The carriage that pulled up in front of Jocelynn was a sturdy, well-maintained coach bearing the warhorse and lances of House Aleese, drawn by a pair of dappled gray mares whose breath steamed in the cold air. The driver brought it to a halt near the yardās main gate, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then the carriage door opened, and a tall figure in a dark traveling cloak stepped out, pausing to pull the hood back from her steel-grey hair before surveying the yard with sharp, intelligent eyes.
Baroness Peigi Aleese was a striking woman, even after she passed her fiftieth birthday. She moved with the unhurried confidence of someone who had spent decades navigating the politics of frontier nobility and had long since stopped being bothered by things as trivial as early mornings or bitter cold.
The lines on her face spoke of both laughter and worry in equal measure, and when her gaze found Jocelynn standing by the stable wall, her expression shifted into something warm and unsurprised, as if sheād expected to find the young woman here all along.
"Lady Jocelynn," Peigi said, crossing the yard with long strides that covered the distance between them faster than Jocelynn expected. "Youāre up early."
"As are you, Baroness," Jocelynn replied, straightening her posture out of habit. Even in mourning, even carrying a chest full of a dead womanās keepsakes, she was still the daughter of a count, and a soon-to-be marchioness as well. She could almost hear her motherās scolding voice in her ear as she straightened. It wouldnāt do to slouch in the presence of her future vassals. "I didnāt expect to see anyone else at this hour."
"My old bones donāt sleep as well as they used to," Peigi said with a rueful smile that softened the sharp lines of her face. "And I promised myself Iād spend the morning at the temple praying for my Rain," she added. A shadow passed behind her grey eyes, there and gone in an instant, hidden away with the ease of long practice.
"The Holy Lord of Light hears prayers best when theyāre offered at dawn, or so Iāve been told," the baroness added, cocking her head slightly as if she wondered if Jocelynn had chosen this hour for similar reasons. "Iāve never been entirely sure that the hour matters, but it canāt hurt to try."
Jocelynn recognized the helplessness beneath the light tone. Sir Rain had been missing for more than a week now, along with Master Isabell, Master Tiernan, and Lord Hugo. Owain said that the scouts found no trace of them and that there was little else they could do until after the grand ceremony, when they could call upon the forces of all the barons of the march to ride out against the demons.
She knew that, and she knew that praying was unlikely to save the lives of people who had been attacked by the strange, twisted demons who had ravaged the hamlets of Dunn Barony. But she also knew that sometimes prayer was what you did when youād already done everything else, and the helplessness was more than you could bear in silence.
"Iāll add my own prayers to yours," Jocelynn offered quietly. "I didnāt know your son well, but I always knew that I was safe when I traveled with him and Owain. Iām sure that whateverās happened out there, heās still fighting to come home to his family."
"Thatās kind of you, my dear," Peigi said as a flicker of genuine warmth that went beyond the practiced courtesy of noble conversation passed across her face. "Truly."
A pause settled between them, filled by the sounds of the stable hands rushing to finish their work and the soft stamp of the Aleese maresā hooves on the frosty cobblestones. Peigi glanced at the Blackwell carriage, where one of the hands was still checking the fit of the replacement harness, and then back at Jocelynn.
"It looks like your carriage needs a bit more time," she observed. "And weāre headed to the same place, unless Iām mistaken." She tilted her head slightly and took a half step back before extending her hand toward her carriage in a gesture that managed to be both inviting and entirely without pressure. "Thereās room in mine, if youād like. No sense standing in the cold when thereās a warm seat and a wool blanket waiting."
Jocelynn hesitated. She hadnāt planned on entertaining company this morning. The ride to the temple was supposed to be quiet, a few minutes of solitude to gather herself before the memorial began, and sharing a carriage with the Baroness Aleese would mean conversation, which meant spending energy she wasnāt sure she had.
But refusing would be rude, and worse, it would be wasteful. She had no designs on the Aleese family, no scheme that required their cooperation, but her father had taught her long ago that relationships were like ships; you maintained them even when the seas were calm, because you never knew when youād need them in a storm.
It costs nothing to accept a kindness, and sometimes a small gesture repaid itself tenfold in ways you couldnāt predict. She might not have plans that would require the support of the Aleese Barony, but in the days to come, the people from Blackwell might need to make use of any safe harbor that could protect them from the storm her actions would unleash, and if the Baroness was favorably inclined toward her, then it might make all the difference.
Besides, she reminded herself. Time and tide waited for no one. Dawn would come whether sheād arrived at the chapel or not, and since her carriage wasnāt ready, then it only made sense to accept a ride in a carriage that was, even if sheād have to make a bit of polite conversation on the way. It was a small price to pay for something that was far more important than her own comfort.
"Thank you, Baroness," Jocelynn said politely, accepting the Baronessās offer. "I would be grateful for the company."