by Flora Speer
“And a right to be angry after learning of their deception,” Dain said, wishing she would display some temper, instead of meekly accepting a truth he found unacceptable.
“I’m not angry,” she said. “Just stunned. I do admit to feeling betrayed, as much for your sake as for my own.” She paused, swallowed hard, and then asked, “What shall we do now?”
“There is only one thing to do,” said a soft voice from the doorway. Vivienne moved into the room, her white robes flowing and drifting about her slim figure, her eyes filled with pity and understanding. “Dain, you must forgive the lie. Emma, you must accept the truth.”
“Impossible!” Dain uttered the single word through gritted teeth.
“Will you permit a well-meant fabrication to tear your marriage apart?” Vivienne asked.
”Well meant?” Dain repeated with a sneer. “Am I wrong to think you knew about this fabrication? Did Hermit tell you?”
“He didn’t need to tell me,” Vivienne answered with perfect calm. “I guessed by observation and confirmed the guess by magic. Brice loves his daughter. That’s why he gave her to Mirielle to raise. He would sacrifice anything for Emma.”
“Including you?” Dain asked.
“Brice long ago repented of his sins, and expiated them by going on Crusade, as many other men do. He is trying to live a better life now.”
“How touching.”
“Will you hold a grudge for decades, the way your mother used to do?” Vivienne asked. ”What of your life, Dain? Suppose Gavin had refused Emma’s plea to send her to Penruan and had kept strictly to King Henry’s commands. Suppose little Alys had been sent to you, instead. If Alys had survived the journey, which from all I’ve heard of her would be a doubtful proposition at best, what would have happened? I can tell you without resorting to magic. Dear brother, you’d have found yourself burdened with a sick child for a bride. Lady Richenda would still rule Penruan with an iron hand and a cold heart, and you would still be ignorant of my very existence and lacking years of your memory. Would you prefer that life, or the life you now enjoy with Emma?” When Dain did not respond at once Vivienne said, “If you would rather answer that question in the silence of your own heart, then do so. Just be certain you answer honestly. Don t let injured pride interfere.”
Dain looked from his sister’s imploring face to his wife. Emma’s shoulders were rigid, her hands tightly clasped at her bosom. Her marvelous purple-flecked eyes were wide, her gaze fixed on his face. He wondered what she read there.
Did Emma love him as much as he loved her?
Dain nearly choked on the unexpected thought. Uncomfortably aware of the presence in his room of two women who were capable of working magic, he tried to close the unwelcome thought of love out of his mind, attempting to convince himself that the idea was in some way their doing. He did not want, or need, any further complications in his life.
Then Emma dredged up out of her undoubtedly roiling emotions a small, tremulous smile, and Dain knew with complete and blinding certainty that he did love her, with all his heart and all his being, and the emotion was not conjured by magic. He loved Emma because of who, and what, she was, and it mattered not one whit who had fathered her. Emma was honest to her core, and the magic she practiced was as good and pure as her heart. He longed to tell her so and grieved to realize that he must postpone his declaration. For Emma’s sake, he had to confront Gavin and Brice and settle their differences before he could be free to reveal his unexpected discovery of love.
“Both of you,” he said to his wife and his sister, “come with me.”
Not allowing them a chance to argue, he caught each woman by an elbow and swept them together out of the lord’s chamber and down the stairs to the next level of the tower keep.
Chapter 20
Dain led Emma and Vivienne to the chamber occupied by Gavin and Mirielle. There he pounded on the latched door so hard that several curious faces appeared from other doorways and from around corners, and Blake hastened from the stairs to Dain’s side to see what was wrong.
“Has Sir Brice left this room?” Dain demanded of the boy.
“Aye, my lord. I saw him going to his own chamber a short time ago,” Blake answered.
“Bring him here,” Dain commanded. “At once!”
Blake scurried off to do his bidding, just as the door opened. Dain pushed his way inside, with the two women following at his imperious nod.
