your regard.”
Still stung, he growled, “I respect the ability to perform
well in a crisis. Naught else.”
He knew his words had galled her when she
straightened in her saddle, but he felt no triumph.
Honesty forced him to admit Alicen Kent possessed many
admirable qualities.
Still, ’twas passing strange she showed little pleasure
in her most recent triumph. Had he been in her place,
he’d have felt like cock of the roost. His thoughts returned
to Liza, and the question lurking in his mind suddenly
found voice.
“Is the child’s father dead?”
“If God is just, the man no longer lives.”
Although quietly spoken, Alicen’s reply chilled him.
Though he suspected he knew the answer, he asked,
“What happened?”
“She was raped.”
Inexplicable pain shot through his chest. “A local
man?”
“Nay.” Alicen turned fierce eyes on him. “The father
is Harold’s retainer. They stormed through Sherford,
killing whom they wished, taking what they wished...”
A tight throat made the next question even more
difficult to ask. “Did the soldiers reach Landeyda?”
“Aye.”
His guts twisted, body tensed like a bow at full draw.
“Did they—Were you—?”
“Ned, Rhea, Pearl and I hid in the woods a fortnight.
We were gathering herbs when we heard them. They broke
crockery, destroyed some furniture, but in the main left
the place intact.”
His pent up breath hissed slowly through his teeth.
Finding his hands fisted on the reins, Jeremy deliberately
loosened his grip. “Could they have known Landeyda is a
healer’s home?”
“Aye. They did.”
Her declaration brought him around in his saddle to
stare at her. Although the horizon had brightened to pink
and blue, shadows still hid much of Alicen’s expression.
“How?”
“After Harold’s victory over William’s retainers, I
treated several of Harold’s wounded.”
A tumble into icy water couldn’t have shocked Jeremy
more.
“Your mother died because of such as those men!
How could you aid the whoresons?” He regretted his
vehemence the moment he saw pain ravage Alicen’s face.
Clearly, memory lashed her. And he had just opened the
dam of that memory.
She swallowed twice before saying, “I’ve told you,
Captain, I swore an oath to my mother on her deathbed.
When a life is at stake, I question not what banner a man
follows.”
“You cannot serve both sides,” he said with firm
conviction.
“I am bound to do so.” Her chin raised. “Only a
barbarian would deny his enemy a physician’s care.”
Jeremy flushed. “I’d never deprive a foe of such. But
no one can attend two masters, especially not in combat.”
“I have no masters but the casualties that armies
spawn.”
“Then ’tis well I’ve accompanied you these weeks,” he
bit out, “lest you saw fit to serve William’s enemies and
gave them knowledge of his whereabouts.”
Glaring, Alicen picked up her reins to kick Hercules
into a gallop, but Jeremy reached across the short space
between their mounts to grasp her arm.
“Nay, Mistress, do not bolt.” He shook his head. His
gaze softened, as did his tone. “I pray you, accept my
apology for my harsh words. I am a man of war, not of
poetry, and oft have no skill at tempering my speech.” He
offered a crooked smile and slowly released his grip on
her. “Liza and the babe live because of you. Is that not
reason enough for gladness?”
“Gladness for a ruined woman and her bastard son?”
“The boy could have been an orphaned bastard, yet
he is not. Liza could have lost the child, yet he lives. From
what I saw of them together, there is hope for a better
day to come. They owe that to you.”
“I find cold comfort in such thoughts, Captain.”
Jeremy sighed quietly. Clearly, Alicen’s vow warred
with the understanding that, in preserving life, she might
be sentencing mother and child to poverty and derision.
Small wonder her bitterness. Still, he was unprepared
for her next outburst.
“’Tis simple for a man! He takes what he wants. No
matter a woman is unwilling, he lies with her, assuages
his lust, and is gone within the hour. What concern if
he’s gotten a bastard on her? He’ll ne’er have to claim it.
After all, the world is populated with bastards.” Her
loathing took form in a murderous glare at him, the only
man available to see it.
Jeremy reddened, shame for his gender’s barbarity
making him avert his gaze. Though he’d dallied with little
concern before he’d wed, after Estelle’s death he’d been
certain no issue had resulted from his few liaisons. Now
he was fiercely glad there had been none.
No woman who had struggled as Liza had to bring
forth new life deserved having her babe left a bastard. He
suddenly decided to ease her burden somehow. Still
clinging to his belief that women were inherently fickle,
he nonetheless admitted Liza deserved better than she’d
gotten. He would see her and her child properly cared
for.
But he’d not reveal his plans to Alicen, lest she think
his view of females, including her, had changed.
For a mile they rode again in silence, both with their
own thoughts. Then Alicen reined in and cocked her head.
“Someone cries out in pain.”
