Secrets - Book 7 - The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter 16

Sabin felt responsible for Jobyna's distress. He wanted to go to talk with her, but knew he could not delay his necessary return to his royal master.

A servant with a tray of food entered the annex and set the tray down on the sideboard. Sabin knelt in prayer, his back to the door. Drinking a goblet of well water, the servant left.

Deciding to obey his king and return to Frencberg, Sabin took a flask with him and strode up to the small hall. He would check that Jobyna was with the other ladies first. He entered without knocking. Corissa still wept, but softly, with Ellice sitting beside her. Seeing that Jobyna wasn't there, he hastened to the corridor leading to the bedchambers. He could hear her sobbing. He knocked on the door and waited. He knocked again.

Jobyna called, "Leave me alone! I just want to be left alone!" She was unable to think; it was enough just to breathe between her body-wracking sobs. Jobyna ran to the closest bed and threw herself across it. Her sobs weakened.

Growing up as a girl who wanted to 'fix everything', Jobyna tried to think what she could do to find out where her parents were; first, she must find out who was buried here, in that grave, out in the garden... her garden, where she had played as a child with Luke... her thoughts seemed like barbs, disjointed barbs. Massaging her temples with her fingers, she tried to shift her thoughts to a different place, a different garden, perhaps even like a garden in the valley with lilac lilies... 

She pictured herself walking in such a garden...

Everything seemed serene in the garden...

She slept.

~~~~~

Sabin returned to the small hall and said, "Our princess is weeping in her room. I'm thinking it be best that she be left there to rest. I must return to Frencberg. Lady Ellice, please accompany me downstairs."

Sabin told Ellice to remember the instructions he'd given her on the way there to Chanoine, a command King Luke gave him last night, that Ellice must write once a day, stating how Princess Jobyna was, and the note was to be slipped to Sir Felix, who would have it forwarded by fast messenger-courier. Jobyna was not to know that such correspondence was taking place. "Please start tonight and I will give our king a verbal report of what happened while I was here. He will be anxious to know how the rest of the day went for her. We will have a messenger here, after sunset, waiting for your letter so that it is in our king's hands before he retires."

Ellice could not ask how she was expected to have time away from her mistress to write a letter, she could only hope to be able to make such an opportunity.

"Nightmares; faints; that sort of thing; a little about what she did for the day," Sabin said, "King Luke wants to know how his sister fares, that's most important. A daily sketch will keep our king's mind free from worrying about her. He shouldn't have to ride here in the middle of the night to check that she's safe and well. I feel worried about her too, and will be glad to have news also."

Sabin secretively blew a kiss to Ellice before he left with the small escort that had accompanied them here. He had not wanted so much air between him and the lady when he passed his first kiss but there had been no opportunity to get close to her since the previous night when they had a few moments together. He had not tried to kiss her then, in case she thought he was taking advantage of her being mute. She'll think I'm a flirt, he told himself, feeling sad. I've never kissed any woman, other than my mother, and that was when I was a small child and I kissed her forehead and cheeks. I can't remember ever kissing the back of a lady's hand. I mustn't scare Ellice away or have her think ill of me. I'll have to give it time. I don't expect she'd think it right if I asked her to marry me yet. She might not want me... and she might rather wish to be with Jobyna when she marries...this means she'll be far away, in Reideaux...

The secret of Sabin's growing love for Ellice and him not knowing how she felt was like a dozen birds picking at his heart. If he had assurance of her return feelings, he felt the pain would go away.

Ellice's face deepened like crimson at sunset at Sabin's romantic gesture. She turned quickly to see who observed his gesture. There was no one facing her way and Ellice was grateful to Sabin, at least he was being discreet. She liked his attention; the open admiration in his eyes. He was a good man with kind eyes, an honest face and a warmhearted manner. If only she could talk and tell him so. Perhaps she could summon enough courage and send him a note with the messenger. But what could she write? She would have to think about it; she would send him a note in a day or two, or perhaps, three ... Yes, she thought, if I write to Sabin, and Jobyna discovers me scribing a letter, I can let her see who I'm writing to, then she won't know I'm also informing her brother how she fares ... I'd hate it if she thought I was betraying her by writing to King Luke behind her back...

Ellice watched until Sabin was out of sight before returning to the small hall where she stayed, walking to the bedchamber, deciding to go every half hour to knock on the door and wait for a reply. If there was no response, she would again try the door to see if it was still locked and if so, return to the small hall.

After two hours, Corissa had gained her composure and went to the kitchen to order two trays of fruit and snacks, one for the small hall and one for Jobyna. She fetched well water, telling a servant-girl, "Your well-water is so crystal, it almost tastes sweet."

Ordering the girl to bring a tray for Jobyna, and another maid to bring one for Ellice, Corissa knocked on the bed-chamber door. She knocked again, calling, "Jobyna, are you awake? I have a platter for you." There was no reply.

Frowning, she would have turned away and gone back downstairs, but the door opened. "You can come in; I'm very thirsty."

Taking the tray from the maid, Corissa said, "I'll take care of it, thank you. Close the door behind me."

Corissa set the tray on the small table by the window-seat where Jobyna reposed, leaning on the wide sill, looking out the window. Corissa helped herself from the tray, sitting on the end of the stool by the table. Jobyna drank the goblet dry, wiped her mouth with the napkin and said, "I really needed that. It's so refreshing. I could drink another one... I feel much better already."

"I'm glad you're feeling better, princess. I think it's a good idea if you rest. I will too. This week has been, well, you know how it's been..."

Yawning, Jobyna turned a cushion over, lifting her feet back up on the window seat, saying, "Yes, I'll stay and nap here... in fact, I'm going to rest all day. You're so right! This week's been, well you know, ridiculous!" She laughed, but inside her, there was disquiet, a knot, increasing in size. "I just want to sleep... I want to get rid of this feeling of bane..."