Secret Heart (30 page)

All the while, Lord Giles sat next to Sanal,
watching her closely. When Sanal began to shiver, Lord Giles took
off his own cloak and laid it around her shoulders. The way in
which Sanal handled the cloak and snuggled into its warmth was a
revelation to Jenia, as was the shy smile of thanks that Sanal
bestowed on Lord Giles. Jenia had never before seen her
self-contained aunt smile, or show any sign of either warmth or
weakness while another person was near. Yet now, when she looked at
Lord Giles, her homely face softened and the lines in it seemed to
smooth out until she regained some of her lost youth.

Jenia thought that Roarke had also noticed
the way the older man and her aunt reacted to each other, for he
allowed Lord Giles to begin the questioning.

“
Now,
then,” Lord Giles said in a kindly way after Sanal had finished her
light meal, “tell us why you were wandering in a forest. Where is
your horse? What happened to your attendants?”

“
I am on
foot,” Sanal told him. “And I am alone. I escaped from Thury the
day before yesterday. I could not stay there any
longer.”

“
Why
not?” Lord Giles asked, holding up one hand to silence Garit who,
by the look on his face, was about to burst into a new series of
questions. Garit appeared even more frustrated when Sanal did not
answer directly, but followed her own line of thought.

“
I was
walking to Nozay,” she said to Lord Giles, “to ask you to help me
reach a convent or a beguinage where I might be safe.”

“
My
dear,” Lord Giles informed her, “you were walking in the wrong
direction. Nozay lies a day’s ride south of here. You are near the
road that eventually leads to Calean.”

“
Oh, no!”
Sanal cried. She clutched at his arm in a desperate motion. “Giles
– my lord – I trust you believe me when I say I would never do
anything to put you at risk. I know what Walderon will do to you if
he so much as suspects I was fleeing to you for aid. But, you see,
I didn’t know what else to do, and I dared to hope even Walderon
would not dare to storm a holy place of retreat to drag me out of
it. Oh, Giles, he is so wicked.”

“
We know
that,” Garit growled, not to be forestalled any longer by Lord
Giles’s cautioning frown or by the way the older man was shaking
his head at him. “We have concluded that Walderon is a
murderer.”

“
Yes,”
Sanal agreed. She was still clutching at Lord Giles’s arm and he
laid a hand over hers as if to offer comfort. “I know Walderon
ordered Matilda Jenia’s death. Until I saw Chantal just now, I
thought she had been killed, too. The captain of the ship reported
to Walderon how Chantal leapt into the sea. Those poor girls.”
Sanal covered her face with both hands.

“
I knew
it!” Garit exclaimed. “I was right all along!”

He stood
glaring down at Sanal, looking as if he, too, would like to commit
murder. His lips were clamped together and his jaw was set in a
hard line that told Jenia he was ready to accuse her aunt of
complicity in Chantal’s death.

“
Aunt
Sanal,” Jenia said, leaning forward so the firelight would
illuminate her face, “we haven’t seen each other for a long time,
but look closely at me. Even in this light I think you will notice
the difference between me and my cousin.”

Sanal took her hands away from her face and
looked hard. A sob escaped her.

“
Matilda
Jenia,” she whispered. “Is it you, and not Chantal?”

“
Yes, I
am Jenia.” Seeing how puzzled her aunt was, Jenia continued, “On
the night she was to meet Garit, Chantal and I exchanged clothes so
she could more easily run away with him. We never explained our
ruse to the men who abducted us. After we spent months in a
dungeon, one of the guards stabbed Chantal to death, thinking she
was me. I was the girl taken aboard ship, to be raped and murdered
at sea. But I escaped unharmed from the ship, and from the
sea.

“
And
now,” Jenia said to Sanal, who had paled to the hue of ashes during
this recitation, “I want justice for what was done to my cousin and
me. I want to know why Uncle Walderon was so determined to see
Chantal married to Lord Malin against her wishes, and why he had
both of us thrown into a dungeon. I want to know why he kept us
there for so long before he gave the order to kill us. Most of all,
I want to know what happened to Chantal’s body.”

