One day. One day she comes back late in the evening, and her father decided he needed to keep a closer eye on her. It was completely infuriating. And then, just to make her whole morning that much better, the mysterious Arteys turns out to be none other than His Grace Humphrey of Gloucester — in other words, the very man he’d claimed to be squire to.
Summer rather felt she’d been made a fool of on all accounts. With just a little luck, maybe she could get a moment with /Duke Humphrey/, and let him feel the edge of her tongue briefly. Arteys, forsooth!
So the morning could not have been worse. Humphrey had to linger with the little group for a short while, being formally introduced – as if it was needed – to the Lady Summer Rainault as well as Lord Rainault, her father. Humphrey recognised the man as one he saw regularly at court a few times. One of the nameless faces before, now he became one who will soon hate him, he thought.
As for her, he decided it is safer to stay away now. What could he say? He knew why he lied, just as he knew that she was watching him while standing with them and later, when their rather short meeting ended and the lords talked happily in the corridor, she watched him closely. He felt it under his skin, that she will retort him for the lie. He couldn’t be more right at that.
By the time the morning session of court was over, Summer was starting to regret her flare of anger. The poor man could barely meet her eyes. He could barely meet her father’s eyes! He couldn’t be more clearly ashamed of himself, and her empathic sense just confirmed it.
And, too, she hadn’t given him the whole truth. Far from the whole truth, in fact, though that wasn’t likely to change any time soon. But now that the anger was passed, curiosity crept forward to take its place. Why /had/ he lied?
Well, they had been formally introduced, so time to take courage in both hands (hardly a difficult task for her), and simply … ask. With slow steps, Summer approached Humphrey. “Well met, Your Grace,” she said quietly, and offered a curtsey.