desti
Senior Member
Proven True.
Chapter CLII
House Hastwyck
Sow knowledge, reap wisdom.
Santrella, Southern lands of Aedighar
It had to be her, Carlys was sure of it. The last time that she had seen Lady Sarisa Bryne had been years ago, since she’d never accompanied her parents to Wheldrake or Santrella when they’d visited. In her mind, Sarisa was a young girl whose face she could barely remember. Carlys wasn’t even sure why she was so certain that this was her, since she barely remembered the girl, but it made sense in her mind.
After one of Leanah’s handmaidens had been let go, Carlys couldn’t help but look at Sarisa with suspicion. It was first her name that made Carlys’ curiosity peak, and it only grew when nobody could tell her anything about the girl apart from her being involved with Sir Arthor. But she had the name, she had the hair and the eyes. It had to be her, or else this was a massive coincidence.
Eventually, Carlys couldn’t quite let go of the curiosity and she ordered her guards to find Sarisa and bring her to her. Judging by the letters she’d received, as had other Lords and Ladies across the lands, the Brynes were quite keen on getting their only heir back to them. If this was Sarisa Bryne, then all Carlys knew was that she couldn’t leave Santrella. She didn’t want to give her parents the happiness of seeing their child again. Or, more likely, save them from the embarrassment that was the lack of an heir.
With a cup of wine in her hands, Carlys sat by the table while awaiting her arrival. Perhaps Sarisa would run, but she doubted it. Where would she go? And perhaps she liked Sir Arthor enough to stay here, so Carlys didn’t doubt that Sarisa would come and talk to Carlys. It wasn’t like she’d given Sarisa a reason to fear her or suspect that Carlys knew who she was, or thought that she did.
When there was a knock on the door, Carlys told whoever to walk in. She was quite comfortably seated, so Carlys figured that they could just open the door themselves. It almost seemed like Sarisa was nervous when she walked into her room. Carlys had heard of her attitude, and she almost expected her to say something harsh straight away.
“Wine?”
At that, Sarisa nodded and thanked her. Carlys gestured towards the empty chair and the wine cup and pitcher on the table. There was no need to question her like a prisoner, they were here to have a conversation. With every passing second, Carlys thought that the young girl in her mind looked more and more like the woman that was in front of her now.
“How are you?” Carlys asked as she leant back, sipping her wine.
"Nervous. I have an idea of why I am here."
“Do you?”
"But I'm not certain."
“I just want to talk with you,” Carlys shrugged, “I like to know who my daughter spends her days with.”
"Your daughter is lovely. I enjoy working for her."
Obviously Sarisa probably knew that Carlys suspected something, but seeing her so nervous was quite amusing. She thought that they could drag this on forever, but Carlys planned on reaching the point of the conversation soon enough. That could wait a little while longer, of course.
“I’m happy to hear that. Tell me about yourself, Sarisa. You’ve been here for weeks and yet I know almost nothing about you.”
"I came to Santrella after the war, but I suppose there is no need for me to speak of tragedies now."
“Where did you come from?”
"I think you already know that."
“You think so?”
As far as Carlys knew, Sarisa was trying to pretend to be from the East. She was quite lucky that most in Santrella hadn’t traveled far away from the South, because they’d easily tell by her voice that she was about as Eastern as Carlys herself. What confused her was how Elias hadn’t noticed, or had he after all? Carlys would’ve expected him to at least tell her about it.
“Yes.”
“You’re from the East, are you not?”
"Do you believe that?"
“What do you think?”
"I think you know the truth."
“How I’m the only one is the surprising part here. You’re not doing a very good job at lying, Sarisa.”
"But I'm not lying for the sake of winning someone's trust. I'm lying for my own sake as I have no pride regarding my real heritage."
The reason why she was lying didn’t exactly interest Carlys. What was in her interests was that her heritage wouldn’t come out. Of course, now everyone was quite oblivious, but Carlys imagined that over time her lies would fall apart in front of her. Then word would spread quickly and reach her parents, and Gods only know what they would think of this.
“Nobody would benefit if people would find out. It’s not just about your pride.”