Page 10 of Chivalry in the Meadow (Hope Runs Deep #2)

Chapter Four

I nside the tent, their bags had clearly been shifted.

“My hoodie,” Lilly rushed over to where it lay on the ground, halfway across the tent.

Mia gasped. Her copy of His Lady’s Heart lay open, face-down, on the ground.

Lilly picked up her hoodie, and Mia’s bookmark which had fallen out of her book.

“Who could have done this?” Mia asked. “Finn?”

Lilly frowned. “No. He would never go through our things.”

“Why would anyone do this?” Mia said.

“Looking for money, jewelry, or other valuables,” Lilly said. “Did you leave any cash?”

“No, I didn’t leave cash, or anything of monetary value.” Mia placed the rose on her cot and then picked up her book.

She dusted it off and looked inside at the pages which had been on the ground.

One of the pages had been bent.

“I’ll tell Finn what happened and see what he says,” Lilly said.

She handed Mia the bookmark.

Wind rustled outside. A low, skittering sound moved behind the tent.

Both women stilled.

“Raccoon?” Lilly whispered.

“Too fast,” Mia replied. She crept to the entrance and peeked out.

Nothing.

But up in the tree, half-hidden in shadow, sat the owl, huge and still.

“Was that you in my dream?” she asked softly, low enough that Lilly wouldn’t hear.

It’s eyes, golden and slightly glowing didn’t blink as it watched her. It didn’t move just watched her.

“Whoever was in this tent, you saw them,” she said softly, speaking the knowing.

Was that my fifth knowing today ? She’d stopped counting them.

The owl blinked once.

“I wish you could tell me who did this,” she said.

Then the owl let out a low, guttural hoot that sounded almost like a warning.

It felt like one, to her.

“Who are you talking to?” Lilly had come up beside her and was looking out.

“Just that owl,” Mia pointed. “He spoke, but I can’t understand what he said.”

Lilly turned to look at Mia, quizzically, but didn’t say anything.

I forgot not to let her know about my woo-woo feelings and thoughts. I need to be quiet.

Especially about thinking this owl is trying to talk to me.

So, she said nothing, let the tent flap close, and went to put her belongings back.

“We can figure it out in the morning,” Lilly said. “I’m tired and going to bed.”

“Me too,” Mia said. “Whoever it was, didn’t find anything, and they are long gone.”

They both changed into pajamas and then got into their sleeping bags.

Lilly left the lantern light low, so Finn could see when he got in later tonight.

Likely he was at the pub enjoying a beer after his show. They were not going to wait up.

Mia set the rose on the side of her cot, near her pillow, where she could see it and enjoy its scent and then settled in to read, with her book light and her paperback.

She was looking for her last page, where she’d left off.

That had been lost when the bookmark fell out.

Then she realized that a page had been torn from her book.

What? Why would anyone do that?

It horrified her that someone would tear pages out of books.

And it made no logical sense to do that.

What would anyone do with the missing page?

Luckily it was a page she’d already read. But it ruined the book for anyone else.

She’d planned to ask Lilly if she wanted to read it after she finished reading it.

Now that wouldn’t happen.

After about twenty minutes of reading, Mia placed the rose on the ground where she wouldn’t roll onto it in her sleep and turned off her book light. She couldn’t stay up all night and needed to rest.

Long after the torches outside had burned low, she lay awake in the tent, listening to the distant murmur of laughter and music drifting from the campfires.

She couldn’t shake the image of the two knights watching her, during Finn’s show. The golden amusement in Sir Cedric’s eyes, the shadowed weight in Sir Alaric’s. Both had unsettled her, though in different ways.

Sir Cedric’s charm was easy, bright as the flame itself, and he had presented her with the red rose. She replayed that moment many times, enjoying the memory and the way his kiss felt on the back of her hand.

She wondered what his lips would feel like upon her lips and imagined kissing him.

Sir Alaric’s attention was heavier, dangerous, as though he saw something in her she didn’t yet understand. He frightened her a little, but at the same time, she was drawn to him.

The memory of their words tangled in her head: Sir Cedric mocking, Sir Alaric warning. Two men, both strong in their own way, both impossibly interested in her.

She’d dreamed of meeting one handsome knight who might be interested in her, and now, it seemed she had two.

Sleep came slowly. And with it, restless dreams.

The first dream was both familiar and unfamiliar.

She was back in her grandmother’s house, sitting by the fireplace.

Light through the window and the lace curtains caught dust motes as they floated down. A fire crackled low in the hearth. On the mantel sat a carved wooden owl, worn smooth from years of being touched.

Her grandmother sat by the fire, combing Mia’s long red hair with slow, gentle fingers.

“You have the gift, little one,” she whispered. “Dreams will chase you. But you must learn to chase them back.”

Mia blinked. Her younger self spoke with a child’s clarity. “You talk to birds, Nana.”

“Only the wise ones,” her grandmother replied.

The fire suddenly flared blue. From the corner of the room, with a low screech, the owl statue turned its head. It blinked, suddenly alive with brown and white feathers, and intense golden eyes which looked at her steadily.

It flew up and landed before Mia, then pressed a single feather into her palm.

“You will know him by the blade he does not show,” the owl says.

“And the one you must not trust will offer roses without roots.”

Mia woke gasping. When she looked down, a brown and white striped feather lay on her pillow. She reached out to touch it with her finger.

It was warm. As if the owl had just left it. Real.

Not her imagination, not just a dream. Real.

And beside it on her cot lay the red rose. No longer on the ground.

Saturday morning, Finn stepped inside the tent, carrying a trash bag.

Mia sat up on her cot and yawned.

Lilly was already awake, playing on her phone.

“Careful not to wear the battery down,” Finn warned.

“Is there nowhere to charge it?” Lilly asked.

“There’s a charging station, but you have to leave your phone there, and wait your turn,” he said.

“Oh,” Lilly said, turning her phone off. “I was just waiting for Mia to wake up.”

“Sorry,” Mia said. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Because I heard you tossing and turning last night,” Lilly said. “But I was about to. Mia,” Lilly paused, looking down at something. “When you were reading last night, did you tear a page out of your book?”

“No, I would never do that,” Mia said. “Why?”

Lilly held up a page which hung down in strips. “Because this was next to my cot when I woke up.”

Mia frowned and held out her hand. “Let me see it.”

Lilly handed it to her.

“That’s the missing page,” Mia said. “But why is it shredded?”

“I don’t know,” Lilly said.

“Let me see,” Finn came over to look at the page and Mia held it out. He let it fall on his hand and looked closely at it. “Looks like mice got hold of it. Probably wanted the paper, to pad their nests.”

“Eww,” Mia said, wanting to pull her hand away.

“I can take that for you,” he said.

She nodded and let him take it.

He wadded it up in his hand. “If you ladies are going to breakfast, they’re only serving for another hour,” he said.

“Yes, we are,” Lilly said. “Come on Mia, get dressed.”

“Missus McCullers sent you some cooler dresses to wear today,” Finn held up the bag.

“Oh good,” Mia said.

“It’s supposed to be a scorcher,” Finn sat the bag on his cot.

“Great,” Lilly said. “Thank her for us.”

“I will.” He checked the water bottles in the cooler. “Be sure to hydrate.”

“Thanks Finn,” Mia said. “We will.”

“I’ll see you later. Ladies,” he gave a bow and headed back outside.

Lilly lifted the dresses out of the bag. “It’s easy to tell whose is whose.”

“How can you tell?” Mia stood, ready to get dressed.

“We have different size corsets, or bodices, those lace up things,” Lilly said.

“I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to wear one,” Mia said.

Lilly had already pulled on a long white chemise and then a green skirt over it.

“You’re fast,” Mia said.

“I’m hungry,” Lilly said. “I hope there’s enough breakfast left for us this late.”

Mia slipped into the thin ankle-length white cotton chemise, noting how soft it was, before adding the black bodice with gold embroidery. She began to lace it. “How tight is this bodice supposed to be? My boobs are flowing over the top!”

Lilly gave her the once over. “Can you still breathe?”

Mia straightened up and tried to take a breath. Her lungs didn’t expand any noticeable amount, but she was still standing. “Yes.”

“Then it’s not tight enough,” Lilly said, and she came over to tighten them for her. When she was done, she stepped back and nodded.

“Lilly, I can’t go out like this. Look at my boobs!” Mia frowned as her hands fluttered around her chest.

“What’s wrong with them?”

Mia thinned her lips. “Well for one, I no longer have individual breasts, instead I have a bosom shelf. This bodice is too small. My boobs are practically touching my chin.”

“Don’t be silly, all boobs look like that in a properly fitted bodice,” Lilly said. “Guys love it. Finn told me they’ll offer to drop grapes down into your cleavage, and then do a grape dive.”

“Eww.” Mia glanced down, eying her breasts that rose like overflowing bread dough in a too-small pan. “And anyway, I don’t think a grape would fit in there.”

“Fine, you stay and fuss with your costume,” Lilly said. “I’m going to go eat before those big strong knights eat it all.”

Lilly pulled the tent flap back. “Remember, Finn said we can eat with the actors, in their cafeteria so that’s where I’m headed.”

“Right,” Mia said. “See you there.”

“I just hope there’s some bacon left,” Lilly muttered as she left.