
“Huh, Baba,” Wbridda sneered. “So. It wasn’t Jill at all, was it now?”
“It wasn’t.” Babryan blushed scarlet. “I’m sorry, Bry. You were right, and I was wrong. Here, we’d best take this down with us straightaway.”
They found Lady Davylla sitting at the head of the honor table in her husband’s absence, with Taurra to her left and Lord Cenwyc to her right. When Babryan laid the brooch onto the table, Davylla leaned forward with a little squeal.
“Taurra, dearest! Here it is.”
“Why, so it is.” Taurra picked up the brooch and smiled, but never had Sevinna seen such a forced smile in her life. “Where did you find it?”
“Up in the women’s hall, my lady. Near that bag of our—things.”
“How stupid of me!” Taurra squeaked. “Oh, dear, I’ve done Jill such an injustice! I feel so absolutely doltish. How could I not have seen it there?”
She looked up, glancing at each girl in turn. When she fastened upon Sevinna, her eyes burned with such rage that Sevinna stepped sharply back in an unthinking admission of guilt. With a little smile, hastily stifled, Taurra looked away.
“I’m so terribly, terribly sorry.” Taurra spoke in a small and broken voice. “Oh, Davva, how can you ever forgive me? I’ve caused you all such trouble! I’ll never be able to look poor Jill in the face again, truly.”
“We must get her out of that awful prison.” Davylla turned to Cenwyc. “My lord?”
“As my lady wishes.” Cenwyc rose, then bowed. “I’ll turn her back out on the road where she belongs.”
“What? Naught of the sort!” Davylla rose to face him. “You’ll bring her directly to me, where I can apologize to her.”
“My lady is being most unwise. Truly, the wench seems innocent of this theft, my lady, but her kind’s not to be trusted.”
The stalemate held: Davylla was far superior in rank, but Cenwyc was, after all, a man. Sevinna hesitated, then decided that since she’d already shot the bow, she might as well swing the sword, too.
“My lady?