The Heiress

by Jude Deveraux

  In the garden they stopped behind a rose trellis where Berengaria knew they wouldn’t be seen. “What is she writing? Why did Mother laugh?”

  “Wait a minute,” Joby said as she ran back into the castle. A moment later a child from the kitchens came out and asked Axia to return with him. As soon as Axia was out of sight, Joby picked up the pages that Axia had tossed onto the bench. As usual, their mother ignored them. She lived in a world all her own, and no one could pierce it. Not violence, not emotional drama, nothing ever took her from her own world. At least not usually. Not until today.

  “What are they?” Berengaria said anxiously.

  It took Joby a moment as she looked at the drawings one by one. “They are all pictures of Jamie,” she said in a voice of wonder, for she had never seen anything like the drawings. They were so lifelike that she could almost feel the warmth of her brother’s skin.

  “Yes,” Berengaria said impatiently, “but what about them made Mother laugh?”

  As Joby looked from one drawing to the other, she could not repress a smile, then she began to describe them to her sister. “They are Jamie as we know him,” she said. “In this one he is drawing his sword on some villagers as he “rescues” Axia from greedy-looking merchants. And in this one …” She trailed off, smiling.

  “Yes! What is it?”

  “Jamie is furious as he is looking up at a wagon, and on the side of the wagon is a picture of himself. And he seems to be fighting a lion. In this one Jamie is looking perplexed as two women quarrel with each other. One of the women is Axia, but the other is quite beautiful.”

  “That must be the heiress,” Berengaria said. “What else?”

  “Here is Jamie rubbing oil on the deformed legs of a man, but only his legs are deformed, as the rest of him is large and well shaped. His face is turned to one side so I can only see half of it, but he looks to be quite handsome. And this one is—”

  “Is what?” Berengaria encouraged.

  Joby lowered her voice. “It is Jamie lying in a field of flowers, daydreaming, and there is a look of … I have never seen him look like this.”

  “Describe it to me!” Berengaria commanded.

  “He looks silly, ridiculous actually,” she said, but she did not really mean it, for she well knew that it was the look of a man in love.

  “Have you spied enough?” Axia asked from behind Joby. “Have you finished laughing at me?”

  “I wasn’t spying, I was merely …”

  “Yes?” Axia asked, hands on her hips. When Joby said nothing, she started to gather up her drawings. “You have made it quite clear that you do not want me here, and I will go soon enough. You do not have to worry about that. Now, if you will excuse me, I’ll leave you and—”

  She broke off because Jamie’s mother had put her hands over her face and begun to cry. Immediately, Axia sat down on the bench and put her arm about her mother-in-law’s shoulders. “Now look what you have done,” she said to Joby, then turned and began to soothe the woman. “Here, I will draw more. Would you like to see Jamie as a dragonslayer?”

  Joby and Berengaria were speechless as their mother quieted and grew calm again. They had not seen her cry or show any emotion for years.

  As Axia began to draw, she described every stroke she was making as she drew Jamie with his clothes torn and ragged from the exertion of his fight, then she made the dragon with its long tail and fiery breath. It took a moment for Joby to realize that Axia’s drawing was for their mother, but the explanation was for Berengaria. And when Joby looked at her sister, she could see Berengaria’s face was alive with interest. Joby didn’t recognize the emotion for what it was, but jealousy surged through her. Berengaria was hers and hers alone!

  “Berengaria can smell the dragon,” their mother said, and it was rare to hear her voice, at least in a coherent sentence.

  Berengaria laughed. “Yes, I can smell it. It has iridescent green scales that change color in the sunlight. I can smell the char of its breath. And I can smell the sweat of Jamie. He is worried and afraid, but his honor will force him to do what he thinks is right. I can smell his bravery.”

  Axia stopped drawing and looked at Berengaria. “Can you really smell things? Better than other people?”

  Joby spoke before her sister could. “Berengaria is only blind, but she has her other senses intact, better than most people. She is not a freak.”