“I hear naught.”
Alicen shot Jeremy an exasperated glance, then
concentrated. “To the west.” Her heart suddenly
thundered. The sound had come from the direction of
Orrick’s hut. Sweet Jesu, what will Captain Blaine do if
Orrick needs help? And what if Orrick sees me with Blaine?
She shuddered involuntarily but made up her mind. No
matter the source of the cry, she was bound to give aid.
However, when she moved to turn Hercules off the
road, Jeremy used Charon’s body to block the way.
“You’re exhausted, woman,” he said gruffly. “See to
yourself for once.”
In a blink, fear turned to anger. “I could ignore a call
for help as well as you could live without aiding William,”
she snapped. “I must go.”
Before her escort could protest further, she had
maneuvered Hercules around Charon and kicked the
gelding into a trot along an overgrown path. But the
destrier was quicker. The big stallion muscled the smaller
horse aside and took the lead.
“Stay behind me,” Jeremy ordered over his shoulder
as his mount moved past. “You’re too reckless to be left
to your own devices.”
Alicen swallowed her ire and followed. She truly must
be exhausted, since, despite her fear of what he would
find, she did
n’t argue with her nemesis.
The hut they sought sat less than a hundred rods
into the dense forest, at the edge of a small clearing. As
they broke from the trees, Jeremy stiffened and reined
in. Making sure Charon blocked most of Alicen’s view, he
glanced quickly over his shoulder.
“Wait here. I don’t wish you to see this.” He rode to
the hut, then dismounted, drew his sword and knelt
beside the still figure of a man.
A scream built in Alicen’s heart and burned in her
throat. Her mind tried to deny what her heart knew to be
the truth, and she found herself fighting to remain
sensate. She had dismounted from Hercules and was
running toward the source of her terror before she even
knew what she was doing.
Twelve
“Orrick! Sweet Jesu, no,” Alicen cried, rushing to kneel
beside his battered form. He lay in a pool of slowly
spreading blood. ’Twas obvious to any who looked that
he was dead.
She raised her tear-filled eyes to Jeremy’s, and he
saw a grief so deep it pierced his soul. Not understanding
his reaction, he suddenly needed desperately to know
what Orrick meant to her.
“Do you still love him?” The question made his throat
raw. “You’ll answer before we...”
His utterance died as he mentally counted a dozen
riders emerging from the forest into the clearing.
Instinctively, his grip tightened on his sword. Resistance
would be fatal, but from the look of them he had no reason
to expect a long life.
A glance at Alicen revealed complete calm. Her self-
control stunned him. No one who hadn’t just seen her
could ever detect in her eyes a grief too profound to name.
While he understood her composure in the face of Liza’s
crisis—babies were women’s business—he knew the most
stout-hearted man would fear these odds. Was mischief
afoot here?
“Jeremy Blaine! ’Twas rumored you’d tired of France
and returned to England. And now we meet again.”
That much-hated voice brought Jeremy’s eyes to focus
on the mercenary leader. His every muscle tightened, and
his tone grew equally hard as he retorted, “I thought you’d
been hanged long ere now, Kenrick.”
“If you’d had your way, ’twould have been a foregone
event.” Kenrick grinned, showing a predatory beast’s
teeth. He sat his horse with the arrogance of one
accustomed to riding. “But I was fortunate enough to
escape you. And now ’tis your turn.”
Alicen went completely still as recognition of their
assailant dawned. The search party! The hatred between
Kenrick and Blaine fairly crackled in the air.
A muscle twitched in Jeremy’s jaw. “You used the
woman to lure me here?”
“In truth, I had no knowledge you were nearby. Spying
for William, I presume. We’d heard he was near Sherford
some time back. And wounded in a skirmish with Harold’s
troops.” Jeremy’s expression didn’t change, and Kenrick
scrutinized Alicen. “I’m glad you escaped the plague,
Mistress Kent,” he said mockingly. Alicen nodded,
remaining silent. “Duke Harold sings hosannahs to your
healing skills, and I’ve need of them. I’d planned to ride
to Landeyda, and encountered this man upon the way.
He proved very informative.”
Alicen quaked at the evil in Kenrick’s tone and his
implication that he’d discovered her secret, but she clung
to her tranquil demeanor with a will. This man had
murdered Orrick and was capable of untold horrors.
“You slew a harmless madman,” she stated blandly.
“There was no need to do so.”
Kenrick’s eyes narrowed. “He claimed you as his
betrothed. Said he protected you.” He laughed heartily.
“He couldn’t even protect himself. Pathetic creature.”
Sweet, mad Orrick, poor fool, Alicen mourned silently.
“As I said, a madman.” Pleased her voice did not betray
her agony, she feared she’d not hold to the pretense long.
