by Flora Speer
To Emma’s surprise, Dain appeared to be perfectly calm. It was more than she’d dared to hope for after he’d been with his mother since mid-afternoon. Still, she saw the steel in him and knew her only chance of maintaining some degree of affection between them lay in telling him all she knew of the old story.
“When Baron Udo learned what Alda was and tried to stop her, she killed him and his seneschal,” Emma said. “She left a trail of folk who died by magic or by poison, until her accomplice killed her and then died himself, in a terrible confrontation with my father, who was newly returned from years in the Holy Land. I wasn’t living at Wroxley in those days. My brother and I had been sent away for fostering. We were brought home just as my father arrived, too, and he quickly sent us off again, this time to a monastery, to keep us safe till Wroxley was free of evil magic.”
“Exactly how did Baron Gavin succeed in freeing Wroxley?” Dain asked.
“With the help of a dear friend, a sage from Cathay who was a powerful wizard,” Emma answered, “and of the Lady Mirielle, who later became my stepmother.”
”Wroxley would seem to be a veritable den of magic,” Dain remarked, his lip curling in distain.
“There is evil magic,” Emma told him, “and then there is magic that’s properly controlled, so it can be used for beneficial purposes. Mirielle is a good, kindhearted, loving woman who would never harm anyone.”
“So, your mother was a wicked sorceress and your stepmother is a good sorceress.”
“Don’t say it that way,” Emma cried, stung by his sneering tone. “Don’t mock Mirielle. She loved me when my mother did not; she taught me everything –“
“Yes?” Dain interrupted. “Everything she knows? Now we come to the crux of the matter, don’t we? Are you a sorceress, too?”
“Yes,” Emma said, unable in that instant to utter more than the single word. She saw Dain receive the admission like a blow to the heart. She could only pray the truth hadn’t destroyed his newfound tenderness for her.
“How cleverly you have concealed your ability,” he said, scorn dripping from each word he spoke.
“People with inborn magic learn early in life to conceal their ability for their own safety. Ask Agatha; she is more than just a healer.”
“Does Gavin know of your ability? I cannot imagine he does not.”
“He knows. And he knows I will do no harm to any living being. I have spent my life trying not to be like my mother.”
“Yet still Gavin sent you to me? To work your spells on me, perhaps? Is that why I’ve wanted you so often and so passionately?”
“No! I told you when I first came here that I was a substitute bride. I begged my father to send me in place of the younger sister he originally intended for you, who was too ill to travel. Dain, what’s between you and me is entirely natural. The only magic I’ve used since coming to Penruan was to help me see my way through the fog, when I was lost.”
“Dare I believe you if you swear as much to me?” He took a single step toward her, the first move he’d made in her direction since entering the lord’s chamber.
“I would never hurt you or lie to you,” she said. “I am pledged to you by a sacred vow. We are man and wife.”
“So was your mother pledged to Gavin, yet apparently her oath meant nothing to her.”
“I am not my mother. I am not evil, no more than you are the fierce and bloodthirsty baron you are reported to be.”
She was gazing directly into his eyes as she spoke. He placed one fingertip under her chin and lifted her face a little higher still, and to her astonishment she detected a faint smile upon his lips.
“Never say so outside this room,” he warned her. “It’s my fierce reputation that keeps Penruan safe.”
“I would die sooner than do anything to harm you or your people,” she said.
“I’d like to believe you.”
“I wish you would. Every word I’ve spoken is true. I’ve been afraid that when I finally told you, you’d disown me.”
“Are you surprised that I haven’t done so immediately? It’s what my mother advised.”
“And you refused her advice? Why?” She hoped he’d say it was because he loved her, not because he was bound to the marriage by the king’s command, which was true enough. His explanation left her stunned. He began with what seemed to be an innocuous question.
“Have you ever wondered why my mother is so opposed to herbal healing, and to the very idea of magic?” he asked.
”I assumed it’s because she is so passionately, and rigidly, religious,” Emma said.