  “Neither am I!” Axia shot back in a tone just as nasty.

  At this exchange, Berengaria stood stone still in fascination. No one ever told Joby off! For all that Joby was kind and thoughtful to her family, to outsiders she was a terror, and people were afraid of her. But obviously this Axia was not. It was Berengaria’s guess that Axia had done a bit of terrorizing herself.

  Joby was not put off by this unusual retaliation. “Did you trick my brother into marriage?”

  “Yes!” Axia answered immediately. “I put on an alluring gown and used my fatal beauty to ensnare him. After all, he was such a marvelous catch. Not a penny to his name and three women to support. Of course, there is that beauty of his, and that certainly puts bread on the table. Tell me, how do you people make it through a winter here? I have never seen such mismanagement in a kitchen as in yours. And just look at these fruit trees! They haven’t been pruned in ten years, so you’ll get half the crop you should have. And look at those flowers. They’re a waste of space. Since you have so little land, you should use all of it for what you need. Put beans in there or onions.”

  It took Joby a moment to catch her breath. “The flowers are for Berengaria. She happens to like them. She has little enough in life, so she can at least have flowers to smell.”

  “Heavens above, but your sister is merely blind, there is nothing wrong with her. She’ll like the smell of a good bean porridge this winter more than all the roses in the world this summer.”

  “How dare you—”

  Berengaria’s laugh cut her off. “Joby, I think you have met your match. I think—” She cocked her ear, as she could hear someone coming.

  With a smug look directed toward Axia to let her know that she understood Berengaria even if she didn’t finish her sentences, Joby turned and ran through the gates. Berengaria knew the steps of every person on the estate and when there was a stranger, she was the first to know.

  “What a truly horrid child,” Axia said the minute Joby was out of sight.

  Feeling a bit of a traitor, Berengaria could not help giving a small smile. “I am sorry—”

  Axia cut her off as she did not want to hear what she had to say. There was part of her that wanted to tell them the truth of who she was, but she did not want to be hated because she did not have money, then loved because she did—if she hadn’t already been disinherited, for surely her father had heard of her defection by now.

  Joby was not going to leave her sister alone with the usurper, so she was back in seconds with a message. “It is from Jamie, and he says that he needs to stay longer. Oliver will not release the heiress.”

  “There was nothing else?” Axia asked, hating herself for lack of pride, but she so wanted to hear from Jamie, and now she wished that he had sent something personal to her. It seemed years ago that they had made love and he had held her in his arms.

  “Nothing,” Joby said in triumph as she handed the letter to her blind sister.

  Watching, Axia saw Berengaria run her hands over the letter. “He is lying,” Berengaria said. “Jamie is in danger. He wants us to get help.”

  “I will send a messenger to the Montgomerys, and they will come to us,” Joby began. “And we will—”

  Axia was silent as she thought about what had just happened, that Berengaria could feel a piece of paper and know what the writer was feeling when he wrote it. She was nearly faint with the implications of such a talent. “You can tell if someone is lying or not?” she whispered in awe. “Do you know how much money you could make with such a knowledge?”

  Joby turned on her. “Beren
garia is not to exploited! It is disgusting to think of Berengaria sitting in a booth and telling fortunes by holding someone’s hand.”

  “You can do that too?” Axia asked, wide-eyed.

  For several moments, Berengaria sat silently blinking as Joby, with great disdain, explained that she and Berengaria were not of the merchant class, to earn their living by pedaling themselves.

  When she could stand it no more, Berengaria said, “But, Joby, we need money. And we tried to peddle our brother’s beauty, so what is the difference?”

  Joby turned on her sister in horror, feeling greatly betrayed. “It is not the same at all.”

  With a deep sigh, Berengaria dropped the issue. She was not going to be caught between Joby and her new sister-in-law, but she had to admit that Axia’s words appealed to her. How very much she would like to be useful, to not be the Family Burden.

