One particular item caught her attention:
New Odds in Marital Pool
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Bookies are taking new wagers on the length of Dom Auster's fidelity after the latest reports from Stone Haven. In the six days since his wedding, the bridegroom has only spent two nights in the same bed as his wife. While she remains in bed (alone) to recover from her exhaustion, he has begun sending roses and wine to Mestra Kay MacDonald, an attractive woman at the spaceport in Thendara. They reportedly met the night the engagement was announced. Lord Danvan should have known he'd have a backup plan.
Kay giggled very loudly indeed when she read this. Now THERE was a clear case of mistaken identity. Strange but true, some fine Comynara must have been mistaken for Kay-wearing-one-of-Melissa's-ballgowns.
Sure, she'd seen that crazy Elhalyn lord at the Ball he'd thrown to his new heir. But she'd never actually talked to him. They'd haven't even been introduced -- what Dolo had unintentionally leaked to her (while Auster was telepathically telling her about the sudden murder of one his best seargeants) surely didn't count as an introduction.
She giggled again, then sighed. Hopefully, she WOULDN'T find any such gifts when she returned home. But if she did, she'd send them back with a polite note that he must have mistaken her for someone else. It was awkward enough that she had a FRIEND wanting to be "more than friends". She certainly did NOT need THAT kind of attention from strangers -- especially not MARRIED ones.
"Those reporters must have waaaay too much free time on their hands", Kay complained to Oberon and Mairead (who had been trying to suggest that she go back to bed). "I should NEVER have let Gwenn convince me to go to that Ball ... more ill came of it than good. I should have remembered how much gossips like to see new faces at these kinds of events", she added, with a soft sigh. Idly, she wished that they could at LEAST have NOT chosen such a tomcat.
Grumbling softly to herself, she quickly checked to make sure that none of her animal companions had any immediately-urgent need for her attention, before pillowing her head on her arms and deciding that another nap was a better idea than trying to climb back up those stairs. Coming down had been difficult enough.