“
Also,”
said Garit, not to be restrained any longer despite Sanal’s gasp of
horror at Jenia’s implacable manner, “we demand that you tell us
where Walderon is.”

“
Your
last request is easy enough to answer,” Sanal said. “Walderon has
gone to Calean City, where he expects to be named as the new Lord
of Thury.”

“
Not
while I am alive,” Garit snarled. “You may as well know our
intentions. We plan to haul Walderon before King Henryk for
justice. Be warned, Lady Sanal; Henryk is outraged at what was done
to two noble ladies, so he is not likely to be merciful.
Furthermore, your husband has besmirched the king’s good name by
allowing Chantal and Jenia to believe he was responsible for their
imprisonment. If you want to escape the same fate as Walderon, you
would do well to assist us.”

Sanal sat very still for a moment, with her
head bowed. Then she looked Garit right in the eye.

“
I will
gladly tell you whatever you want to know, on the sole condition
that you promise to protect me against Walderon’s vengeance,” she
said. “Walderon does not take kindly to being thwarted. That is the
reason why he ordered Chantal’s abduction, and yours, too, Matilda
Jenia.” Sanal turned to look at her niece before she
continued.

“
Walderon
learned from one of his spies in Calean City about Chantal’s plan
to elope with Garit. He knew if he had only Chantal seized and left
you free, you would move heaven and earth to find your cousin and,
after you did, you would most certainly accuse him of the deed. He
couldn’t allow his plans to be thwarted. At that time, Walderon was
still determined to marry Chantal off to Lord Malin.”

“
Why?”
Garit demanded. “He knew how opposed Chantal was.”

“
Her
feelings did not matter to him, or to Malin, either. Women never
matter to men like them. Just see how quickly Malin found himself
another bride after Chantal disappeared. Poor girl, I pity her.”
Sanal paused to draw a shaky breath. “I’m sure you are aware that
Malin is very wealthy. He is also known to be peculiar in his most
intimate tastes; so peculiar, in fact, that he has few friends in
spite of his large estates and the power those great holdings give
him. Walderon craves wealth and power, and Malin’s perversions do
not disturb him. He plotted to bind Malin more closely to him by
the marriage to Chantal.

“
Walderon
also wanted to get his hands on a certain piece of land near Lake
Nalo that Malin had promised to turn over to him just as soon as
the marriage to Chantal was consummated. As for why Walderon wanted
that particular land, I do not know. I overhear some things, and I
occasionally manage to pry a few details out of my husband, but he
rarely offers information. Walderon is not overly fond of me. On
the few occasions when I have dared to oppose some plan of his, he
beat me.” Sanal sighed.

“
What do
you mean, you overhear things?” Jenia asked, her suspicions
aroused. She did not entirely trust her aunt, and she was
infuriated by what she was learning. The desire for a piece of
land, however valuable, seemed to her a paltry excuse for
sacrificing a young woman to unnamed perversions, or for
imprisonment and murder. Once again, Sanal’s response was not a
direct answer.

“
I know
about the secret passageways,” she told Jenia. “One day, years ago,
I followed you and Chantal.”

“
You
never said anything to us,” Jenia cried, momentarily diverted by
this new information.

“
Of
course not,” Sanal said, shrugging her shoulders as if to dismiss
the issue. “I didn’t want anyone to know I could get into or out of
those passages, or that I was watching and listening at the
peepholes. By then I had been married to Walderon long enough to
realize that any information I could gather would give me an
advantage over him. On a few occasions I used what little Power I
possess to keep him from sensing me while I was in the
passageways.”

“
Sanal,
I’m sorry I could do nothing to help you,” Lord Giles said. “We all
know that a man holds complete control over the lady he marries and
interference is frowned upon by the king and his nobles. But I do
solemnly promise you now that whatever King Henryk’s judgment on
Walderon may be, I will see to it that you never have to return to
that villain again, to serve as his wife.”

“
About
those passageways,” Roarke said. “How do we enter them? Is there a
way into them from outside the castle?”