  Chapter 26

  Axia was looking from one of her sisters-in-law to the other. In the time she had been there, the youngest, a twelve-year-old daughter of Satan, had done all she could to make Axia’s life hell. No matter what Axia did, according to the appropriately named Joby, she did it wrong. Even cleaning up that pigsty they called a kitchen was an act of aggression, according to Joby.

  All Axia had been able to think of was Jamie’s return. He could straighten his sisters out. But now it looked as though she would be here longer, for they were discussing sending for their illustrious relatives to help Jamie out of whatever problem he had. Meanwhile, Axia thought, Jamie might be in danger. This time he might have been attacked by twenty men, and even he couldn’t fight off that many. They could lock him in a dungeon, starve him, beat him. She had to shake her head to clear it of these horrible thoughts.

  And immediately, she thought, What about Frances?! Who is taking care of Frances? What if she is held captive near daisies?

  Suddenly, Axia’s head lifted at the same time as Berengaria’s. Someone else was coming, only this time Axia knew that step well. Without a glance to her new family, she picked up her skirts and began to run.

  Tode barely reached the gate of the old castle before Axia saw him, and without a care for what the people around them thought, she ran to him, arms open wide. Catching her to him, he hugged her so hard, her feet came off the ground, and she buried her face inside his hood, tears of joy pouring down her face.

  “I have missed you. I thought of you every minute,” she said.

  He was laughing. “Even when you were with your handsome Jamie?”

  “Yes, of course,” she said, laughing. “For what is a husband compared to a friend?”

  For just a moment, Tode leaned back and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and in that moment, she knew that something was different about him. Had her marriage affected him so that he would change toward her? Why was he not laughing at her joke?

  “You must be tired,” she said. “Come inside, and let me take care of you.”

  “All right,” he answered, taking her arm and leading her, and again she thought that something was different about him. The minute they were inside, she meant to find out everything.

  Stopping only long enough to order food and drink for her friend, Axia led him up the steep spiral stairs to the best room of the house, the solar. She could tell by the way he walked that his legs were hurting him very much, and when asked, he told her that today he had walked or been jostled in the back of a wagon for many miles.

  When Axia entered the solar, her happiness faded as she saw her two sisters-in-law waiting for her, for now she’d have to share Tode with them. But then she thought how much Tode would like Berengaria, because she could not see what he looked like.

  “I want you to meet my sister-in-law. She is blind!” Axia said, and there was much pride in her voice.

  Both the beautiful Berengaria and the boy-dressed Joby were staring at Tode with blank stares. Because he was wary of beautiful women, Tode assumed it was Joby who was blind. Throwing back his hood, he smiled at her, then when he saw the look of revulsion cross her face, he instantly pulled the hood back up and looked away.

  Axia gave Joby a look of anger, then pulled him toward Berengaria. “No, that is Joby. I want you to meet this one. This is Berengaria,” she said, then introduced him.

  “Ah,” Tode said smoothly, again pushing his hood back, seeming to disregard Joby’s stares as he gazed at Berengaria’s perfection. “I could not guess that eyes so beautiful could be without sight. But then those of us who can see are allowed to endlessly bathe in your beauty without appearing rude.” Reaching forward, he picked up her hand, and for a moment he caressed it. “May I?” he asked softly, then when Berengaria nodded, he kissed the back of her hand almost lovingly.

  It would have been difficult to guess who was more astonished: Axia or Joby. Never in her life had Axia seen Tode act so with another human being. She’d seen him with women, with blind women even, but he had always stayed in the background, never pushing himself forward as he was now. And he knew how to position his body and to turn his head just so, so the scarred side of his face would not show. But now he was standing with his hood back, the mutilated side of his face fully exposed to Joby and herself.

  As for Joby, she was more interested in Berengaria’s reaction to this deformed man than to his reaction. Berengaria was very shy with strangers; she never liked to be alone with anyone she had not known for years. But here she was, allowing this awful man to kiss her hand! In fact, he was still holding her hand.

