“I don’t think it’s you he wishes to avoid. I think it’s your stepmother’s new husband.”
“But I am his brother’s child, am I not?”
Rowan stopped and stared through the snow at her cousin. “But you can’t be. You are my mother’s brother’s child.”
“Are you saying I’m a liar?” the girl asked, fists balled at her sides, scarlet blooming in her cheeks.
“I’m just being logical. They can’t have been brothers,” Rowan said gently. “We have different names. You are an Eira and I am a Rose. Surely if they were brothers, they would have the same family name.”
Fiona nodded and then grew shy again.
“It’s a lovely name, Eira,” Rowan continued, trying to lure her back out.
“Thank you.” Fiona smiled. “It means ‘snow.’ Rose is quite nice too.”
“Thank you. It means … well, it means ‘rose,’ ” Rowan said, laughing at her obtuseness, and soon Fiona was laughing too.
Fiona shook her head. “Well, whatever your father’s reasons might be, I wish he would see to it to change his mind.”
“So do I,” said Rowan.
Fiona now looked at her cousin, regarding her with an air of great seriousness. “If your father has forbidden you to talk to me, what are you doing here now?”
Rowan bowed her head. “I have a friend who wants to meet you. He wants an introduction.”
The girl smiled to herself, and Rowan wondered how it would feel to be so completely confident of your own beauty.
“I know the boy,” she said.
“You do?”
“Yes,” Fiona said, walking again. “There are two brothers. They were both watching me. One was quite beautiful, but he wasn’t interested in me.”
“He wasn’t?”
“No. He has other interests. It was the other one. He was less handsome, but he had a kind way about him. A little awkward, maybe, but special.”
“Tom’s not awkward,” Rowan said, barely able to contain her shock at her cousin’s vanity. “He’s the best thing this village has to offer by a long shot.”
The girl paused for a moment, a small grin forming on her lips. “You might be right,” she said after a while. “You say he wants to meet me?”
“He does.”
“And you’re to arrange it?”
Rowan nodded.
“Well, if my own cousin is to arrange it,” she said, a big, beautiful smile illuminating her face, “then how can I refuse?”
“Shall he come round to your cottage?” Rowan asked.
Fiona grew quiet for a moment, as if she were concentrating, trying to come up with the right answer. Finally, she shook her head. “No. He can’t come by the cottage. That won’t work at all. I will meet him here. Tomorrow. Do you think that will work?”
Rowan nodded. “I’ll arrange for it. Can you meet him here tomorrow at this same time?” she asked, and Fiona agreed.
The two girls stayed a moment longer, staring into each other’s eyes. And now it was Fiona’s turn to sense something strange between them.
“You know,” she said, “there’s something so familiar about you. It’s as if I’ve always known you. Tomorrow will you come too?”
The idea of seeing Tom and Fiona together caused a sudden painful constriction across Rowan’s chest, and she began to wonder if she might be making a terrible mistake. She shook her head. “No. I know that would be customary, but I have other commitments.”
“I see,” Fiona said, not bothering to hide her disappointment.
And though Rowan could tell that this girl, so cold only moments before, wanted her to stay, wanted to talk with her, to make some sort of connection, she knew she couldn’t let herself befriend her.
“Tomorrow, then,” Rowan said, and turning, she made her way back down the path, her cousin, cloaked in cherry and crimson-lipped, watching as she went.
Back at home, Rowan found Emily busily preparing her mother’s old wing for guests.
“Who’s coming?” she asked, but Emily just raised her hands and shook her head.
“He’s not telling me a thing. He seems very anxious that everything be perfect. He says he even wants Pema kept in the kennel while they’re here.”
“What?” Rowan was shocked. “No. It’s too cold for her out there.”
“That’s what I said, and he nearly snapped my head off. He says she can’t stay in my room because it’s too close to the guests, and he fears she’ll disturb them. You’d better talk to him yourself if you want something done about it.”
“Where is Pema now?”
Emily put her hand on her hip, her eyes wide, revealing how ridiculous she felt the whole thing was. “I had to chain her up out there, didn’t I? I didn’t want to. I warmed some towels for her, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea. Like I said, he’s not going to listen to me. You go talk to him.”
Rowan took the back stairs two at a time and, running through the kitchen and out to the kennel, she wrenched open the door. Pema lay shivering on the cold ground. Emily had done her best to try to keep the dog warm. She’d put down towels like she’d said, but Pema had bunched them up at the edge of the cage, and she lay shivering at the other end. When she saw Rowan, she scrambled to her feet and bounded over to the girl, licking her hands and putting her paws on Rowan’s shoulders, though Henry Rose usually scolded her for doing that.
“Come on, girl,” Rowan said, leading her back into the house. The dog scrambled off, bounding up the stairs, presumably to the comfort of Emily’s bed, and Rowan headed down the hall to her father’s office.
She pushed open the door without knocking, startling Henry Rose, who quickly shut his book and slid something into his top drawer.
“Rowan,” he said, trying to hide his shock at having been interrupted.
“I should have knocked,” she said, taking a step back. “I’m sorry I didn’t. I wasn’t thinking, I suppose. I was so upset, you see.”
Her father stood, alarmed. “What’s wrong, my child?”
“I’ve found Pema out in the kennel, although it’s clearly too cold for her to be there.”
“Is it?” he asked, seeming genuinely surprised. “I had Emily put her out there. Don’t be cross with her. It was at my bidding.”
“The fact remains that she can’t stay out there. She can stay in my room. I’ll keep her in there if you want while your guests are here.”
Henry Rose stroked his chin. He was nervous, she realized. Rowan wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him nervous before. “Mmm. I see. Yes, I suppose that would work. I’m sorry for not taking the weather into account. I have been distracted, what with the guests coming.”
Rowan cocked her head. “Who are they, Father? Who is coming?”
He smiled, though the tension did not drain from his face. “You mean, you haven’t heard already? I thought it would be all over the village by now. Why, the duke himself is coming.”
“The queen’s brother?” Rowan asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice, for Nag’s End had never hosted anyone of such high stature. “Coming here? But why?”
“I invited him. You will remember that he is not just the queen’s brother. He is also the king’s conservateur. He was eager to discuss some of the work I sent him, and when he heard about the death of the king’s soldiers, he offered to come to Nag’s End and serve as royal representative.”
“But why is he staying with us?”
“Where else is he going to stay? At the inn?” her father laughed, unable to keep the unkind note from his voice. “No, ours is the only home fit for a member of the royal family. They will be staying with us.”
“They?”
“Yes,” he said, stacking some papers. “His ward is accompanying him. It seems Nag’s End is to serve as a geography lesson of sorts. She’s eleven—a little young for you, I know, but perhaps she’ll be a friend nonetheless. We’ll have to keep her occupied while she’s here.”