Carnelian

Chapter 6

Lady Carnelian watched Sir James drift off to sleep, knowing that he would immediately forget all that he'd learned in the few hours he'd been awake. And I should be glad of this, she told herself. For if he would not forget, then he would not forget that I held his hand or stroked his brow. I must stop taking such liberties with his heart! What if he remembers them after he is gone?

She could only hope that he might return, but since his service was bound to the baron, he wasn't free to simply return. Carnelian knew he could have returned to his home several days before, but she so enjoyed his company that she'd used the stitches as an excuse for him to remain. She'd left them in longer than she should have, she knew, but couldn't bear the thought of returning him to Broadway Baronage.

The moonstone cooled at her throat and Carnelian remembered the viscount saying he was to have recalled his son to serve at Holder Castle. Hope rose within as she decided to take him to Holder, instead. With a thankful heart, Carnelian went in to hear her sisters' prayers and to ready herself for bed.

As the healer, her bed would be the trundle tucked under Sir James' bed when not in use. It would never do for him to need care in the night with her elsewhere in the cottage.

Ducking through the curtain, Carnelian could see that her sisters were ready for bed, but far from ready for sleep. To be fair, it was rather early in the evening for sleep, no matter how exhausted Sir James had been. Hegedith suggested a swim in the pool and offered to accompany the little girls.

Carnelian would have loved to go with them but knew she shouldn't leave Sir James, so she took up her maid on the offer and sent the three of them to bathe in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

Enjoying a few moments to herself, Carnelian sat herself on the bench outside her cottage window, leaving the door open so she might hear if Sir James required aid. She was joined by her king before the three maids reached their destination. "How fares the knight?" asked the king as he stood on the bench beside Carnelian.

Lady Carnelian smiled, pleased to see her king, who was more like a father-figure despite his tiny stature. "My King, I have not seen you in days!" But the answer to his question erased most of her smile. "He is almost ready to return home. I removed the bindings from his arm today and there is no sign of infection."

"Yet, this does not please you." The king's voice was a statement of fact, more than a question.

Carnelian pictured her life without her guest. "I have come to greatly enjoy his company. He will be missed greatly, I think, and not only by me. Maid Willow and even Maid Veronica count him as friends, as he does with them."

"Only them?" pressed the king with a twinkle in his eye. His teasing returned the lady's smile to her face.

"He wishes for more than friendship, but dares not. My king, he dares not even dream of such a thing. What if he never comes back?"

The king flew up to kiss her brow, comforting her. "My Dear, he will come back."

"But how do you know this?" Carnelian's heart ached as she thought of the knight's words. 'Is my place not to merely obey my liege-lord, to fight and die at his beckon-call and whim?' Could it be that she'd found the answer to why he'd refused to cry out, or smile when all else were laughing, or when he'd found the idea of their friendship so alien?

The king laid his hand on her arm. "His blood is spilled on the Stone of Reckoning. Why do you think I chose that place to tend him? His heart will ever long for the Enchanted Forest, for his blood will call to him."

Carnelian grinned. "Yet my blood does not stain the stone and I ever long for home, when I must be away. Why did you need no blood from me to accomplish this?"