The Scoop
Excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Wild Rose
“Serrell, you are impossible,” said Analea, but her heart didn’t seem to be in it. Serrell exchanged a look with Melyr and then swept imperiously from the room. Melyr sighed and slumped a little, only to be knocked between the shoulder blades by her mother’s knuckles.
“Stand up straight, or it won’t fit,” said Analea. “You girls! Melyr, Steren is a fine, handsome man, and there is no need to act as though you were to marry a toad. It’s the best offer you’ll have, and don’t forget it!”
“I don’t know. Cey said he would like to marry me,” said Melyr in a low voice. The instant the words were out of her mouth, she regretted saying them, for Analea rounded on her, her eyes wide, two bright spots of color on her cheeks.
“Cey! Dared to offer you marriage!” Analea cried. “Cey al Farell! How can you even compare that match to one with Steren do Morit!”
Melyr bit her lip. “Cey is kind to me,” she said, her voice even lower. She herself still couldn’t imagine being married to Cey, but then, she couldn’t imagine being married to Steren either.
Analea stepped close to her and took Melyr’s chin in her hand. “There will be no more of this,” she hissed. “Cey’s mother was my maid! He has no name! He has nothing but the kindness of your father, and if he dares raise his eyes to you he’ll have not even that! Speak not of this ever again!” Releasing Melyr, she turned away. “I am going to lie down,” she said, her voice still angry. “Stand up straight and don’t interfere with the seamstress again, or I’ll jab you with needles myself!” She walked away, her hands to her head as if it ached.
There was a short silence while Melyr turned her mother’s words over in her head. “I didn’t know that Cey’s mother was a maid,” she said at last in a conversational tone, but to nobody in particular. The seamstress, her mouth full of pins, seemed disinclined to answer.