It was apparent they had interrupted a romantic moment. Gavin was naked to the waist and Mirielle was hastily pulling on a robe. Neither of them objected to the intrusion. Perhaps, Dain thought, Emma’s accusing gaze and Vivienne’s solemn expression warned his guests that the three of them were there for a serious purpose.
Dain stalked across the chamber to confront Gavin face-to-face and speak before Gavin could demand to know what was happening.
“You have broken the terms of the agreement King Henry imposed upon us, to which we both agreed and set our seals,” Dain said, daring to poke a finger at the broad, bare chest of the baron of Wroxley. “I have every right to challenge you to mortal combat.”
A slight stir at the door told Dain that Brice had arrived.
“Blake,” Dain ordered, momentarily taking his gaze from Gavin’s astonished face, “close the door and guard it from the outside. On peril of your life, allow no one else to enter here, and never repeat a word of anything you may overhear.”
“You have my word of honor on it.” Blake closed the door, and Vivienne, who was avoiding Brice’s questioning glance, moved to latch it securely.
“Now let us be blunt,” Dain said, returning his full attention to Gavin. “I have by chance learned who Emma’s real father is. Emma claims that her coming to Penruan was at her own insistence and is, therefore, no fault of yours. I would hear your side of it, Gavin, and then yours, my lady Mirielle. If you tell me the entire truth, it’s just possible that we can prevent bloodshed.”
Dain did not look at Brice as he made this speech, but kept his shoulder resolutely turned toward the miscreant knight. He would deal with Brice later, depending on what Gavin and Mirielle had to say. However, Dain was acutely aware of Emma stepping forward to stand beside him. Emma did not touch him; she did not need to. Her close presence was support enough.
“Since the first day I met Emma, when she was barely ten years old,” Gavin said, “I have thought of her as my true daughter. I love her as a daughter.”
“I had the raising of her,” Mirielle said. “I taught Emma to use her inborn magic for the benefit of others, so she could avoid the untutored excesses of her mother, and would never fall prey to evil, as Alda did. As for Brice, I believe Alda seduced him for her own wicked purpose, and used magic to do it. Brice was not entirely to blame for what happened. He has paid dearly for his mistakes.”
“Mirielle, I will not allow you to make excuses for behavior that was beyond excuse,” Brice said. “I should have resisted Alda and did not. I nearly died for my weakness of character. The only good result of my adulterous affair was Emma, whom I believed to be Gavin’s daughter until Gavin and Mirielle told me the truth of Emma’s birth. I regret everything about that dreadful time, except for Emma’s existence.”
“And so, having learned she was your daughter, you then consigned her to Gavin’s care and left Wroxley?” Dain asked in a voice filled with scorn at the very idea of a father abandoning his child.
“It was the best thing I could do for her,” Brice said. “I bore terrible sins on my conscience, sins that required a long penance before I could be absolved of them. I was not fit to raise an innocent girl.”
“You should have told me,” Emma said to the pair who faced her and Dain. “If not before, then when I begged to come to Penruan in Alys’s place. Mirielle, you should have told me!”
”We wanted to protect you,” Gavin said.
”When you have children of your own,” Mirielle told her gently, “you will understand how far parents will go to ensure
their child’s safety and happiness. And you are the child of our hearts, Emma.” She reached for Emma, who sidestepped her embrace to move behind Dain, as if seeking shelter behind a dependable rock.
”You cheated Dain!” Emma cried. “You betrayed both of us! You owed us the truth!”
“I cannot deny it,” Gavin said. “Dain, you have the right to demand satisfaction for the lie that permitted Emma to wed you as my daughter.”
”Yes,” Dain said, regarding him coldly. “Be certain of it. I intend to have full satisfaction.”
”If you want to have your marriage annulled and to reopen the feud and contest that piece of land again,” Gavin began.
“I am sick of that cursed feud!” Dain shouted at him. “Nor do I intend to give up my wife.” His arm was around Emma, drawing her closer, holding her where she belonged.
”Then what do you want?” Gavin asked, voicing the question Vivienne had asked earlier, in a different way.
