By Right of Arms (27 page)

“I could have gone with Verel,” she wept. “He said that he would take her away. He lied to me so that I would secure the horse and weapons for him. He used me. All I asked of him was that he take her away and leave Hyatt for me again, but I should have bidden him to take me.”

“Faon … did you dally with the man? Did you—”

“He is young and handsome … and one of her own men. As a captain of a troop, he had any woman of his desire, but longed for the woman, Aurélie. He wished to take her away. I would have done
anything
to get her out of here.”

“Faon,” Nima issued in a breath, “did you tamper with one of Hyatt’s enemies?”

Faon looked away from her grandmother as if in shame, but her mouth was set in a petulant line. “What do you expect? That I will go to my grave as a spoiled virgin who has known the touch of a man but once? Even in your old age you must understand the loneliness of such an existence.”

“Oh Faon … did you not learn with Thormond? The only men who will ever touch you are those who hate Hyatt. That is not love, but revenge. You have but to seek freedom from Hyatt and you will be allowed to wed a man who will be faithful to you. But to dally with those men who would kill Hyatt …”

“I thought he would take her away … but he failed,” Faon went on, as if she did not hear a word of Nima’s advice. “If he returns, I will go with him. I will have to.”

“Faon,” Nima whispered urgently. “If you come with child …”

“You will give me the herbs. Do not worry.”

“ ’Tis dangerous, Faon. Women die …”

“I did not die the last time.”

“Hyatt does not care what you do, Faon. Find another man, one who will be smitten enough to take you to wife.”

“But Hyatt is rich and powerful. Who is more so? Not Verel. Not Thormond. And some of his men play with me, but none will leave Hyatt. Nay, Nima. I have followed him all this time, living in tents as some extra baggage. I deserve to be his lady. He will come to me again.”

The old woman straightened and looked out the window. “He has not lain with you since Derek. He promised you that he would do his duty to this child, but no more. You should have taken him at his word. You know he never loved you, but I think he hates you now. If you are wise …”

The old woman’s voice trailed off. She did not finish because it was hopeless. Since leaving Montrose’s house with Faon and Hyatt, she had begged her granddaughter to listen to reason. But Faon thought only in terms of plots and schemes to get the knight under her spell. Nima feared the girl would meet death before realizing her error.

“Mistress Faon has released me from service since the woman Perrine mostly cares for young Derek,” Thea told Aurélie.

“How interesting, since your mistress was most demanding of additional servants.”

Thea shrugged. Her expression was insolent and unhappy. “She finds she does not need so many after all.”

“Then, does it not occur to her to return my servant to me?”

“You may ask her, if it pleases you, but I think Perrine’s service is more to her liking than mine. She has sent me to you to seek a position in your bedchamber.”

“My bedchamber?” Aurélie glanced over her shoulder into the room. The hour was so early that Hyatt was only just strapping on his spurs and Baptiste had not yet arrived to begin her own chores. Overhearing the conversation in the opened portal of his bedchamber, he peered at Aurélie with a raised brow and an odd smirk.

“My woman, Baptiste, is much younger than you, but she is my handmaiden and you would have to take instruction from her. And I will not allow laziness or insolence. Do you wish to labor under these conditions, or are you better placed at some other castle chore?”

Thea cocked her head slightly, her mouth turned in a grimace of distaste. The young woman’s thin, sharp features made her seem constantly perturbed. “Since I have done nothing other than aid Mistress Faon by attending her and caring for her child, there is nothing else I have learned to do.”

“Do not despair, Thea,” Aurélie said, her teeth showing in a cunning smile. “If you prove incompetent in my chamber, I know of several women who would willingly teach you cooking, cleaning meat, harvesting grain, emptying pots, or perhaps laundry.”

The maid actually winced slightly.

“I am certain that you will work hard to please me,” Aurélie continued. Baptiste, on her way to Aurélie’s bedchamber, came down the hall and stopped short behind Thea when she viewed the maid and her mistress in conversation. The small blond girl held her hands clasped before her and stood in nervous silence. “Baptiste,” Aurélie urged, holding the door open wider for her maid to come forward, “you will be most pleased to know that Mistress Faon, in a rare and generous mood, has sent one of her own maids to assist you in my bedchamber.” Baptiste’s eyes grew round and alarmed at the mere prospect. “It will be your responsibility to teach Thea, for I am certain my ways are not the same as Faon’s, and if she fails to meet your high standards, you must tell me at once so that I can find another chore for her somewhere in the castle. And do not delay, for poor Thea would only suffer ennui without work to occupy her.”

“Yea, my lady,” Baptiste said quietly, passing her mistress and going into the bedchamber. She kept her eyes downcast as she circled the room, keeping far from Hyatt’s brooding stare as she always did.

“Go ahead, Thea,” Aurélie urged. “Baptiste will show you how I like things done. And do remember, Thea, if you fail to please Baptiste, it will be impossible for you to please me.”

Aurélie stood in the opened door while Thea joined Baptiste on the far side of the room, where the latter passed her the basin of dirty wash water to be dumped. Aurélie watched Hyatt as he looked at them for a moment, then picking up his gauntlets, made to leave the room. He paused for just a moment in the door, a small smile curling his lip and a twinkle in his eye. “If you mean to be such a difficult taskmaster, my lady, why do you not save Faon all this trouble and simply send the girl back to her?”

“We make good use of our people,
seigneur.
No one has ever been idle in this castle or town … until very recently.”

“Do you not see that she wishes to have one of her own women in your rooms? Otherwise, she would release Perrine.”

“Of course, Hyatt.”

“Then why do you—?”

He stopped abruptly as he noted her clear-eyed acceptance of the fact. His hand deftly reached around to slap her posterior with a snap of his gauntlets. “Do not make trouble where there is none,” he quietly warned.

“Humph,” she grunted, rubbing the insult with both her hands. “I am ever getting warnings, and ever trying to set things aright. You are most unfair.”

He began to turn away, but stopped abruptly, studying her face again. “You have never bemoaned Faon’s treatment of you. Why do you go to such lengths to bite your tongue against criticizing her? I know you could sound many complaints; why do you voice none?”

“Hyatt, would it do any good?” she asked dismally. “Nay, do not answer me. I do not seek to win you from Mistress Faon; ’tis much the other way around. I pity her for that. I know she would be less cruel and easier to abide if only she felt that you desire her.”

He shook his head and a pained expression came into his eyes. “My lady, you do not know the woman at all. She—”

He was cut off by a shout from below. A runner had been sent from the outer wall to alert Hyatt and other knights of an approaching army carrying an English banner.

“Hyatt,” Aurélie gasped. “Is this a trick?”

“Trick?” he echoed, looking at her quizzically.

“Sir Hollis, of the Château Innesse?”

“Who told you about that?”

“I have heard your men talk, Hyatt. You never mentioned that you visited an old enemy who had roosted nearby.”

He sighed and took her elbow, leading her down the stairs with him. “My lady, if you are given to listening to gossip, you would be better placed in coming to me for confirmation of the facts. Sir Hollis and I despise each other and have had repeated contests, but I doubt that he will ride up to my gate, his banner raised, and beg admittance. That is my way; his methods are much more treacherous.

“But, come along. We will not open the gate hastily. The countryside has quieted a great deal since the landed armies arrived, and whether we will it or not, we will be having visits from neighboring towns and keeps.”

She went willingly through the hall and into the courtyard. Hyatt’s efficient squire had speedily brought his destrier to the inner bailey that the lord might ride the distance to the gate. He released his wife’s arm and mounted. She looked up at him and nearly sighed in admiration. He cut an elegant figure when astride. “Do you go out without armor, mail, or a shield?”

He broke into a wide grin. “Do you worry for me,
petite?”

She was instantly sorry she had asked. Whenever she inquired of him for the sake of safety, he failed to return the compliment by showing similar concern for her, but rather teased her as if she had finally weakened and had fallen in love with him. “You are a conceited lout,” she said. “I simply worry that we will be conquered again and again when new attackers slay the last warlord, and my misery will be repeated over and over.”

“You needn’t doubt my skills to that extent, my lady.”

“ ’Tis not your skills,” she said, whirling away from him and beginning the long trek to the outer wall afoot. “ ’Tis your good sense I doubt,” she flung over her shoulder at him.

She had taken perhaps a dozen steps at a quick, agitated pace when she heard the horse hooves come up alongside her. She did not turn in his direction, which proved her major mistake, for he leaned low on the side of his destrier and circled her waist with his competent arm and whisked her effortlessly off her feet, pulling her up onto his lap. She gasped in surprise as she found herself seated in front of him on the huge steed. “Sometimes, Aurélie, I think you are softening your opinion of me. I have heard apologies from your lips and betimes I swear I hear your fear for my safety in your voice. Come, madame, and we will greet whoever calls together, as lord and lady.”

“Hyatt! Let me down! What will people think, especially since they know I am
enceinte.”

“Oh, the very worst, I am sure,” he laughed. “How terrible for you if they think that your husband, father of your child, holds some affection for you.”

“Bah, ’tis not of affection, and we both know it. You taunt me and seek to embarrass me. You only do this so that all who see, your people and mine, begin to assume that we have accepted each other.”

“ ’Tis time, is it not?” he asked with a shrug.

“Time or not, it would be a lie. Just another of your games, Hyatt.”

His arm tightened about her waist. “Don’t be too sure, Aurélie.”

She turned to look into his eyes. Her smile was superior and mocking. “Do you now wish to speak of affection, sir knight? Of devotion? Of love? Does my husband and father of this babe wish to pledge something greater than utility of services to this union?”

His eyes narrowed, but his smile was bright. “Do you admit that you hunger for such promises?” he countered.

She strained against him suddenly as if she would throw herself down from his steed. She was infuriated by his refusal to issue tender words. The strength of the arm that held her tightened. “Nay,” he said softly but firmly, “do not in a foolish moment hurl yourself to the ground and do injury to yourself and the child. You prayed for a baby for many years, Aurélie, and now one is quickening in you. Be still, for your own sake.”

She looked at him closely. “What makes you so certain I prayed for a child?”

“It is whispered by all your villeins, yet only you and I are aware that more than prayers were required to ease your barren consequence.”

“Do not be cruel, Hyatt,” she whispered.

“Then do not be rash, my Aurélie. Take what I willingly give you and cease in your demands for more and more of me.”

“What have you given me?” she argued, feeling the injustice of his words. “A husband to bury. A hall that was once mine to rule is now yours, and I am instructed to see it kept for you. There is a child to be born, but from whence did it come? From a loving spouse, or a conqueror? And now, before scores of serfs and knights, I warm the great warrior’s lap en route to the wall, but before you came, Hyatt, I walked to the donjon proudly, with my head raised, to command my knights and archers.”

He pulled on the reins and the horse paused. The glitter in his eyes bespoke anger. “You are ever ungrateful, my lady. Yea, you have buried a husband: a man who did not lie beside you, did not consummate your union, did not rule his house or his men, but forced you to be the man he was not. Yea, you ride with your
lord
to the wall, confident that the knights and archers will be firmly led and victorious in protecting you and yours. And within you now is a child. Conceived in love? I cannot say. But, ’twas not wrought of rape, nor brutal conquest, nor indifference. You ask for oaths, promises, deference, and the verses of love sung by lesser men—but I give you an honorable marriage, a legitimate child, the strength and experience that should ensure you many future nights of peaceful sleep, and in our private solar you share sweet and tender bliss with me. To keep these assurances for all your days you need be only honest and loyal. I beg no simpering words of love, for words are only as good as the person who utters them, nor do I ask you to be grateful for what you have. You know you have never had so much, nor been so safe and well kept. We both know it.”

He silently urged his mount forward, almost daring her to argue. By the stern set of his jaw, she knew better than to voice any further protest. The truth of his words angered her, but in the back of her mind there was a jeering.
Giles said he loved me, and gave me no love. Hyatt will not say he loves me, yet his actions bear out more than I dreamt of. Where is the sense of this confusion?

They passed into the outer bailey and toward the great gate. Paused there in wait was Girvin, clad in armor and outfitted with his weaponry. A glance around the perimeters of the wall showed Aurélie that many archers were in place and De la Noye was well defended.