  It was Joby who recovered from her shock first, going to Tode and Berengaria and physically separating their hands. And Axia was right beside her. In one instant the two of them had gone from being enemies to allies, united in astonishment.

  Turning, Tode gave Axia a fond look, an almost fatherly look, as he bent and kissed her cheek, then said, “Ah, the food has arrived. Come, ladies, and sit with me. I will enjoy your company.”

  Saying that, he easily and naturally slipped his arm around Berengaria’s and led her to the table, where the meal was being spread out.

  Behind them, in stunned silence, stood Joby and Axia. Axia was in shock because Tode’s behavior was so out of character, and Joby could not believe that a man who looked as though he were part of a traveling show was taking over their household. Who was this man anyway?

  Tode had seated himself at the small table with Berengaria next to him, leaving the bench on the other side of the table for Joby and Axia. “Come, girls, do you not want to hear my news?”

  Girls? Axia thought as she went toward the bench, Joby right beside her.

  As soon as they were seated, Tode began to tell his story, but it took Axia a while to hear what he was saying. There was no mistaking that he still looked like her Tode, but his body now seemed to be occupied by the spirit of another. For one thing, he seemed to have taken possession of Berengaria. Only one plate had been set on the table, but Tode, in a natural gesture, had moved it to halfway between himself and Berengaria. As he ate, he placed small bits of food into her hand: succulent pieces of fruit, buttered bread, a morsel of beef on the end of a little silver knife.

  It took Joby’s explosion to make Axia hear what Tode was saying.

  “Jamie!” Joby shouted. “Henry Oliver has put our brother in a dungeon?” At that she drew a dagger from its sheath at her side and stood. But Tode caught her arm.

  “Sit!” he commanded, and she did so.

  “There is nothing we can do now, at least not in full daylight,” Tode said. “I would like a few hours rest, then I will return.”

  Joby, not liking the way this scarred man had come into their lives as though he owned them, said, “What can you do?” with a sneer.

  “Joby!” Berengaria said sharply.

  From the moment Tode had said that Jamie was in danger, Axia had not been able to breathe, but now she was recovering herself enough that she could whisper. “Tell me everything. I must know it all,” she said softly.

  “This Henry Oliver is not as
stupid as people think. He has a bit of cunning, and he has set his heart on—” Stopping, he looked into Berengaria’s lovely face. “On you,” he said softly, making Berengaria turn pink with a blush. “I can understand that now.”

  “What of my brother?” Joby shouted at him.

  Unperturbed, Tode started eating again. “Oliver is determined to have her, and he says he will hold Jamie until he agrees to allow him to marry his sister. And he will hold Frances until her father pays a ransom.”

  At this Tode looked hard at Axia, letting her know that her father had now been notified of the exchange. Joby looked at the dagger still in her hands, because she knew that she was the cause of two people being held prisoner.

  Tode continued. “There are underground tunnels leading from Oliver’s house to the sea. They are dark and damp, and cells have been carved out of them. Jamie has been held in one of these for days. I tried to get to him, but the guards saw my torch, and I was”— he smiled—“detained.”

  At this Joby and Axia nodded, but Berengaria drew in her breath. “How did you escape them?”

  “I played the fool,” he said simply. “I merely had to act idiotically, and they were laughing.”

  For the other two women this was easy to understand, but Berengaria was puzzled. “How could you play the fool?”

  As Joby and Axia watched in stunned disbelief, Tode picked up her hands and put them on his face, guiding her fingers to feel the scars of his face, then downward onto his neck.

  “My legs are also scarred,” he said, looking into her eyes, their noses but inches apart.

  “And if you think my sister is going to be allowed to feel those, you’d better think again,” Joby half snarled.

  Blushing again, Berengaria took her hands from Tode’s face.

  With a smile that Axia had never seen before, Tode turned back to the table and the food.

  “We will get the Montgomery cousins here,” Joby said. “They will raze that place of Oliver’s and hang his fat body from the nearest gibbet. They will—”

  “There is no time. I must return tonight and see what I can do.”