“That’s only part of the reason. In his youth my father took a beautiful first wife, a famous herbal healer, who was also rumored to be a sorceress. He loved Morigaine with his whole heart and soul, and when she died in childbirth my father was devastated. But he needed an heir, so he quickly married my mother and I was born a year later. No one at Penruan ever mentions Morigaine. I know her name only because Agatha told me the story and made me promise never to let my mother know I knew of it.
“I think my mother has always been jealous of the love my father felt for Morigaine, and that’s why she has forbidden medicines or magic here at Penman. I think she has tried to root out all memory of Morigaine. She has succeeded; it’s as though the woman never existed.”
“Lady Richenda hasn’t forgotten her,” Emma said. “When she was sick and her thoughts were wandering, she mentioned that first marriage to me, though she included few details.”
“When Agatha told me the story she insisted that Morigaine was a good woman, a wise practitioner of her art,” Dain said. “Now you tell me your stepmother is the same kind of benevolent sorceress, and you claim that you will use your magic only for good. Yet all my life I’ve listened to my mother speak of magic with fear and great hatred. What am I to believe?”
“Do you hate me for what you’ve learned about me?” Emma asked. From the way he was acting, she couldn’t guess what his true feelings were. She didn’t think he was terribly angry, but she couldn’t be certain. For a reason as yet unclear to her, her own thoughts were fixed upon Morigaine.
”I don’t know what I feel,” Dain said, “or what I’m going to do about you. I need time to think.”
“So do I,” Emma murmured. “Dain, there is something about Morigaine’s story—”
“I won’t be sleeping here tonight,” he interrupted. “My mother is right about one thing; it’s dangerous for me to share a bed with you. I won’t be using this room until I’ve decided whether to return you to Wroxley or hand you over to King Henry and his bishops.”
“There is a third choice,” she said, beginning to be frightened by the possibility of having to explain herself to clergymen who likely would not be as understanding as Father Maynard or the priest at Wroxley. “You could keep me.”
He only shook his head at that suggestion. He gathered up a few items of clothing and then he left her alone, with Todd to guard the door.
The next morning Emma found a large blue bead on Dain’s pillow.
***
“Todd, are you absolutely certain no one entered the lord’s chamber last night?”
“My lady, I’ve told you twice; since Lord Dain left yesterday evening no one has come to this level of the keep.”
Emma knew why Todd wasn’t quite meeting her eyes. He was embarrassed because Dain hadn’t spent the night with her. But someone had sneaked into her room while she slept. She believed Todd’s insistence that he hadn’t fallen asleep. If he had been under a spell for part of the night he wouldn’t remember it. He’d think he had been awake the entire time.
“If Lord Dain comes to see me, please tell him I’ve gone to the beach,” she said.
“I’m sorry, my lady, but you may not leave the lord’s chamber,” Todd said.
“By whose order?”
“Lord Dain’s, my lady.”
“I see.” So, Dain didn’t trust her in spite of her reassurances. He probably didn’t believe her claim t
hat she’d do no harm to him or to his people. Perhaps his mother had talked to him again, and finally convinced him he’d married an evil wife. In that case, there was just one thing for her to do, one hope of salvaging her marriage and preventing the old feud from blazing up anew with Lady Richenda fueling it with charges of trickery and magic.
“Todd?”
“Yes, my lady?”
“Please look at me when I speak to you.”
“I’m not sure I should. Is it true you’re a witch?”
“No. I have some magic, but I only use it for good. Have I ever hurt you or anyone else that you know of? Did the syrup I gave you help your cough?”
“It did, but Lady Richenda says—”
Todd made the mistake of looking directly into her eyes, and Emma immediately took advantage of that fact. He would not know he’d been put into a trance during which Emma slipped past him and hurried down the steps. If Dain, or anyone else, came to the door of the lord’s chamber and demanded to know where she was, Todd would insist with perfect honesty that he had seen no one going into or out of the room.
Several servants and a few men-at-arms were in the great hall, but Emma hurried past them with only a quick greeting, and they didn’t try to stop her. It was still early, and everyone was busy with morning chores. She guessed that Dain hadn’t told anyone except Todd that she wasn’t to be out of her room.
