Cedric appeared in the doorway, his earlier shock now covered by a jovial grin. “Mistress Masterson, do you mind if I borrow Adelaide when you’re done? I know this change must be a little daunting, and I just wanted to give her some encouragement.”
Mistress Masterson beamed. “Yes, of course. We’re all set.”
Winter still held its grip, but the sun had come out enough to make the day pleasant. Cedric suggested we go for a walk to enjoy the weather, but I suspected he just wanted to ensure we weren’t overheard. I felt small relief that he led us to a grove of hawthorn, rather than the old forest where he’d held the Midwinter ritual.
“What,” he demanded, “have you done? Are you completely out of your mind?”
“I’ve saved you, that’s what I’ve done!” I’d expected surprise but was a little taken aback by his vehemence.
He raked a hand through his hair, messing up where it had been neatly tied in the back. “You weren’t supposed to attract attention. I told you that on the first day! Didn’t you hear Mistress Masterson? No one does this. No one makes a score change that vast. No one gets a perfect score! No one.”
“I—”
“Do you think everyone’s just going to marvel about this?” he continued, pacing around. “Do you think they’ll all just chuckle and shake their heads? Someone’s going to ask questions! Someone’s going to wonder how a lady’s maid from a countess’s house performed so perfectly after months of average behavior! Someone’s going to make the connection that maybe that maid isn’t actually a maid!”
I strode up to him, hands on my hips. “So what if they do? Better I’m caught as a runaway noble than you outed as a heretic! Besides, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be on our way to Adoria. None of this will matter.”
“Don’t be so sure,” he said darkly. “These kinds of things can follow you anywhere.”
“What’s the worst that can happen? They haul me back to Grandmama? I’d rather that than you on the Osfro gallows!”
“You don’t think they’d hang me for kidnapping a peeress of the realm?” he asked, leaning toward me.
“No. I’d make sure you were innocent of any involvement. I’d take the full blame—but it’s not going to happen. Even if someone follows us to Adoria, I’ll be married before they can lay claim to me. And that,” I added proudly, “is the whole point of this. These scores are just the beginning. Wait until I’m there. I’ll dazzle them all. There’ll be a bidding war. I’ll have men eating out of my hand.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he grumbled.
“Don’t make fun of me,” I returned. “Because of what I’ve done, you’ll get the biggest commission of the season. You can even have some of my surety money. Maybe it won’t cover your whole stake in Westhaven, but it’ll certainly make things easier if the painting scheme falls through.”
He looked me over and declared, “Nothing involving you has ever been easy.”
I balled my fists at my sides. “The words you’re looking for are ‘Thank you, Adelaide, for going to all this trouble to help me out.’”
“The risk is too great.” He shook his head. “You shouldn’t be doing this.”
And as I spoke, I realized he wasn’t talking about the risk to himself. He wasn’t really concerned about being implicated in my disappearance. It was exposing me as a fraud and taking me away that he wanted to prevent.
“Why shouldn’t I?” I said. “After what you did for me. You saved me, Cedric. I was drowning back there in Osfro. Of course I should do this. I’ll do more, if that’s what it takes to keep you alive in spite of yourself.”
He’d been regarding me very intently as I spoke, as though he couldn’t quite believe my words. At that last bit, his face broke into a smile, finally easing the tension. “In spite of myself?”
“Well, you’re the one who chose to complicate your life with heresy.”
“You don’t choose it. It chooses you.”
“If you say so,” I said. I kept my tone light and dismissive, but inside, I was relieved to no longer be fighting with him. “How did it choose you anyway? Don’t take this the wrong way . . . but you don’t really seem like the type who’d think too much about godly affairs.”
He beckoned me toward the house, and I fell in step with him. “A lot of things bothered me about the world, ever since childhood. My parents are married, but they might as well not be. They’ve almost always lived apart, and we were all supposed to pretend that was normal. Emotional reactions weren’t allowed about that or, well, anything. It was all duty and keeping up appearances, just like the traditional churches teach. Then I learned how the six wayward angels aren’t evil—they just govern emotion and instinct, something the rigid priests of Uros fear. I learned it was okay to embrace that emotional side of me—to accept my true nature. That it was okay to let my passions run wild.”
The idea of Cedric and passions running wild was enough to make me momentarily lose track of his ardent explanation.
“And the rest of the Alanzan worship just made sense too,” he continued. “Spirituality without boundaries. All voices heard. Reverence for the natural world. We don’t need to attend lavish services paid for with prayer fees and massive tithes . . . while beggars and others starve outside the cathedrals. It’s not fair for one group to have so much wealth and another so little.”