Emerald awoke to a bright day, birds chirping, a fragrant breeze blowing lightly through her window rustling her golden hair, which was quite full-bodied and shining today. Naturally, she crept carefully from bed, peeked cautiously out the window for storm clouds or tree branches ready to fall onto the cottage, then scanned the walls for deadly spiders. Nothing was in sight – could it be that the contrary luck that followed her like a shadow had taken one fine day of vacation? It must be so, thought Emerald joyfully, as she spied a thin crimson envelope resting on her floor just inside the doorway.
She quickly prised it open and read the text, then held the letter to her heart as she drew in a giddy breath. A fortnight had passed, and Sir Le Baron had returned to her.
Emerald dressed quickly, fretting briefly over the choice of a lowcut dress in buttercup or a more modest one in bluebell, then opted for a milkwhite day gown with an intricately laced bodice. “O gown,” she said, threading the silk strands, “Do help me preserve my feminine virtue…while at the same time rendering him little more than a lust driven woodland beast!”
Though the letter filled her with joy, one little fact had given Emerald a rather uneasy feeling. Tobias (as he signed his letter, how adorable!) had said to meet him at noontime at a guest manor near the castle, where he had been given lodging by the Duke, who had returned from the hunt a few days previous. If the hunting party had indeed returned, why had Juniper not paid a visit to Goldenseal Cottage immediately, as she was always apt to do? Though it was possible she was still too embroiled in her relations with the Duke to slip away, Emerald found it highly unlikely. If Juniper had returned to Lanolin, Emerald would have seen her within the hour. She resolved to inquire at the castle en route to the appointment with her knight.
As she exited her cottage, Emerald glanced over her shoulder to Juniper’s cottage on the hill, where there were no signs of recent use. She continued on her walk, her uneasy feeling growing into a small pit in her stomach.
When she reached the castle stables, she spied two men in the uniforms of the mounted guard speaking to one another other in hushed voices. She waited a moment for the conversation to subside, then one more, tapping her foot, then approached them and interrupted.
“Pardon me?” she asked with a polite smile belying her impatience. The shorter of the two men started when he looked at her, his face turning quite pale. He backed away, mumbling something to his companion, then hastened from the stable. What odd behavior, thought Emerald, and why do I get a strange chill to see him react that way? She recovered herself and looked to the other guard, a tall, rather handsome young man with an unconcerned expression.
“Yes, Miss,” he said. “How may I be of service?”
“My name is Emerald LaVerte,” she said, by way of introduction. “I’ve a question about…”
“Emerald?!” The young guard said, his face suddenly full of emotion, which changed too quickly back to reserve for Emerald to interpret it. “I apologize, madame. My name is John and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“John…?”
“Just John, madam.”
“Oh,” said Emerald, a bit confused. Why did that phrase seem so familiar? And why was she wasting so much time pausing to think during this conversation, when she should be asking the question that was plaguing her?
“John, I wonder if you were along on the hunt?”
“I was, miss,” he answered with a polite smile.
“Do you happen to know what befell my dear friend Juniper? I don’t believe she has returned…” Her voice trailed off at the expression on the guard’s face, this time undisguised. He could not or would not meet her eye, picking up a horse’s brush and beginning to groom a chestnut behind him.
“I believe she was taken ill, Miss Emerald,” he stated at last, “and is being cared for at the Convent of Our Lady of Bleeding Hearts.” He met Emerald’s alarmed gaze. “I inquired a few days ago, and she is almost fully recovered, though a fever lingers.”
“Thank you, John,” said Emerald in a shaky voice. “Juniper has a strong constitution and I am confident she will recover soon.” She nodded to him and continued on her way. Well, that explains her absence, she thought. Three minutes down the road, she realized that she suspected this guard was not telling her the whole truth. Six minutes down the road, she thought how odd it was that a very minor member of the Duke’s guard should have personally inquired as to Juniper’s health. Her worries evaporated as she neared the great lawn of the guest cottage and spied Tobias holding the reins of two fine horses, his face the picture of nervous excitement.
She approached him, her body aquiver. She smiled demurely, surreptitiously loosening the laces in the back of her bodice as he bowed to her.