She expected the men-at-arms who guarded the castle gate to be more alert than the men and women in the hall, so she placed three of them under spells similar to the one she had used on Todd. All of them would waken unharmed after just a few minutes, and none of them would recall her exit. Once she was over the drawbridge it wouldn’t matter who saw her.
She ran to the path leading down the face of the cliffs to the beach and made her way to the sand below as quickly as she could without falling off the narrow trail.
The tide was in and seawater washed around the rocks dividing Penruan beach from the beach where Hermit’s cave was. Emma pulled off her shoes and stockings and bundled them into her skirt, tying her belt tighter to secure the bundle. Holding her skirt up high, she began to wade through the water. She thought she heard a shout from behind her, but she was too busy trying to avoid being knocked off her feet by the surging waves to pay attention.
She almost didn’t make it. A huge wave broke over her head, soaking her and threatening to pull her out to sea as it ebbed. She gasped and struggled shoreward.
“Dear girl, what are you trying to do?” Hermit caught her around the waist with his good left arm and dragged her out of the surf onto dry sand. “Emma, in the name of heaven, how could you be so reckless? What’s in your skirt?’’
“My shoes,” she answered, sputtering from the saltwater she’d swallowed.
“They’ll be as sodden as the rest of you.” Hermit took the dripping shoes she pulled from her bedraggled skirt and, still with a supporting arm around her, led her toward the cave entrance. “Come along, child. There’s a fire burning inside. I was searching for shellfish on the rocks and caught you, instead.”
“You are using your right hand,” she exclaimed.
“It’s much improved.” He held up her shoes so she could see how easily he carried them. “What are you doing out of the castle on a chill and misty day?”
“I need to see Agatha and thought she might be with you,” Emma said. “If she’s not here, I’ll walk to Trevanan village along the beach.”
“You’ll go nowhere with the sea as wild as it is,” Hermit told her. “There must be a dreadful storm beyond the horizon and we’re feeling the edges of it. Squeeze through the opening now, and I’ll see you warm and dry before I send you home.”
“I can’t go home until I’ve talked with Agatha.” But she did as he ordered and slid through the narrow entrance and followed him to the inner chamber of the cave.
“Take off your clothes and wrap up in my cloak,” Hermit said, picking up the garment from his pile of belongings and offering it to her.
“It will take hours for this woolen gown to dry at a peat fire,’ she objected.
“Perhaps you won’t have to remove the dress after all,” Hermit said. He shook his head at her as if she were a heedless child. “My dear, you ought to have complained about my suggestion that you undress.”
“The thought didn’t occur to me. I trust you. I know you’d never hurt me.”
“Oh, Emma.” Hermit’s eyes were suddenly bright, as if they were filled with unshed tears. “Do you find me trustworthy? There’s an honor I never dreamed of earning, and I thank you for it. All the same, I am going to provide you with a chaperone.
“Vivienne!” Hermit called, raising his voice. “Come out. Emma has come to visit and she needs your help again.”
”Vivienne is here?” Emma turned in the direction Hermit was looking. At first she saw only the solid stone of the cave wall. Then Vivienne walked through the stone as if she was entering a room through an open doorway.
“How wonderful!” Emma exclaimed. “Vivienne, have you a special affinity for rocks? The one you hid behind up on the moor was created by magic, wasn’t it?”
“Stones, and certain other objects,” Vivienne said. “Why are you wet?”
“She tried to walk through the sea.” Hermit responded to the question with exasperated impatience. ”Vivienne, I beseech you, dry the foolish girl before she catches a bad chill.”
“Of course.” Vivienne moved her hands in a gesture that was familiar to Emma. In an instant Emma was dry and her hands and feet, which had been chilled by the cold sea, were warm again.
“I should have thought of doing that myself,” Emma said ruefully.
“So you would have done, if Hermit hadn’t been fluttering over you like a mother hen,” Vivienne said. “Now that you are more comfortable, I shall scold you for risking your life on the moor the other day, and then again, just now, in the sea. You must take better care of yourself. You are needed, Emma.”
