"Aye, my lord." Ulrich turned back to the flapping sailcloth with an ill-concealed smile.
Gareth strode over to where Clare stood. He looked down at her, his broad shoulders blocking her view of the mill. "Well, then, Clare? What is it that is so urgent that it could not wait?"
Clare suddenly felt ridiculous. But she had to ask the question. "I merely wished to know if you intend to leave Desire in the near future?"
"Leave?"
"Aye." She glowered at him. "There are some who feel that once you've secured your lands and got me with child, you'll be off. I wanted to know if that was your intention."
Gareth stared at her. "Are you with child?"
"Uh, no." Clare cleared her throat. "At least I do not believe that to be the case. Gareth, that is not the issue. I am asking if you plan to leave the isle."
Gareth's mouth tightened grimly. "Hell's teeth, this is not the time to discuss such matters. I'm trying to get that damned windmill fixed."
"Is the mill more important than your future plans, sir?"
He raked his fingers through his hair. "What in the name of the devil made you seek me out to ask me this now?"
"Never mind, my lord. Just answer my question. Are you planning to leave anytime soon?"
"Do you want me gone, then?"
"Nay, my lord." Clare looked at the broad expanse of his chest. "In truth, I find you extremely useful to have around and am not anxious to see you leave."
"Useful?"
"Aye, sir. Useful."
"How am I useful?"
"Well, you did an excellent job of repairing the j machine I use for pressing oil from roses and cinnamon." Clare summoned a bright little smile. "It works perfectly now."
"Thank you," Gareth said through set teeth. "I am glad that I was able to give satisfactory service."
Clare realized he was angry. Her own temper flared. "I just want to know your plans so that I can make my own arrangements. Does that seem too much to ask?"
He regarded her with a cool, shuttered gaze. "I have. no intention of leaving Desire unless I am summoned by my father. I am Thurston of Landry's vassal and as such, I owe him a set number of days of service each year should he demand such. You know that as well as I do."
Clare scowled. "I am not an idiot. I fully comprehend that, my lord. I wasn't talking about the duty that you owe to Lord Thurston. I was referring to your personal plans."
"At the moment, my personal plans involve getting that damned mill repaired as soon as possible. After that I intend to check on the stonemasons' progress. When I have finished that task, I shall return to my workroom to continue my experiments. Does that answer your question?"
"You definitely do not plan to leave Desire?"
"Nay."
"I have your oath on it?"
"Aye."
Relief poured through Clare. She tried not to let it show. "Very well.
That is all I wished to know."
Gareth braced his hands on his hips. "If you are satisfied, madam, may I return to the task of repairing the windmill sail?"
"Of course. My apologies for disturbing your labors." Clare started to turn away.
"Clare."
"Aye?" She paused.
Gareth surveyed her thoughtfully. "I am told that you do not charge the villagers for the use of the mill."
"That is correct. I'm aware that many lords do charge their people for grinding their flour, but I feel there is no need to do so. The villagers supply the hall with all the flour we need, so it is an even trade as far as I am concerned."
"I see."
She eyed him uneasily. "I trust you do not intend to start charging our people for milling their flour, my lord?"
"Nay, madam. You are the one with a head for business in this family. If you believe the present arrangement to be fair, who am I to argue with you?"
"A head for business, aye. That is what I have always been told." She gave him a wry look. "It would appear that we both have our uses, sir."
Gareth's eyes gleamed. "A man could not ask for a more useful wife than you, madam. Now, pray excuse me. Tis past time I got back to my tasks." He returned and stalked back to the crowd that hovered around the mill.
Clare gazed wistfully after him for a brief moment.
Useful She had always been useful, she reflected. She had been useful to her mother, who had borne the burden of managing the manor while her lord traipsed about the continent in search of knowledge.
She had been useful to her absentminded, scholarly father, who preferred his studies in Paris and Spain to the responsibilities of being a husband and a father and the lord of Desire.
She had been useful to her brother, who had hungered for the excitement and glory of the tournaments more than he had hungered for the lands he was to inherit.
She had been useful to Raymond de Coleville, who had wished to amuse himself with a bit of dalliance while he studied with her father.
Nicholas of Seabern had thought that she would make him a useful bride, one who could plump up his pockets.
She was useful to Thurston of Landry, who valued the income from Desire.
And now it appeared that the Hellhound found her useful, too.
It was not a cheerful thought, but Clare feared that there were worse fates than being useful.
Fates such as falling in love with a man who did not see love as particularly useful, for example.
***
That afternoon, Clare finally found time to climb the tower stairs to her study chamber. She hurried around the corner at the top of the staircase and ran headlong into Dalian.
"Ooph." Clare put out a hand to steady herself as she staggered back a step.
"Lady Clare. I beg your pardon." Something that was more than surprise, something that might have been fear, flashed in Dalian's eyes.
She grinned ruefully. "What are you doing up here, Dalian? I thought you were assisting Lord Gareth in his experiments."
"Forgive me, my lady." He glanced nervously down the hall and then looked at her. "I did not hear you on the stairs."
"I am on my way to my study chamber."
