Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,46

stiff, his breathing labored, and his body tense.

As we crossed toward the cottage, I hurried to keep up. “We need to talk.”

His stride lengthened.

“Please, Chester.”

He sheathed his knife and then his sword but didn’t acknowledge my plea.

“Very well, if you have no wish to discuss the matter, then I bid you to refrain from saying anything to Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Idony. I should not like to trouble them.”

As he reached the door, he threw it open with a bang and stalked inside. “Begin packing.” His command filled the cottage and echoed outside.

Packing for what? With a strange urgency, I picked up my skirt and ran the last steps, halting inside at the sight of Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Idony watching Chester with wide, frightened eyes as he stomped through the living area, slamming his hand against things like a child having a temper tantrum.

“What happened?” Aunt Idony glanced first to me and then to Chester before she returned to me, staring at the exquisite scarf Kresten had given me.

I hid it behind my back and swallowed hard. “Nothing—”

“Nothing?” Chester paused in his rampage. “Are you going to tell them, or shall I?”

“Tell us what?” Aunt Idony stood at the table, where she’d been in the process of crushing dried herbs with a pestle and mortar. Aunt Elspeth, as usual, was at her loom, but the bobbin dangled idly from her fingers.

“I do not wish to speak of the matter today.” I directed my response to Chester. “I shall speak of it on another occasion when you are calmer and more rational.”

Chester tossed an empty grain sack on the table. “I’m calm . . .”

“You most certainly are not—”

“As calm as I can be after finding you in so intimate a position with that—that woodcutter.” He spat the words as if each one were a curse.

“Intimate position?” Aunt Idony’s brows rose at the same time Aunt Elspeth’s cheeks flamed.

“Chester!” I hissed.

His eyes flashed with indignation. “I caught Rory with Kresten. She was in his arms and kissing him.”

Aunt Elspeth gasped and fanned her face with her fluttering hand. Aunt Idony seemed frozen in place.

“And it wasn’t a chaste kiss,” Chester continued before I could defend myself. “It was obvious the two of them have been sharing intimacies for some time.”

“’Tis not true. Not in the least—”

“I saw you!” The hurt and betrayal in Chester’s yell filled the small cottage and spread down deep into the crevices in my heart. “I saw the way you were with him!”

His eyes radiated with such heartache that my shoulders deflated. I hadn’t wanted to hurt him. “This is not your fault, Chester. You did all you could to protect me—”

“But you snuck around behind my back and met with him in secret anyway?”

“No! I mean, yes, just once. Yesterday. I followed him into the woods. But Jorg was nearby, and I did not stay for long.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You must. And believe me also when I tell you that yesterday was also the first time that we—that we exchanged a kiss.”

“I do not believe you. And even if I did, it makes no difference. You shouldn’t have kissed him even one time.” He tossed open the lid of a trunk and threw items on the floor. His garments.

What was he doing? Was he leaving? Surely he wasn’t so angry as that. “You are making more of the matter than necessary.”

He paused. “You are the queen of Mercia and must save yourself for the man you will wed. And it’s my job to make sure that you do so.”

“I shall wed Kresten.”

“No, you will not.”

“Oh dear.” Aunt Elspeth was fanning herself so hard, I feared she’d faint.

Aunt Idony seemed to awaken, her forehead creasing and her lips pursing.

It was clear I had some convincing to do. “I have already given him my word that I shall wait for him to come back, and then I intend to wed him.”

Chester glowered. “First of all, we’re not waiting for him. We’re leaving today, just as soon as we’re packed. And second, you’re not marrying him.”

“I love him.”

The moment my declaration was out, silence fell as heavy as a winter storm.

I lifted my chin, unashamed of my love for Kresten. I needed only to stroke the length of the scarf and remember his whispered words of love during our farewell for my heart to well up with everything I felt for him. He’d proven to be a man of great depth of character, displaying so many qualities I