“As for the feud,” Dain said in a quieter tone, “if my mother could lie to me for years, as I know she did about Vivienne’s existence, then it is possible she also lied to me about the origins of the feud. For all I know, my father on his deathbed swore her not to bind me to that old conflict. We have only my mother’s version of Lord Halard’s final hours, and her word cannot be trusted. Perhaps we will never know the full truth.”
“Does it matter now, after so many years?” Brice asked.
When Dain turned a fierce glare on him, Brice continued, “You are a reasonable man. So is Gavin. I can prove that claim with one simple statement: Neither of you has killed me for what I’ve done. Why don’t you forge a new agreement, making the infamous piece of land that caused the feud the inheritance of the first child born to Dain and Emma, whether the child be a boy or a girl? I cannot imagine King Henry will object, not when his primary interest is peace among his nobles.”
There followed a few moments of surprised silence at so sensible and reasonable a suggestion, until Gavin spoke.
“I can accept that,” Gavin said to Dain. “I’ll gladly bestow the land on your firstborn, if only you and Emma will allow Mirielle and me to act as grandparents toward your children. Whatever the two of you may think of Mirielle and me at this moment, we love Emma as our own, and we will love any child she bears.”
Dain looked at Emma, seeing her tear-filled eyes and quivering lips, and he knew he could not allow her heart to be broken by a dispute that no longer meant anything at all. Whatever the right or wrong of the old feud, or of Gavin’s decision to send Emma to Penruan, Dain wasn’t going to quarrel any longer.
“Agreed,” he said, and held out his hand to clasp Gavin’s, thereby signifying his acceptance of the compact they were making. But he could not let it go at that. He wanted Gavin to understand exactly what he meant. “Though I will need time to accept all I’ve learned tonight, I will not break faith with you, nor will I abjure the oath I made to King Henry. The feud is truly over. As for the circumstances of Emma’s birth, no one but we in this room need ever know what has passed here.”
“I thank you,” Gavin said formally, “for the generous spirit you’ve shown to us, as well as to Emma.”
”I will have Father Maynard draw up the document, so it can be signed and witnessed before you leave,” Dain said.
”There is a provision I would add to the agreement,” Vivienne announced, stepping forward. “Brice must remain at Penruan, so he and Emma can learn to know each other. It would be cruel to deprive Emma of her natural father as soon as she has discovered him.”
”Will the provision be for Emma’s sake,” Dain asked with a frown, “or for yours?”
“For both of us,” Vivienne answered. “Please, Dain”
“Emma,” Dain said, “this decision is yours to make. Do you want Brice to stay or to go?”
“So many lies,” Emma whispered, looking around the room. “Except for Dain, every person here has lied to me, either directly or by failing to reveal a vital fact that I had a right to know. And each of you has excused the falsehoods, claiming they were committed out of love.”
“Never doubt it,” Brice said, his eyes moist. “Emma, I loved you even before I knew I had fathered you. After I learned you were mine, I longed to stay with you, or to take you away with me. But you were so young, so innocent, and in those days I was a lost and broken man, guilty of adultery and worse. How could I drag you from your home and force you to join me on my long journey of penance? I did what I believed was best for you. When I see the fine woman you have become, I cannot think my choice was wrong. But if you cannot forgive me, I will understand. I’ll go away and never contact you again.”
“So have I lied,” Emma said, ”by not telling Dain about my magical skills.”
“You had good reason for keeping that from him,” Brice exclaimed. “Even more so after you knew Lady Richenda. Emma, your lie was a minor infraction. Mine was far more serious, and it has haunted me every day for more than a decade. No night has passed since I left Wroxley when I have not gone to my knees to pray for your welfare.”
Emma regarded Brice for a long while in silence. From her oddly bland expression Dain could not tell what she was thinking, or what decision she would make.
“Vivienne thinks you are worthy of love, and I have learned to value her wisdom,” she said at last. “I think we ought to know each other better, don’t you, Sir Brice? I cannot promise to love you as a daughter, but we have been friends, and you did save my life at the risk of your own. You may remain at Penruan.”
