Read Online The Beauty Bride (The Jewels of Kinfairlie) by Delacroix Claire - Free Book Online Page A

reputed to be a villain.
    But
wed they would be, and wed they would be on the morrow. Rhys would suffer no further
delay in his claiming of Caerwyn.
    The
sole solution was to reassure the lady, in what little time remained between
this meal and the exchange of nuptial vows. He had begun with reassuring her
sisters, and so he would continue. Indeed, their merry presence awakened a
yearning in Rhys, a memory of his own lost sisters and the way they had
tormented their only and much younger brother. He felt an uncommon tenderness
in the midst of these sisters, for their bickering was evocative of his own
half-forgotten past.
    The
company were seated at the high board under the direction of Tynan’s castellan.
Tynan claimed the central seat, with Rosamunde upon his left and a young boy
upon his right. The boy shared the dark hair of Madeline and Alexander, though
his eyes were a vivid green, so Rhys guessed him to be another sibling. Further
to Tynan’s right was Alexander, then two of the younger sisters.
    Rhys
was seated to the left of Rosamunde, Madeline to his left and her sister
Vivienne to her left. The sister, Elizabeth, who had seen the fairy had the end
place at the table and seemed despondent that no one had believed her earlier.
She cast covert glances down the table, often in strange directions, and Rhys
wondered what she saw.
    In
the first table facing the high table were seated various bishops and dukes and
lords in their finery, their wives and consorts at their sides. They were all
seated roughly by rank, though the ale had already flowed with sufficient vigor
that none were in the mood to take offense at any inevitable slight.
    Rhys
saw the women settled and their cups filled, then winked at the dejected
Elizabeth. Her color rose and she toyed with her cup, even as she cast him a
glare.
    “Do
not mock me,” she said.
    “I
would not dream of doing as much. You must have a fearsome power to be able to
see the fey so clearly.”
    “Do
you think so?”
    “Yours
is a rare gift.”
    The
girl brightened at Rhys’ nod, and Rhys felt Madeline stiffen beside him. He had
a thought then that the lady’s resistance could be softened through her
siblings.
    “It
is pulling your ear and making fearsome faces,” Elizabeth confided.
    “Then
it is a mercy that I cannot see it, much less feel the pain.”
    Elizabeth
laughed. “Why do you believe in fairies?”
    “Because
they exist, of course.”
    “But
how can you know as much, if you cannot see them?”
    “My
mother and her kin are reputed to be descended from a water fairy, who wed a
mortal man, my own forebear.” Rhys watched the girl’s eyes round and felt
Vivienne turn to listen to his words. “Do you know the tale of the Gwraggedd
Annwn?”
    Both
girls shook their heads, while Madeline took a studied interest in the arrival
of the venison. Rhys did not doubt that she listened to him, as well, and he
was glad to have chosen this tale to recount.
    In
fact, it described his own response to the lady beside him perfectly, and he
hoped that she would discern the morsel of truth in his words. He was aware of
her presence, of the spill of her kirtle so close to his leg, of the soft scent
of her flesh, of her thigh beside his own. Her hand rested on the board, soft
and finely wrought, and though he yearned to capture it within his own, he
feared to frighten her.
    A
tale might soften her resistance to him.
    He
cleared his throat and began. “There are many lakes in Wales, where I was born,
and most of them have a mysterious air. It is said that there are fairies
living beneath the surface, in splendid palaces that mortal men can only
glimpse once in a long while. It is said that their daughters are beauteous
beyond belief, and immortal, and wise. And it is told that one such lake maiden
liked to sit on a certain rock on the shore, and comb her hair in the
sunlight.”
    “I
would wager that a mortal man spied her there,” Vivienne said, her