"Oh." Dalian wiped his palms on his tunic. "Are you all right?"
"Do not concern yourself. You did no great harm." Clare frowned. "Is anything amiss, Dalian?"
"Nay, madam."
"Are you quite certain? You seem to have grown increasingly downcast since the spring fair. Are you sure that you are not pining for your pretty Alison?"
"Alison?" Dalian looked briefly confused. "Nay, my lady. I am not pining."
"You're certain?"
"Aye, madam. Quite certain."
"Is there something else preying on your mind, mayhap?"
"Nay, madam." Dalian hesitated and then squared his shoulders. There was a sad, almost desperate light in his eyes. "Lady Clare, I have never thanked you for your great kindness to me. I wish to do so now."
Clare smiled. "It is I who should thank you, Dalian. You have brightened our lives here on Desire with your fine music and poems. And I know that Lord Gareth is very pleased to have your assistance in his workroom."
"My lord is a very clever man," Dalian whispered. "As are you, my lady.
It has been an honor to serve you."
"Why, thank you, Dalian."
"Pray excuse me, madam," Dalian said softly. "I must go now. His lordship will be waiting for me."
"Off with you, then. I shall see you at supper."
"Farewell, my lady. And thank you again for all your kindness to me. I do not deserve it."
"Nonsense, of course you deserve it." Clare went on down the hall to her study chamber.
She opened the door and made to step inside. Something made her hesitate. She turned and glanced back. Dalian was watching her with an intensely melancholic look in his eyes. She smiled reassuringly once more. Then she stepped into the chamber and closed the door behind herself.
She went to her desk, sat down, and propped her chin on her hands. She re
flected for a long time on the manner in which Dalian had thanked her for her kindness.
***
"It was the strangest thing, Gareth," Clare said that evening when they were alone in their bedchamber.
"Twas as though he were bidding me farewell."
"Who said farewell?" Gareth did not look up from the heavy volume he was studying.
Clare's father had done a fine job of translating Arabic into Latin, he reflected, but Sir Humphrey had not been a skilled scribe. It required painstaking effort to puzzle out the words of the essay on the elements that Gareth was attempting to comprehend.
Although the day had been warm, it had turned cooler than usual that evening. There was a brisk fire on the hearth of the bedchamber. Outside a wind was beginning to howl, promising a storm before dawn.
"Dalian. My lord, are you listening to me?"
"Of course I'm listening to you. I always listen to you when you speak, madam. Did I not leave off repairing the mill today just to listen to you?" Gareth frowned over a clumsily lettered word. He could not make out if it was vapor or viper. It had to be vapor, he decided.
Viper did not make sense in the context. Intense heat causes the liquid to boil and give off a vapor which becomes, itself liquid…
"So you always listen to me, do you?" Clare gave a small, ladylike sniff that indicated strong disbelief. "What did I just say?"
Gareth concentrated on the complex discussion of the properties of fire, earth, water, and air. "You said something about Dalian bidding you farewell."
"He seemed to be bidding me farewell. It was as if he were planning to leave Desire."
"I told you, I have no plans to leave the isle."
"Not you, my lord. Dalian. There, you see? I knew you weren't listening to me."
Gareth gave up trying to read the translated Arab treatise. He stretched his legs out toward the fire, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Clare.
The sight of her sitting there with a book resting on her lap, her intelligent face screwed into an expression of intense concern, made him momentarily forget about the essay on elements.
My wife, he thought with a sense of wonder. He still could not quite believe that she was his.
The flames highlighted the lustrous darkness of her hair and rendered her skin the color of rich cream. She watched him with her serious, gemlike eyes. He contemplated how he could make her glow with passion and his body started to harden. It always did when he thought of holding Clare naked in his arms.
"What seems to be the problem?" Gareth asked.
"I fear that some dreadful concern is still plaguing Dalian. He is more anxious than ever. His melancholia is not improving."
"Aye." Gareth gazed into the fire. "A strange lad. Ulrich is worried about him, also. Apparently young William came across Dalian just as he was leaving one of the garderobes this afternoon. Dalian had tears in his eyes."
"He was crying? But why?"
"William told Ulrich that he asked Dalian that very question. Dalian told him it was none of his business."
"This is terrible. Dalian will not talk about whatever it is that concerns him," Clare said. "What do you suggest we do, my lord?"
"There is nothing we can do except keep an eye on Dalian. Ulrich will see to that."
"Keep an eye on him?" Clare's eyes widened. "Why is that necessary? Are you afraid he will do himself some harm?"
"Tis possible. Melancholia is a strange and sometimes dangerous condition."
"This is a most alarming thought, my lord."
"Do not concern yourself tonight. As I said, Ulrich will keep an eye on the lad." Gareth went back to his book. "Clare, do we have any mercury?"
"Aye, my lord," she said absently. "My father kept some about somewhere.
Have you had any more ideas concerning who might have killed Beatrice?"
"Nay."
"Do you still believe that the motive involved the theft of a book?"
Gareth gazed down at the alchemic recipe he was studying. He thought of the powerful explosion he had produced with the sulfur and charcoal mixture. "Lately I have begun to realize that there are many great secrets concealed in these ancient treatises that your father translated."