“
I left
the door at the base of the outer castle wall unlatched,” Sanal
told him. “When I left, I did not intend to return, but I’ve
learned always to provide myself with a second option, and I didn’t
know what I would find once I was outside. I doubt if anyone will
notice what I’ve done there, but I can open the door
again.”

“
Will you
show us that door?” Roarke asked.

“
There’s
not much point in us sneaking into Thury now, not while Walderon is
on his way to Calean,” Garit pointed out. “In fact, he may already
be in Calean. If he is, either King Henryk’s men-at-arms, or Lord
Oliver and his people, will stop him before ever he approaches the
king’s audience chamber.”

“
I don’t
think he will have reached Calean yet,” Sanal said. “He won’t be
traveling very fast. Walderon is proceeding in the great state
which he believes is appropriate to his anticipated position as
Lord of Thury. He has more than forty people, household knights,
squires, men-at-arms, and servants with him. He even took his
minstrels along.”

“
Garit,”
Roarke said suddenly, flashing a grin at his friend, “you cannot
possibly think I’m going to allow Lord Oliver, of all people, the
honor of apprehending that villain? Or that I’ll keep you away from
Walderon the way Oliver or the king’s men-at-arms will?”

“
I never
thought so for a moment.” Garit’s answering grin was positively
wolfish. “What’s your plan? From the sparkle I see in your eyes, I
know you have one.”

“
We
missed meeting Walderon and his company along the way because we
diverted our journey from the main road to visit Auremont. Now we
are going to send a man riding at top speed after Walderon to tell
him Thury Castle has been captured. I rather imagine the news will
bring him back in some haste, no matter where on the road our
messenger finds him,” Roarke replied. “Walderon must hold the
castle securely before he can be made lord of it.”

“
I do
like the way you think,” Garit said. “While our man rides after
that wicked villain, we can use the secret passages to get inside
and take over Thury. By the time Walderon returns, we will be
waiting for him, all warm and snug within the castle
walls.”

“
Lady
Sanal, how much opposition are we likely to meet once we are inside
Thury?” Roarke asked.

“
I think
very little,” Sanal responded. “Most of the servants, especially
the older ones, who were at Thury when Chantal’s father was alive,
don’t like Walderon and would be glad to see him gone. I’m not
certain about the men-at-arms. Those who have been with Walderon
for years may be loyal to him. But they are the men he chose to
ride with him to Calean. I suspect that most of the older men of
Thury, whom he left behind, are not entirely devoted to their
present lord.”

“
We have
our own men-at-arms,” Lord Giles spoke up, “all of whom are
completely loyal to us. Perhaps we can convince any doubtful souls
inside the castle walls to join us.”

“
If you
promise to protect me from Walderon,” Sanal told them, “I will help
you. I will show you the secret door.”

“
We’ve
had a long day of riding,” Roarke said, “and I’ll not send weary
men on a dangerous mission that may involve a battle. I suggest we
eat and then rest here for several hours before we set forth to
Thury. If we approach shortly before dawn, we will have the
advantage. The sentries will be nearing the end of the late night
watch; they’ll be cold and tired and possibly not paying much
attention to duty, especially with Walderon gone. I’m guessing that
any secret entrance will be located well away from the main
gatehouse, so anyone leaving the castle in an emergency is less
likely to be noticed by the guards on the battlements or by a
besieging army.”

“
Yes,”
Sanal said. “That’s so. I should tell you, Sir Roarke, if Matilda
Jenia has not, that all of the land around the castle has been
cleared and is kept as a meadow, so as to offer no cover to an
approaching enemy. But near the secret door there is a way across
the moat. I used it two nights ago.”

“
The
stepping stones,” Jenia exclaimed. “Chantal and I used to skip
across the moat on them when Uncle Walderon was away and we sneaked
out to play in the meadow. We always got our feet wet because the
stones are set well beneath the surface of the water, so they are
hidden. I remember, Aunt Sanal, how you scolded us several times
after we returned with our shoes and our skirts muddy.”