No Dark Place (28 page)

Guy hesitated before saying firmly, “Aye. If you formally swear not to seek support against me, I will recognize you as my heir.”

Hugh asked, “What about the king? Would he agree to such a contract?”

He might have been discussing the price of hay, so disinterested did he sound.

Guy snorted contemptuously. “Stephen needs me too much to balk at anything I might suggest.”

“Stephen would know that such a promise on my part would free you from having to rely on him for support,” Hugh pointed out.

“We can work out the details,” Guy said impatiently. “What I want to know is…are you interested?”

Everyone stared at the cold, capable, guarded young man who was sitting on the window seat.

At last, “I might be,” Hugh said slowly.

“You won’t get Wiltshire any other way,” Guy said. “I am too firmly entrenched for you to turn me out. And I have the king’s voice.”

“Perhaps that is true,” said Hugh. “But I would still have the option of going to the empress.”

“She is not going to win this war, nephew. Gloucester has not been able to command enough support.”

Hugh lifted one level black eyebrow. “That remains to be seen.”

Guy stared at his nephew, his face hard.

Hugh stood up.

“I will think about what you have proposed, my lord, and I will let you know.”

“Very well,” Guy said grimly. “Don’t take too long, though, Hugh. I might change my mind.”

Philip stood by the door, rigid with dismay. This plan of Guy’s would undermine all of Gloucester’s hopes of attracting Hugh to his side.

I have to get Hugh back to Evesham so that Lord Simon can talk to him
, he thought desperately.

The last thing Philip wanted was for Hugh to settle for being Guy’s heir.

Much to Hugh’s surprise, that night he slept. He had fully expected to get a headache, but his head continued to remain clear. Nor did he lie awake for hours, revolving what he had learned around and around in his tired brain. Instead, five minutes after he had crawled into bed and pulled the fur coverlet up over him, he dropped into the deep and dreamless well of healthy sleep.

He awoke in the morning with one thought on his mind.

Cristen
.

All that he had learned in the last twenty-four hours, as well as the decision he must make about his uncle’s offer, he needed desperately to discuss with Cristen.

Philip, Isabel, and Father Anselm were as anxious to depart from Chippenham as Hugh, and so shortly after they had broken their fast, the four of them met in the bailey and mounted up.

Guy did not show himself to bid them farewell.

Father Anselm was returning to Winchester and was the first to break away from the group. As soon as they reached the main road, he turned south while Hugh and Philip and Isabel continued on northward.

Hugh planned to accompany Philip and his mother as far as Malmesbury, at which point he would turn off the road to ride to Somerford, while the others followed the road north into Gloucestershire.

The town of Malmesbury was not very far from Chippenham, and for most of the short ride Philip tried to convince Hugh to change his mind and continue on with him and Isabel to Evesham.

Hugh was happy to have Philip monopolize the conversation. He even asked him a number of leading questions to encourage him to go on talking. He also reminded Philip to have Thomas’s stallion sent back to Somerford.

Father Anselm had been charged to tell Thomas to hire a horse and return to Somerford, where he would be reunited with his precious roan.

The sky was heavy with clouds and Isabel huddled inside her cloak to keep warm. She spoke very little.

When at last they had reached Malmesbury, Hugh knew that he had to say something to his mother. He understood that she needed some sign of affection from him, but his own feelings for her were very conflicted.

All the while that he had been pretending to listen to Philip, he had been thinking about what had happened in the Chippenham chapel fourteen years ago.

She killed my father to protect me
.

That was why he had always felt so guilty. He had provoked Roger’s rage, and that in turn had caused Isabel to strike out at her husband.

It’s all my fault
.

That’s what he had thought, and in a sense he supposed it was true. But his adult mind was able to perceive what his child’s mind had not: that the gravest fault of all had belonged to his father.

If he and Isabel bore any guilt for Roger’s death, they had surely paid for it.

She killed my father to protect me
.

Why, then, was he so angry with his mother?

Dimly, he perceived that it had something to do with the terrible thing that had happened to Ivo.

Even more dimly, he sensed that he couldn’t forgive her for turning to Ivo, that he hadn’t been enough for her.

Isabel wasn’t his real mother, he told himself, as he rode along, nodding at whatever it was Philip was saying.

Adela had been his mother.

But Adela would want him to be kind. So when it came time for him to part from Isabel, he took off his helmet and leaned over from Rufus’s back to kiss her soft cheek.

“Good-bye,”—he started to say
my lady
, then changed the words to “Mother.”

She gazed at him as if she were trying to memorize his face. “Shall I see you again?”

He made himself smile. “Of course. I shall come to Evesham.”

She bit her lip and looked undecided. “I may return to the convent in Worcester.”

He said instantly, “Do not do that. No one who is a member of Simon of Evesham’s family should show their face in Worcester. The feeling there is very strong against Gloucester and his supporters. You would not be safe.”

“I am only a woman, Hugh,” she protested. “And I would be in the convent.”

“Don’t go, Mama,” he said sharply. “It isn’t safe.”

He heard his own words and his frown deepened.

After a moment she said mildly, “All right, Hugh. If it will make you feel easier, I will remain at Evesham for a while.”

His eyes were as stormy as the gray clouds overhead. “Good,” he said.

“I will see that the Lady Isabel is safely delivered to her brother,” Philip assured him.

Hugh put his helmet back on. The noseguard effectively concealed him from the eyes of the other two.

“God go with you,” he said with invincible courtesy.

“God go with you, my son,” Isabel returned. Then she lifted her reins, clucked to her mare, and moved away from him.

Her back was very straight.

Hugh had a horrible feeling that she was crying.

There’s nothing I can do about it
, he thought desperately.

He turned Rufus and cantered away down the other road.

The closer he got to Somerford, the lighter his heart grew.

Soon. He would see her soon.

A few flakes of snow drifted out of the gray sky, and Hugh took off his helmet and held his face
upward to feel their cold, feathery kiss on his bare skin. He smiled.

It never even crossed his mind that snow would be a hindrance for Philip and Isabel. All his thoughts were centered on one thing only.

Cristen.

He wanted her to be in the herb shed. He wanted her to be alone. He didn’t want to have to meet her in a room full of people, or in front of her father.

He wanted to be able to hold her.

He sent her a message with his mind.
Go to the shed, Cristen. Go to the shed and wait for me
.

He realized what he was doing, and he laughed at himself.

It doesn’t matter where I see her
, he thought.
Tonight we will be alone
.

At long last the forest fell away and the outer walls of Somerford came into view. He remembered how big he had thought the castle when first he had come here.

Compared to Keal, Somerford had been enormous; compared to Chippenham, it was small.

The two guards at the gate shouted a welcome as Hugh rode up. They had recognized Rufus as soon as horse and rider had come into their view.

Hugh stayed at the gate for a few moments, answering questions about Thomas and the other two knights he had left behind in Winchester.

Brian came running. “I’ll take care of Rufus for you, Hugh!”

Hugh dismounted and gave the stallion into the care
of the boy. Then he began to walk across the bailey under the lightly falling snow. The men at the gate watched him. His mail coat swung to his knees as he walked and his spurs jingled. He was carrying his helmet under his arm.

As they watched, Hugh veered away from the inner walls and crossed the bailey toward the herb garden. He passed through the fence and out of their view.

The guards turned back to the gate and Brian began to walk Rufus to the stable.

Hugh stared at the shed. The door was partly open and he could see the glow of the charcoal brazier inside.

She was here.

His heart began to hammer in his chest.

He pulled his mail coif away from his head and walked along the path to the shed.

He opened the door.

She was standing close to the brazier, waiting for him.

Her brown eyes searched his face.

“Is everything all right, Hugh?”

He took two steps, and she was in his arms. He could feel the small, delicate bones of her back beneath his fingers, but his mail coat kept him from feeling her softness pressed against him.

No matter. Tonight there would be nothing between them.

“Aye,” he said huskily. “Everything is all right, now that I am with you.”