Grief and anger battered her soul. She must release them
soon or go mad herself.
Then, just as she felt her resolve wavering, Jeremy
Blaine rose to his feet, shifting Kenrick’s regard away from
her.
“You still work best under clouds of deception,
Kenrick,” he said with contempt.
Shrugging, the mercenary leaned forward to rest his
crossed arms on his saddle pommel. “I prefer shadows,
thus I remain a difficult target. My strategy rarely fails.”
Jeremy’s cold expression gave no hint of a mind
scrabbling for a way to alert William of Kenrick’s location.
The mercenary apparently knew naught of the duke’s
whereabouts, God be praised. Mayhap the bastard truly
had come to seek Alicen’s aid. But that made little sense,
as there were bound to be healers closer to Harold’s camp.
His chest tightened painfully. What if she had
betrayed William? Equal parts of anger and misery shot
through him, but another thought immediately crowded
out such bitterness. If Kenrick rode to Landeyda, a
skirmish would ensue. And, regardless of what had
brought him here, the mercenary would know William’s
location.
This truth pulled Jeremy back to his senses. Should
Alicen accompany Kenrick anywhere, he would quickly
know William’s location. If she didn’t give such information
willingly, she’d tell him under duress. Kenrick would kill
him, but what the knave would do to Alicen when he was
finished with her services would be far more horrifying.
Regardless of his suspicions, Jeremy could not leave her
to the cutthroat bastard. Not without a fight.
“Let the wench go free,” he said quietly, sword at the
ready. “She’s naught to you.”
“On the contrary, she’s all to me.” The sneer widened
to a smile. “She’s served Harold before. She’ll serve him
again.”
“You’ll pay for her services in blood,” Jeremy stated,
contempt in the gaze he swept over Kenrick. “Get off that
horse and fight me. Or are you yet a coward?”
Glistening teeth bared in a snarl. “Doubtless you still
are superior in combat, Blaine. I value my life too much
to forfeit it. Besides, why fight for what is freely given?
The healer has come to me, you with her. Indeed a
fortunate day.”
“I’m ready to depart,” Alicen said calmly. She turned
and mounted Hercules. “If you need me so desperately,
there’s no sense remaining here longer.”
Jeremy stared at her. Her lack of alarm told him she
thought herself safe. She’d learn the error of that
assumption soon enough. No visible sign betrayed his
feelings, though he knew he could not warn William of
Kenrick’s whereabouts, could not escape his own death.
Regret gripped him. Regret and...what? Bitterness. A
wrenching bitterness that his suspicions
might be correct
about Alicen’s duplicity. Yet, though he die this day, he’d
not die like a dog. His stare bored into his foe as the
latter addressed Alicen.
“How came you to be in this knight’s attendance,
Mistress?” Kenrick asked coldly. “He’s a well-known
enemy of Duke Harold.”
Alarms clamored in Alicen’s mind, urging extreme
caution. She moved Hercules forward. This evil man
played a game she had little knowledge of—one of intrigue
and deception. Yet she must join the fray or face
consequences she instinctively knew would be dire.
Gathering her wit, she prepared a deception of her own.
Injecting just enough innocence into her voice to
sound convincing, she replied, “In truth, I’d ne’er set eyes
upon him until a fortnight ago, sir.” She gave Jeremy a
tolerant look, then sighed and shook her head. “Alas, I’ve
had little peace since. Follows me about like a lovesick
swain, he does. Hardly an hour passes but he protests
his regard for me.” She smiled coyly. “I share not his
feelings and have repeatedly told him so. Yet he refuses
to believe me.”
Kenrick smirked. “The man loves only duty. He has
used you, the better to spy for his duke.”
With a gasp, Alicen turned hurt-filled eyes upon
Jeremy. “Fie on you, sir, if you’ve sported with me. I insist
you leave me be. I wish to see you no more.”
By the blessed Virgin, make this Kenrick believe me
and release Jeremy, Alicen prayed. He’ll return to
Landeyda and warn William. Mayhap even avenge Orrick’s
death...
She gave the lout Kenrick her most charming smile.
“Shall we to your camp, sir, and leave this faithless man
behind?”
“I had planned just such.” His look seethed with
malice before he grinned. “Is that to your liking, Sir
Jeremy?”
Jeremy’s pulse pounded like a galloping stallion’s
hooves. Both his and Alicen’s lives rested in this monster’s
hands. Knowing his own death was inevitable, he sought
to spare her the same fate. He had to warn her to escape
these killers.
“You understand the thoughts of a man in love,
Kenrick,” he said dryly, one brow cocked up in mockery.
“Therefore, allow me to bid the woman a proper farewell.”
“Love, Blaine?” Kenrick snorted. “This bears
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