February 5, 1174
Ideally, Asalaye would have been the one calling at Cord's house, but she was a young girl and her father had his reservations and Cord could understand that--and besides, having to ride to her family's home in Veldora to see her did beat not seeing her at all. And it wasn't as if her father was strict, or her stepmother was a shrew, or either of them was insistent on acting as a chaperon, so things could have been much worse and he realized that.There was, however, one complication--Nanalie.
"I take it Asalaye slept in again?"
"She did."
"And you didn't."
"Clearly."
And then, there was silence--as always. Awkward, excruciating silence.Cord had nothing against Nanalie as a person. She was probably nice enough, and possibly even intelligent... but she was just so damn dull. And whenever he came to call on Asalaye--and whenever she'd slept in--it figured that Nanalie was always the one around to keep him occupied while his sweetheart scrambled to get ready.
"Uh, so..." Cord began with uncertainty, more for the sake of filling the gap than anything else, "is that a new dress?"
It wasn't, and he knew it--and he knew she knew he knew it. "No. Why?"
Damn. "Uh... you look nice today?"
Nanalie gave a disbelieving sniff. "None of your nonsense."None of your nonsense... it was probably her favorite phrase. Cord liked the no-nonsense type--Asalaye herself was one of them, or so he'd always thought--but Nanalie took it too far. Everything was nonsense to her--everything. "It's not--"
"It is." Her tone was blunt and final. He couldn't argue even if he cared to; it just wasn't worth it.
He splashed his way through the resulting quiet and grasped at the shuffling sounds from the loft. He heard footsteps, the rustle of clothing, the creaking of drawers as they opened and shut, but they were never enough. His own thoughts became audible. Hurry up, Asalaye. Hurry up, hurry up...
She didn't. Meanwhile, her sister was eyeing him with a strange sort of scrutiny. If he hadn't been uncomfortable before, he was now.
"Err... say, Nanalie? Could you tell Asalaye to meet me in the stables?" Cord tossed back his head and flashed the widest grimace he could muster. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he didn't know how much more of this he could take; chances were, she was feeling something similar anyway. "I think I could use a little fresh air."NEXT CHAPTER:
