Betrothed by Jill Myles Read Free Book Online Page A

below the surface and finding nothing. After a long, silent moment, he spoke again. “Your ill temper can be attributed to your cultural ignorance. See that you remember your manners in the future.”
    With that, he swept past her, his two lackeys close at his heels.
    She managed a weak nod as he passed her, knowing that he wouldn’t see it and careful not to make it subservient at all. How dare he? Her face still burned from bottled rage.
    “Oh, and girl,” he said as an afterthought, those dark, unfathomable eyes on her. “If I were you, I’d keep my opinions of Lady Mila’s employ to myself. I can see to it that you are dismissed without pay should I hear you speak badly of her again.”
    “I’ll remember,” Seri gritted out.
    “See that you do,” the cold voice intoned, and the man was gone.
    Insufferable brute , she thought to herself, turning the other direction and heading for the kitchens.

 
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Seri was starting to think that three dru would not be enough money.
    She sat in a wooden tub in the midst of the servants’ quarters as two women pounded and scrubbed away at her long blond hair. The soap they were using was so harsh it made her face burn. Her eyes streamed as she tried to get a good look at the costume that Winna held up.
    “There’s hardly anything there,” she protested again. “I cannot wear that.”
    While the Vidari people practiced comfort more than anything else in their easygoing clothing, she had no doubt in her mind that any Vidari of good standing would likely pass out at the sight of the costume that Lady Mila had provided for her.
    It was a ridiculous mockery of her people’s garb. In a Vidari village, it was not frowned upon for girls to bare their arms or their legs up to the knee for clothing, but the dress being provided to her was scanty in comparison. The top was little more than a loose triangle of white fabric with no back and tied behind the neck. The skirt was composed of two long strips of the same white material held together by a cleverly woven wreath of intricately dyed golden feathers and meant to be worn low on the hips. It seemed like little more than wisps of white cloth that would accent the tan of her darker skin and make her stand out in the crowd.
    “Where is the rest of it?” Seri rubbed soap out of her eyes and scowled at Winna.
    “Where is the rest of what?”
    “The dress,” she protested. “You’re missing half the gown. Where is the skirt? The sleeves?”
    “There are no sleeves, and this is the skirt,” Winna said in a stern voice.
    “There’s hardly any skirt there,” Seri grumbled, unease beginning to clench in her stomach. No woman of good moral standing would wear that. “I cannot wear that in public.” Because she was Vidari, the men in the castle already eyed her like she was a loose woman. She couldn’t begin to imagine how awful it would be to have to parade around in that dress in front of them.
    “You will wear it,” Winna said with a thin smile on her face. “Lady Mila put great thought into your costume.”
    I’m sure she did , Seri thought, and swatted the two washerwomen away. “Give me my clothes. I wish to leave. You can pay me for the time I’ve already spent here and give my regrets to Lady Mila.” She’d had enough of this. There would be no cow, but at least they’d have enough to eat comfortably for a time.
    “I’m afraid the rest of your clothing has been returned to the rightful owners. You may have this garment.” Winna gestured with a smirk at the flimsy dress.
    Anger boiled through Seri. These women infuriated her. “What about my clothing that I arrived here with?”
    “Burned,” she said with a haughty sniff. “We did not know what sort of vermin they carried.”
    Seri knew good and well that her clothing carried no lice. Furious, her hand smacked the surface of the water. “So you’re going to keep me here as a captive?”
    Winna sniffed again. “Of course not.