Tottering across the floor, she dropped into a high-backed chair and sat patiently as Berta plied her with cushions and jammed slippers onto her bare feet. Tearing open Eden’s letter, she found her eyes filling with tears as she read:
Darling Lenora,
You will have to excuse my appalling scrawl, but I have written so many letters these last few days that my hand is quite incapable of elegance.
My dear, I cannot tell you how dismayed I am that uncle has only recently appraised me of what has happened at the summer court. I am greatly relieved to hear of your resilience and recovery and am determined to have you here at Vawdrey Keep for the duration of the year. Roland quite agrees with me, and as he will be at Caer-Lyoness for the autumn tournament, we have made arrangements for him to bring you back here with him.
What a happy family party we will have! I am not sure if you have heard, but I am expecting our first child in the spring and Roland has become extremely over-protective, else I would have journeyed with him to watch him compete at the royal autumn tournament. Forgive me for not being there in your time of need. I am determined to make it up to you when you accompany Roland back to Sitchmarsh where I will endeavor to make you most comfortable.
I am beside myself with anticipation to introduce you to our home with its surroundings which are of great natural beauty. It is true, that presently we are in the midst of building work for expansion of the Keep, but I know you will appreciate our vision and I am convinced we can make you comfortable here.
I am sure you have suffered terribly; Lenore and I look forward to having you here with me at last and I might add that our grandmother quite agrees with the plan. We neither of us think that the convent idea is a good one for your future. I beg you, please do not make any hasty decisions before you have had a chance to fully consider your position and to recoup after your illness. Things can appear overwhelming when you do not have enough distance from them. I am convinced that Vawdrey Keep is the ideal place for you to fortify your good health and await your arrival with keen affection.
Your ever-loving cousin
Eden
Lenora lowered the letter and stared blankly at the wall opposite. There was a convent plan? Strangely enough, her father had not seen fit to raise it with her just now. The cynical thought flashed into her mind that her parents’ visit might have been prompted by Eden’s flurry of letters. She had no doubt her cousin’s letter writing campaign had been about her. Eden would have been writing to her grandmother at Hallam Hall as well as Lenora’s mother and father here at court. If Eden had not written, would her parents have stayed away even longer, she wondered? On the whole, she thought it more likely, than not. They had evinced no pleasure at the sight of her. Quite the opposite, in fact.
A convent? Would she even be allowed to keep her precious cats there? Many was the time Lenora had heard her own father extoll that joining a religious order was a ‘waste of a life’. Yet now apparently, he was more than happy for Lenora to disappear behind some abbey walls. Her loss of beauty apparently meant her life no longer held any value whatsoever.
Her gaze flickered to the window and the view of the kitchen gardens. Her current quarters were not exactly high-status ones. Indeed, she strongly suspected this part of the palace housed mostly servants. Still, the view was a pleasant one as the afternoon sun shed its golden rays over the neat herb and vegetable squares. Could it really be the time of the Autumn Tournament, she wondered with mild surprise. It had been early July when she been struck down with her illness. The castle had been almost suffocating in the heat. It was still warm, but the leaves were rapidly turning golden. She sighed and closed her eyes a moment. The interview with her parents had been strangely draining, considering she had not set one foot out of her bed.
The chair was comfortable, and she must have dozed off, for the next thing she knew she was back in the darkness of the crypt with the sound of labored breathing all around her. Not again. Mercifully a knock on the door startled her into wakefulness. She jolted upright in her chair. Berta, who was laying the fire for that evening, hurried to answer it. For a moment, Lenora felt a sort of sick dread as to who it might be. She felt frankly ill-prepared for visitors. However, she did not recognize the voice at the door and the next thing she saw was a basket being thrust into Berta’s hands. Lenora almost cried out, surely that was a faint meow she heard.
“Oh, bring them to me, Berta!” the older woman muttered under her breath but shut the door and carried the basket over to her gingerly. “Unfasten it! Oh, never mind, you’re too slow,” Lenora said, shuffling forward in her seat. “Set it here.” She patted her lap. Her eager fingers fumbled with the straps and she flung back the lid. There lay Lady Grizelda, her own dear beloved cat and next to her, three adolescent males who were not yet fully grown. “Oh, my darlings!” Lenora crooned. Purcel opened his mouth in a soundless meow, Tybalt sprang to his feet and then jumped down to the floor and Fendrel blinked at her and yawned. “You’re so much bigger!” Lenora lamented. She had missed three whole months of their kittenhood! Lady G uncurled herself and then swarmed out of the basket and onto Lenora’s chest. She stretched her face up toward her mistress and Lenora lowered her own and they touched brows. Lenora felt her eyes swim, and she realized she had been afraid even her pets would recoil from her altered appearance. As if to allay her fears, Grizelda immediately started to loudly purr. “I’ve missed you so!” Lenora told her, embracing her pet and feeling her cheeks turn wet as the tears streamed down unchecked. At least the cats could be relied on for constancy in their affections, if no-one else.
It was not until after her supper of simple pottage and bread that Lenora noticed the other item she had sent for. Her hand which had been stroking the youngest of the kittens, Fendrel, stilled. Her looking glass lay face down on the side table. Lenora stretched out one arm but could not quite reach it from her seated position. She glanced down at the gray kitten who was stretched out on her lap with an expression of sleepy bliss on his face. She would not disturb him. His comfort was too precious and besides, she needed to re-bond with the three boys. They were almost fully grown and had been forced to do without her for so long. She glanced over at the bed where Grizelda had settled herself with her eldest son, Purcel. His black coat gleamed in direct contrast to his mother’s gleaming white. Tybalt, the ginger, was sat on the window ledge, washing his paw. Lenora sighed with relief. Their return to her was a blessing she could be thankful for.
Berta shuffled into the room and removed the tray of food. She scanned the remains in the bowl with disfavor. “Will we put the leftovers down for the cats?” she asked doubtfully.
“I doubt they’d eat it.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Berta sniffed.
“They’re not beggars,” Lenora answered. “But you can try by all means.”
Berta pulled a face and plunked the bowl down in the corner and set about lighting the small fire. Lenora glanced in the direction of the hand mirror again before looking away. She would wait until Berta left her for the night. “Berta,” she said impulsively. “Have the knights arrived yet for the tourney?”
Berta jerked her chin aggressively. “Oh aye,” she said bitterly. “Flooding in like a swarm of locusts. Nasty, brawling brutes!”