what would tomorrow bring?
Part Four CHAPTER 3
Sterling stared at his wagon. He sat around a campfire with the other members of the caravan, eating a breakfast of wild berries and stew. He could scarce pay attention to the troupe's jibes at one another or the occasional arguments that broke out among them. Elise occupied his mind. He hadn't awoken his guest this morning.
Reality would find her soon enough. He hadn't told the others about Elise. Sterling wasn't by nature free with his words or open with his emotions. It had been that way with him since the age of sixteen... since he'd lost his parents and learned the horrible truth about his lineage. Worse things existed than having an uncaring uncle who would sell a family member for gain... far worse things.
Mora had settled next to Sterling and now lifted a lock of his hair. "You are brooding this morning, my prince. You need a woman to take away the tension I feel coming from your body. A woman who knows how to please a man."
"He's a snake you'll never charm, Mora," Sarah Dobbs, also known as Lady Fortune when she performed, teased. "Our Beast Tamer has all the parts to please a woman, but no desire to do so. A bloody waste of nice equipment."
Her husband, Tom, a sour-looking fellow who seldom bathed or shaved, cast his wife a dirty look across the fire. "I got enough parts to keep ya happy, woman, so don't be looking elsewhere."
"Wouldn't mind his parts so much if he bothered to wash 'em once in a while," the woman muttered.
"Too much bathing ain't good for a body," her husband declared. "Ain't that so, Philip?"
Philip was often called upon to settle disputes among the troupe members. He was the leader of the ragtag group. Wagons and animals alike belonged to Philip. He collected all money from the performances and kept accounts of who earned what. Sterling supposed Philip was as close to a father figure as he would ever have, since his own had chosen to take his life rather than face his curse.
Sterling's mother had quickly followed upon his father's heels, but it was shock that probably killed her. Shock at what she had married, shock over what she had spawned from her marriage. Four sons. All of them cursed.
Sterling tugged his hair from Mora's grasp as the door to his wagon creaked open. Elise stepped outside. To say that the troupe members fell silent was an understatement. If not for the restless sounds of the animals, a person could have heard a bee pass wind.
"Who the bloody 'ell is that?" Sarah breathed.
Sterling almost smiled. "You can see into the future, Sarah," he drawled dryly. "You should already know."
In response, she frowned, then grumbled, "I tell people what they want to hear, which is seldom the truth."
Since Elise appeared as if she might turn and flee, Sterling set his plate aside and rose. "Come, Elise," he ordered, holding out a hand to her. "Meet my friends."
His friends were the oddest group of humanity Elise had ever seen gathered in one place. There was a sturdy older man with a noticeable hump upon his back. A dark-haired woman with kohl around her eyes and a snake wrapped around her neck - which was less frightening than the way the woman glared at her. A couple joined the group. Both stopped to gape at Elise, of which she did in kind. They were little people.
"Elise!" Sterling called. He still stood with his hand held out to her. "Come."
Elise swallowed the lump in her throat and joined him next to the campfire. Whatever simmered in a pot over the fire smelled wonderful.
"You must be hungry," he said. "Sit. Eat."
"Wait a moment. Who the hell is she?"
The man who owned the same booming voice Elise had heard through the mist the previous night asked the question. He wore the wildest ensemble she had ever seen. His waistcoat was bright pink, his tights, striped yellow and green. His red slippers turned up at the toes. A dark purple birthmark covered half of his face.
"Philip... and all," Sterling added, "this is Elise. Elise, this is... well, everyone."
"Where'd she come from? And what's she doing here?" a woman asked, one who, Elise noted with relief, looked perfectly normal.
"Elise is from London," Sterling provided. "She'll be staying for a while... with me."
More than one brow rose. Elise supposed she might be blushing. He made their arrangement sound far more intimate than