The bathwater felt good, and Zared was glad that Liana had shown her enough about bathing so that she wouldn't look to the Howard maids to be more of a fool than she already did. She soaped her body and her hair, then ducked under the water to rinse. When the water was cool she stepped out of the tub onto the cold stone floor and picked up the drying towel. It was of a finer quality than she was used to, and it was warm from the fire. For a moment she buried her face in its softness and smelled it. No matter how much her home castle had been cleaned, she thought, it could never smell as good as this house and everything in it.
When she was dry she looked for her clothes, but they were nowhere to be found. Instead, on the bed was a clean linen shift and a long, soft velvet robe. She put the shift on, then slipped her arms into the robe. It was of a deep blue with tiny gold fleurs-de-lis embroidered on it. She hugged her arms about her and closed her eyes for a moment as she rubbed her cheek against the lush softness.
At that moment there was a soft knock on the door, and then one of the maids entered. Zared thought her name was Margaret.
"My lady," the woman said, and it took Zared a moment to realize that the woman was speaking to her. "Lord Tearle asks that you join him below for supper."
Zared opened her mouth to say that she would be there soon, for she was quite hungry, but then she realized that she had no clothes. "I would like my clothes returned to me," she said as haughtily as she could manage.
"If you would be so good as to tell me where your baggage is, I will see that your garments are sent to you straight away."
There was nothing to reply to that, for Zared had no baggage. "Tell him"—she wasn't sure what to call her husband—"that I am not hungry and will not eat with him."
"Then I will help you into your nightdress."
Zared knew that she didn't have any nightclothes either. In her family night apparel had been an unnecessary expense. Her brother bought her a suit of clothes, and she wore them night and day until they either wore out or she was too tall for them. "No," she told the maid, "I will see to myself." She breathed a sigh of relief when the woman left her alone.
With a sigh she looked at the bed. There didn't seem much else to do except to go to bed with her stomach rumbling. She was startled when, a few minutes later, four men came and took the tub of dirty water away.
Moments later, when she was standing by the fire warming her hands, running them across the velvet of her robe, another knock sounded. This time, again before she could speak, the door opened, and her husband entered.
"You carry this too far," he said to her. "Do you hate my company so much that you will starve yourself?"
"Why, no," she said in surprise. "I do not—"
"Ah, then you plan to have all your meals alone in your room."
"I did not request a meal in here." The truth was that she didn't know that she could request a meal brought to her room. It was not somethi
ng that had ever been done at her brothers' house.
Tearle went to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You cannot do this. You cannot starve yourself. If it is my company that you so despise, then I will see that you have your meals here alone. No one will bother you, but below I have music and entertainment. Can I not persuade you to sit with me at supper?"
She gave him a look of disgust. "I have no clothes, you fool. What am I to wear while I sit at your table? Those maids of yours have taken my clothes."
It seemed to take him a moment to understand what she was saying, then he smiled at her. He turned away and went to a large carved chest against one wall. "You should have asked. I had you put in this room because it was my mother's. Her clothes are here."
Zared stood back as he rummaged in the chest and withdrew a gown of dark reddish-brown velvet. There was fur of a darker brown on it, and she very much wanted to touch it, but she held back. "How could I ask your maids for clothes? Am I to let them know that I am a pauper? My sister-in-law came to my brother with wagons full of dresses." She wanted to let him know that if she didn't have the proper clothes, she at least knew what she was supposed to have.
Tearle saw the pride in her face. "I will tell them that all you had was lost in a flood. Yes, that you had eight—no, twelve—wagons full of the finest clothes from France, but they were all lost, so now you must make do with my mother's old things." He held out the dress to her. "It is indeed old, but I think it might be a near fit, and the color will suit you."
Zared put out her hand to touch the fur that edged the neck of the dress. "Mink," she said, and she looked up at him and smiled.
"You'll wear the dress?"
She could only nod.
"Then I will call a maid to help you with your hair and help you dress."
"No!" she said, looking down at her hands. "I will dress myself." She didn't want to look like a fool in front of the maids. She knew that they would laugh when they saw that she had no idea how to put the dress on or what to do with her hair. Zared had heard Liana's maids ask Liana hundreds of questions about braids and headdresses and ribbons and stockings, and Zared knew that she would know none of the answers.
Tearle put the gown on the bed, then took her hand and led her to sit down on a bench before the fire. He took a beautiful tortoiseshell comb from the top of a small table and gently began to comb Zared's hair.
"I can do this."
He pushed her hands away. "You and I will not be together long. Do not deny me what pleasure I can find."
She didn't answer him but closed her eyes as he gently combed the tangles from her hair. As a child she had never combed her hair; only when she grew older and began to notice the handsome young men who trained with her brothers had she taken a comb to her hair, and then she had merely dragged it through, tearing at the knots.