“Indeed, you are,” said Hermit.
Emma was watching Vivienne, noting changes in the mysterious lady. Vivienne was wearing her usual flowing white garments, with the turquoise and silver pendant hanging upon her bosom and her auburn hair waving loose around her shoulders, yet to Emma’s eyes she did not seem as distant and unearthly as in her previous appearances, and her voice, though low and soft, was no longer a whisper.
“You are drawing nearer,” Emma said to her. “You are more substantial now.”
“The time approaches,” Vivienne responded.
“The time for what?”
“For an end to disguise,” Vivienne said.
“For justice,” Hermit interjected abruptly, his deep masculine voice severing the delicate linking thread that Emma and Vivienne were beginning to spin between them.
Emma felt a spurt of irritation when the thread broke; Vivienne only smiled.
“Tell me why you are here,” Vivienne said to her.
“I came to the beach looking for Agatha, hoping she’d know where to find you,” Emma said. There was a pocket sewn into the fabric belt that encircled her waist. Emma dug into the pocket and drew forth the blue bead she had tucked there for safekeeping. “This is the latest in a series of objects I have found on Dain’s pillow. The guard outside my door insists no one entered the room all night, and I accept his word, for I think it’s likely he was entranced. Did you leave this on the pillow?” She held out the blue bead for Vivienne to see.
“The gifts are meant for Dain,” Vivienne said.
Before Emma could ask why Vivienne should be giving presents to Dain they heard voices in the outer chamber of the cave.
“That’s Dain now,” Emma said, clearing her thoughts and preparing herself to perform magic. “Agatha is with him.”
Emma was poised to act, so the instant Vivienne made a movement to flee Emma caught her, holding her by magic, forcing her to remain where she was.
“Please don’t,” Vivienne cried, fighting magi
c with magic. “It means his death.”
“Whose death?” Emma demanded. “What are you saying?”
“Dain may not look upon my face. It is forbidden. If you love him, and I’m certain you do, release me at once.”
“Dain will die if he sees you?”
For the duration of a single heartbeat Emma’s power faltered at the thought of Dain’s death, and Vivienne broke away from her. In the next moment Vivienne rushed into the rock and vanished, just as Dain and Agatha arrived.
“Who was that?” Dain exclaimed, staring at the rock. “What did I just see?”
“It was Vivienne,” Emma told him. “I wanted her to stay and meet you, but she claimed seeing her would mean your death.”
“What are you doing here?” Dain glared at her, his face and eyes cold with fury. “Two days ago you promised never to run away from me again, yet you vanished from the castle. I can guess how you got past Todd. You used magic to circumvent my wishes and to break a promise I trusted. I will have an explanation from you.”
“Aren’t you afraid she’ll use magic on you?” asked Hermit. “Emma could turn you into a crab and eat you for supper if she wanted.”
“I will soon learn what you have to do with the mysteries that bedevil me,” Dain said to him. “In the meantime, since I have suffered you to live on my land, I’ll thank you to avoid making useless threats. There is no reason for me to fear Emma. She will not harm me.”
“But I may, if you break her heart,” Hermit said, very quietly.
“Who the devil are you, to threaten me?” Dain shouted at him.
“I have made no threat, my lord. I have merely offered a promise, which I will keep.”
“Please, stop arguing,” Emma cried, stepping between them. She held out her hand to show Dain the blue bead. “This is the latest gift, found on your pillow this morning, though Todd insists, and honestly so, that he saw no one enter or leave the lord’s chamber. If you are looking for magic, my lord, here it is.
“I have not broken my promise to you, for I haven’t run away. I came to the beach in search of a solution to this mystery, and believing either Agatha or Vivienne could provide the answers I want. Vivienne admits to being the one leaving the gifts. She says they were intended for you, and she was about to tell me why she would give you presents when she heard your voice and left.” Emma wasn’t sure Dain had heard all of her speech, for he was staring at the bead that lay on her palm as if he was transfixed by the sight of it.