"That is no doubt true, but the books in the convent library are not of Eastern origin. They are primarily English herbals and Church histories.
Surely none of them contain any secrets worth murder."
"But what if the thief did not know what he would find there V Gareth touched the edge of the unevenly cut parchment pages of the book he held. "What if he believed he would find something of great value in one of them?"
"What sort of secret would that be?"
"Mayhap the elixir that will produce gold from base metals."
"Oh, that. Alchemists have searched for such a recipe for years," Clare scoffed. "My father always claimed that it did not exist."
***
The knock on the bedchamber door came shortly before dawn. It brought Gareth out of a dark, disturbing dream that involved blood and an open book.
In the dream he had been attempting to read the alchemic recipe that had been written in the book. But blood had flowed across the page before he could make out the words.
When the knock sounded, Gareth came awake as he always did, swiftly and completely. With the force of long habit he reached down over the side of the bed. His hand closed around the hilt of the Window of Hell.
"What is it?" Clare asked in a sleepy voice. "Is something wrong?"
"Someone is at the door." Gareth pushed aside the bed curtain and padded across the floor, sword in hand.
"Who's there?"
"Ulrich, my lord."
Gareth opened the door. Ulrich stood in the hall, a candle in his hand.
He was fully dressed. He glanced at Gareth, who was naked except for the sword. "I am sorry to disturb you."
"What's wrong?"
"The minstrel has left the hall, as you said he might do."
"Dalian?" Clare stuck her head out between the heavy bed curtains. "Did you say he left?"
Gareth ignored her. "Did he leave empty-handed?"
"I do not know. The door of Lady Clare's study chamber is ajar, however."
"So. The lad was bent on betrayal after all," Garth said quietly.
"I warned you he might well prove to be dangerous," Ulrich said quietly.
"Aye." He had been prepared for this, Gareth thought, even expected it after contemplating the minstrel's strange behavior during the past few days. Nevertheless, Dalian's actions saddened him in some manner that he could not fully explain. It was the sadness one felt when a friend proves untrustworthy, he decided.
Gareth had convinced himself that he and Dalian had forged a common bond based on the burden of their mutual illegitimacy and on their interest in conducting experiments. Clearly he had been wrong.
"You said if anything such as this occurred, you wanted to handle it yourself." Ulrich did not look toward the bed.
"Aye. I'll get dressed. Have one of the horses readied."
"I'll come with you," Clare said.
"A storm struck a short while ago, my lord." Ulrich politely kept his gaze fixed on Gareth.
"Tis miserable out there."
"I'll go alone," Gareth said.
"Nay, my lord." Clare thrust aside the curtain. Her night robe hiked up above her knees as she slid her legs over the edge of the high bed. "I shall come with you."
Gareth glanced over his shoulder and scowled. "Get back into bed at once, madam." He turned back to Ulrich. "See to the horse. I'll be down in a moment."
"Aye, my lord." Ulrich took a quick step back into the corridor.
Gareth shut the door. He crossed the room in three swift strides and grabbed his clothing out of a chest.
"Gareth, I want to come with you." Clare rose from the bed and hurried to the chest that contained her tunics and gowns. "You must wait for me."
"Nay. I will handle this matter." Gareth finished d
ressing and fastened his belt low on his hips. He picked up his sword and scabbard and went toward the door.
Clare struggled to pull her gown over her head. "Why do you suppose Dalian is sneaking off like this?"
"Mayhap because he has found the book he came here to steal," Gareth said from the open door.
"What?" Clare yanked the gown downward. She stared at Gareth with troubled eyes. "I cannot believe that he would do such a thing."
"Then mayhap he is running away because he does not wish to be questioned in the murder of Beatrice the recluse," Gareth said.
He closed the door very firmly on Clare's horrified expression.
***
The horse was waiting in the courtyard. The howling wind and the crackle of lightning made the gelding restless. The beast pranced and danced on the stones until Gareth vaulted into the saddle. Once the gelding felt the firm hands on the reins, he settled down.
"Open the gate," Gareth ordered.
"Aye, my lord." Ranulf raced toward the gatehouse.
Ulrich looked up at Gareth. "Are you certain you don't want company?"
"I will deal with the minstrel. How long ago did he leave the hall?"
"Not above half an hour ago. I ordered his bedchamber checked every half hour, as you commanded. When the guard found it empty, he reported immediately to me and I came directly to you."
"I assume he did not leave by way of the gate or he would have been seen by the guards."
"Aye. Twill be interesting to discover just how he got out of the courtyard without being spotted."
"We'll see to that matter after I apprehend him." Gareth gave the signal to the gelding. The big animal surged toward the open gate.
The gray light of a stormy dawn broke across the isle as Gareth galloped down the road toward the village. His destination was the harbor. The only way off Desire was by boat. The only vessels available were moored at the village quay.
The gelding thundered down the road, past the fields and the scattered cottages. In the early light Gareth could see the rows of flowers bending before the wind.
The convent gatehouse was still locked when Gareth rode past. There was no one up and about yet in the street or the market square.
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