Page 147 of Laird of Smoke
He wished the abbess could simply line up all the nuns in the convent and let him take a good look at them.He had no idea what name Eve was using now.
“I’m not certain,” he admitted.“She may have changed her name.”
More nuns entered the refectory.Giving him sidelong glances, they busied themselves in close proximity, as interested in them as they were in him.They carried empty trays back and forth.Wiped imaginary dirt from the tops of the tables.Rearranged the rushes on the floor.Some brushed so close behind him, he could feel the breeze of their passing.
He studied them carefully.None of them were Eve.
“Oh aye,” the abbess said.“Oftentimes a lass will change her name when she enters a holy order.What was her name before?”
“Eve,” he said.“Sister Eve.”
He might as well have uttered a foul oath.
All the nuns in the refectory gasped and began whispering furiously among themselves.
He frowned.
The abbess’s eyes went wide.“Sister Eve?”Then she scowled at the melee around them.“Sisters!Silence!”
They knew something about Eve.What it was, he wasn’t sure.
When it quieted, he asked, “Is she here?”
“We did have a Sister Eve here,” the abbess said carefully.
He supposed there could be more than one Sister Eve.“What did she look like?”
She shrugged.“Ordinary.Brown-haired.Brown-eyed.”
He furrowed his brows.Eve was far from ordinary.
She continued, “A bit…undisciplined.”
His breath caught.That had to be Eve.
“Ye said yedidhave a Sister Eve,” he said.“What happened to her?”
Before the abbess could answer, the nuns began chiming in with excitement.
“She’s gone on an adventure,” one of them said.
“All the way to Rivenloch,” added another.
“Carryin’ a mysterious scroll.”
“A special missive.”
“I heard ’twas on the king’s business.”
The abbess’s face purpled.“Sisters!”
They silenced.
“Out!”the abbess shouted.
They filed out, shamefaced.
But he’d heard enough to know it was his Eve.The wily lass had managed to give him the slip.She was finishing her clandestine task with that marriage document.
