Chapter 175: Three Chests, One Wish

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Three Chests, One Wish

Miriam had barely finished pinning up her hair before Elysia was out of the door.

She hurried down the corridor so quickly that she nearly tripped over the hem of her skirt.

Miriam caught her by the elbow just in time.

"Your Grace, slow down," she said. "The Marchioness asked us not to wake you."

Elysia turned to stare at her. "What?"

"I was going to wake you," Miriam explained. "But she said there was no need. She told us to let you sleep as long as you wished."

Elysia did not know what to make of that.

The Marchioness of Gildemont had warmed to her since the betrothal banquet. But she had never been the sort of woman who waited for anyone.

Why had she come to Draevenor so early? And why was she willing to sit in the Great Hall for half an hour without complaint?

Elysia reached the doors of the Great Hall.

Just outside, she heard a voice.

It belonged to the Marchioness’s senior attendant, a stern woman with iron-grey hair whom Elysia had seen only once or twice.

"It has been half an hour, my lady. You may be family, but making a marchioness wait while she sleeps is hardly proper."

Elysia’s heart leapt into her throat.

Then the Marchioness’s voice cut in, sharp and unmistakable.

"Stop trying to stir up trouble. The girl’s husband left for the north this morning. Who knows how late the two of them were up last night, saying their goodbyes. What’s wrong with her sleeping in?"

There was a pause then -

"I am perfectly happy to wait."

Elysia stood very still outside the door.

Then she took a breath and stepped inside.

The Marchioness was sitting upright in the main seat of the Great Hall, a cup of tea in her hand.

In the middle of the room stood three large chests of black lacquer.

Elysia stepped forward and curtsied.

"Aunt. Forgive me for keeping you waiting."

The Marchioness set down her cup.

"It hasn’t been long. Don’t worry about it." She nodded towards the chests. "Now take a look. See if you like any of them."

Elysia blinked.

"These are for me?"

At the Marchioness’s signal, her attendants stepped forward and lifted the lids one by one.

"This one is gold," the Marchioness said.

"This one is jade. Bracelets, hairpins, a few other pieces. A few dozen, I think."

Elysia stared dumbfounded.

"And this one is cosmetics. All the newest styles from Elwoodmere. Nobody in Caelvyr will have them for another season at least."

Elysia stood there in complete silence.

"I didn’t know what you’d like," the Marchioness said, "so I brought one chest of each."

One chest of each.

She said it as casually as if she had picked up a basket of vegetables on her way over.

"You don’t like them?" the Marchioness asked, watching her face closely.

"Cassiel told me not to frighten you," she muttered when Elysia did not answer at once. "I should never have listened to him. I ought to have brought more."

"I like them," Elysia said quickly, and found that she meant it. "Very much infact. They’re just... far too valuable."

"They’re just things," the Marchioness said. "If you like them, they matter. If you don’t, they’re nothing."

Elysia tilted her head slightly. "Then... I’ll accept them?"

"Yes, you ought to. Otherwise I’ll just throw them away."

Elysia broke into a bright smile. "Thank you, Aunt."

The Marchioness looked enormously pleased with herself.

Then she hesitated, which was not something Elysia had ever seen her do.

"My dear," she said, a little stiffly, "before the banquet, I believed every word Melissa told me about you. I was not kind to you."

Elysia began to shake her head, but the Marchioness was not finished.

"And it was not only Melissa’s whispering..."

"Before I left Elwoodmere, I received a letter. Unsigned. It claimed you were still entangled with the Crown Prince, and a good deal more besides."

Her lips thinned. "I would normally have thrown it into the fire. But it knew far too much about this household to be idle gossip."

Elysia said nothing. She had wondered what had brought the Marchioness to Caelvyr so suddenly, and so ready to think the worst of her.

"When I arrived, I had my people make enquiries at the post houses," the Marchioness went on. "A courier remembered a maid paying him handsomely to carry a letter to Elwoodmere on the fastest horse he had. He could not say whose maid she was, and the handwriting was disguised."

