The Wizard's Misery The Chronicles of the Midlands Book One

Chapter Forty One

Celine anxiously paced back and forth from the window checking every so often to see if anyone willing to help had entered the garden and hours passed without any luck. By the lengthening shadows she could tell that it would soon be dark and she knew that Jackman would return to eat dinner with her and drink some wine. "If I play along with him, he'll let his guard down and if he gets intoxicated, I'll be able to overpower him and get the key and escape," she fervently hoped as she continued to pace and check the garden.

She had donned the robe from the wardrobe since she couldn't take off the revealing dress without help with the laces and she pulled the robe more tightly around herself when she heard someone unlocking the door. She quit pacing and stood in the middle of the room, waiting expectantly to see who was entering her chambers to discover that it was Jackman and Lynnie. Jackman came striding in holding two bottles of wine and Lynnie was carrying a tray of food and a pair of wine glasses which she set on the coffee table.

"Thank you, Lynnie. You can go after you light the lamps," Jackman told her as he walked over to the coffee table and set down the wine. Lynnie hurried to comply and lit the sconces on the walls as Jackman waited. Then she curtsied and giving Celine a knowing smile, she quickly left and Jackman locked the door behind her.

"Why are you wearing that robe? Are you cold?" he asked as he opened one of the bottles of wine. "Take it off and come sit with me and eat," he requested as he began to pour two glasses of wine.

Celine walked over to a chair and sat down, keeping the robe tightly wrapped around her and Jackman frowned as she hadn't complied. "Oh, come on, Beautiful!" he said coaxingly. "I've already seen you in the dress. So, there's no need to be shy."

"I'm a little chilly," she lied as she gave him a little smile, trying to play along.

He sat down on the settee across from her and then picked up one of the glasses and held it out for her to take. "Here. This is for you," he said and she slowly accepted the glass and held it as he looked at her expectantly. "Aren't you going to drink it?" he asked with a big smile.

"I've never drank wine before," she confessed as she sniffed the contents of her glass.

"You're a natural, Beautiful! That's exactly what you're supposed to do before taking the first sip. Now go ahead and drink some," he said encouragingly as he watched her with anticipation.

"I need to go along with him so I'll just drink a little and act like I'm enjoying myself and getting drunk. That way he'll drink more and get drunk enough for me to get the key," she decided as she put the glass up to her lips and took a sip.

He looked very pleased that she had drank some and smiling, he took a sip from his glass. "Are you hungry? I had the cook prepare this especially for us. Everything here goes very well with this wine," he said as she looked down at the tray and saw assorted cheeses, thin slices of meat, small square crackers and even a pretty box of chocolates.

"Go ahead and enjoy some more of the wine," he encouraged her as he watched to see if she would comply.

She lifted her glass and drank another sip of the fruity wine as he placed a slice of cheese onto a cracker. "Here, eat this," he said and handed it to her.

She accepted it and took a small bite and found that it tasted very good with the wine and she smiled at him. "This tastes very good with the wine," she told him as she watched him make another cracker with meat on it and eat it himself.

"Drink up, Beautiful," he said. "I brought you a whole bottle," he explained as she went ahead and took another sip while he made her another cracker and handed it to her. "So, Beautiful, I saw how you can fight while we were in the Plains. How did you learn to fight like that?" he asked her conversationally as he took a sip from his glass.