“Oh, thank you, Emma!” Vivienne cried.
“I accept Emma’s wishes, Brice,” Dain told him. “You may stay, but know that I will be watching you, and I will protect my sister, as I will protect my wife.”
“I would expect no less of you,” Brice responded, and offered his hand. After a long, tense moment, Dain took it.
***
“I don’t entirely trust Brice,” Dain said to Emma later, in the privacy of the lord’s chamber, ”but I won’t attempt to influence Vivienne against him. I love her enough to let her find her own path to happiness.”
“Wise man,” Emma murmured. “I am still shaken by tonight’s revelations, and I scarcely know who I dare trust. Except that I do trust you, always and forever. Dain,
are you sure you want to keep me, now that you know whose daughter I am?”
“Are you saying you will let me find my own path to happiness?” he asked, an odd gleam lighting his blue-green eyes.
“I suppose I am.” Emma discovered that she was holding her breath as she awaited his answer.
“Well, then,” he said, looking serious, “let me consider the matter. In your favor, you have improved the lives of all who live in Penruan Castle. Thanks to your knowledge of herbs, everyone is healthier than before you came here, and the food is infinitely more tasty. You’ve brought me joy, tenderness, freedom from old hatreds, and my beloved sister. I believe, given a bit of time, all of us can learn to live with our newly acquired knowledge.”
“I am not the wife you deserve,” she whispered, scarcely daring to believe what she was hearing.
“I thank God you are not!” he exclaimed. “After the way I treated you when you arrived, I don’t deserve you at all. Emma, tell me honestly: Is there a chance that you could forgive me and love me? For I love you with my whole heart.”
To Emma’s amazement, Dain went to his knees before her, where she had once sworn to see him and where, now, she did not want him to be. Dain belonged at her side, as her true mate and partner in life.
“Oh, Dain, don’t you know?” she cried, tugging at his shoulders to urge him to his feet again. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you.”
“Even though I was a brute to you?” Dain, the fierce and ruthless warrior, actually looked frightened, until Emma seized his trembling hands from his sides and pulled them around her waist so she could nestle close to his heart.
“You ought to hate me for th
e rough way I mauled you that day,” he said in a shaky voice.
“How could I hate my one and only love?” she asked. Seeing the smile overspreading his face, she lifted her own face in hope and expectation of his kiss.
He did not disappoint her.
“There is one last secret I must reveal to you,” Emma said later, when they lay entwined on the bed in the sweet aftermath of loving. “I am carrying your child.”
”A son!” Dain rose on his elbows to look down at her in the candlelight.
“No,” Emma said, one hand on her abdomen. “This child will be a daughter, and she will possess the same inborn magic that I have. Never fear for her; Vivienne and I, together, will teach her well.”
“How can you be so sure it will be a girl?” Dain asked.
“Because she was conceived in Merlin’s cave,” Emma said.
“Ah,” Dain murmured, smiling in remembrance. “That incredible afternoon.”
“The next baby will be made here, in your bed, as is right and proper for your son and heir,” Emma told him. “I promise.”
“I see.” Dain’s eyes began to sparkle like ocean waves in summer sunlight. “You are telling me, my lady, that you are going to have need of me for the next few years. I must admit, I find that an encouraging thought.”
”I will have need of you, my lord,” Emma said, “for the rest of my life.”
When she lifted her arms and wrapped them around Dain’s shoulders and pulled him down to her for a closer embrace, he forgot all about feuds and guests he’d rather not have in his castle, and gave himself up completely to the magical delights of love.
Epilogue
Agatha stepped through the rock and entered the innermost chamber below the cliffs. Here the ceiling glowed with jewels far surpassing the crystals of Vivienne’s abandoned little room. Emeralds and sapphires, amethysts and rubies all caught the light from the fire blazing on a hearth carved out of solid rock. The walls of the chamber were covered with shelves, all of which were crammed full of books and scrolls, and with long tapes made of plant fibers upon which the ink was created from tropical fruits. Slabs of stone carved in languages long dead leaned against the shelves.