She lifted her cup, then set it down again without drinking.

"I cannot prove it. But that letter reached me barely a week before I set out. And the only person in Caelvyr who gained anything from my coming was the one who spent my first evening here whispering about you. She wanted me to help her persuade Cassiel to put you aside."

Her jaw tightened. "When I asked her outright, she looked me in the eye and said she had not written to Elwoodmere in months."

So it had likely been Melissa after all.

Elysia was not surprised.

"You don’t... hold it against me? After I made things difficult for you?" the Marchioness asked.

Elysia looked at her.

"The moment you knew the truth, you stood on my side," she said. "Why would I hold anything against you?"

Something in the older woman’s shoulders loosened.

"Good," she said gruffly. "Then tell me. Do you like houses? I could give you a manor here in Caelvyr, and another in Elwoodmere. Several courtyards, a garden, a lake if you like."

So that was what the chests had been leading up to.

Elysia shook her head with a small smile. "Aunt, I already have everything I need here at Draevenor."

The Marchioness paused.

For some reason, she could already picture exactly how smug her nephew would look if he ever heard that.

"Then what do you like?"

Elysia opened her mouth.

And found that she did not have an answer.

The Marchioness studied her for a long moment. Whatever she saw in Elysia’s face, she did not press.

"Never mind," she said. "I’ll find out for myself."

Elysia reached out and took the older woman’s hand.

"If you really want to give me something," she said softly, "then come and spend time with me instead."

The Marchioness looked at her, caught off guard.

"My father, my brothers, my uncles, my mother..." Elysia’s voice stayed light, but her eyes lowered. "None of them are with me anymore. Sometimes this house feels very large. Having you here would mean more to me than anything you could buy."

For a long moment, the Marchioness said nothing.

Then she squeezed Elysia’s hand back, firmly, the way one might hold onto something precious.

"Very well," she said. "Then you’ll be seeing a great deal of me."

They had barely sat down to a fresh pot of tea when the Marchioness’s expression darkened.

"You’ve heard about Xanther, I suppose."

Elysia lowered her eyes. "Yes, Aunt."

"After what he tried to do to Cassiel, I would not have lifted a finger if they’d thrown him out onto the street." The Marchioness’s mouth twisted.

"But treason? And do you know what they found among those maps? My pendant. My father’s pendant, with the Asheford crest on it, sitting in a foreign spy’s room for half the magistrate’s court to see."

Her hand tightened around her cup.

"The boy is a fool. A drunkard and a gambler and a fool. But a traitor? I don’t believe it. He hasn’t the wits."

Elysia said nothing.

When she had laid her trap, she had thought only of Xanther. She had not stopped to think what it would mean for this woman to hear that her family’s pendant had been found among a spy’s maps.

A small pang of guilt settled in her chest.

"I would have gone straight to the magistrate the moment I heard," the Marchioness went on. "But Cassiel sent word this morning."

Elysia looked up.

"He said the matter is in hand," the Marchioness said, frowning, "and that I am not to interfere."

She let out an irritated breath. "That’s all he said. No explanation whatsoever. Not that that boy has ever explained himself to anyone in his life."

Elysia lowered her gaze to her tea.

The matter is in hand.

She did not know what that meant.

But she found herself remembering how cold his coat had been beneath her cheek that morning.

The Marchioness did not let the gloom linger for long.

"Enough of that," she said briskly. "By the way, my dear, do you have riding attire?"

Elysia’s expression faltered for a moment.

"I used to," she admitted. "But I haven’t ridden since I hurt my knee."

The Marchioness frowned. "And now?"

"Doctor Grey has been treating it. He says it is mending well."

"Then you’ll need some. The Autumn Hunt is at the end of the month. You cannot possibly attend without proper riding attire."

With that, the Marchioness rose from her seat.

"Come. We’re going out. I’ll get you a few sets." She sniffed. "I have two sons. Do you know how dull it is choosing clothes for boys?"

Elysia blinked. "Now?"

"Yes, ofcourse now. We can’t wait until all the good pieces are picked out by others."