It was the separation of love from the business of marriage that revolted Eva, she decided. If Sir Piers had loved her, and she him, the marriage would have been an excellent one. But he loved Blanche while she still loved Gilbert. It would be impossible to live in any sort of harmony under those circumstances.
Suddenly Eva desperately wanted to be in the open, to breathe the cold fresh air and see the open sky. It was almost dusk but she rose quickly, thankful to find the only trace of her headache was a slight dull throbbing, and slipped on a warm gown. Taking a dark grey cloak she drew it about herself and went into the hall.
For once there was no one there. They must all be busy preparing supper or finishing off the day's tasks, Eva thought, and went unnoticed through the door and down the steps.
She decided to walk away from the house, instead of in the gardens. It was space she needed, the sense of freedom which no enclosed garden could provide, and without further thought she began to walk along the track they had used when she first came to Granfort.
The air was pleasantly cool and Eva felt refreshed at the feel of it on her face. She came to a small stream and bent to cup some of the cold sweet water in her hands, and drank thirstily.
Glancing behind her she was struck by the beauty of the sunset. The few stray clouds in the sky were edged with gold and orange and red, even green and violet, a multitude of shades in a riot of splashes across the pale blue of the heavens and the contrasting greys, both light and dark, of the clouds.
The better to indulge in the delight of this Eva sat down on the bank of the stream, huddling into her cloak and thankful it was not really cold. She leaned back against the trunk of an ash tree, still and for the first time in weeks at peace with herself and the world. So glorious was the sight, with the colours and patterns shifting and changing all the time as the clouds drifted gently across the vault of the sky, that Eva was lost to everything else.
She came back to her surroundings with a start as the steady rhythm of a trotting horse made itself heard. Cautiously, aware that while she had been sitting there the dusk had fallen and only the remnants of the sunset display was still in the sky, she peered round the trunk of the tree. A rider was approaching, alone, but with a falcon on his wrist.
Eva felt a stab of fear before she realised the rider was Sir Piers. She began to rise and then paused. He would not welcome her company, and she would not under any circumstances allow him to imagine she had come in this direction in order to meet him. It was almost dark and he did not see her in the shadow of the tree, wrapped in the grey cloak. When he had passed and was a safe distance ahead she rose and began to walk back to the manor. To her surprise there was no one looking for her when she reached the hall. Sir Piers was emerging from the solar, dressed in a dark green surcoat over black tunic and sleeves, both lavishly embroidered with gold thread. He merely inclined his head.
'I trust you enjoyed your walk, my lady,' he said coolly, and came towards her slowly. 'And that your indisposition is cured.'
Eva swallowed nervously. 'I – I thank you, my head is much better now,' she murmured.
'Then you will join us for supper?'
She nodded, unable to speak, and was soon sitting beside him at the top table.
He was polite but cool. He repeated Blanche's message which Gerda had already conveyed to her, and said they had made good speed in their journey to her home. After supper Eva pleaded tiredness and escaped to the solar. He escorted her to the door where he lifted her hand to his lips and almost, but not quite, imprinted a kiss on it.
Eva sensed a suppressed anger, and when she was in bed she drew the curtains and awaited his coming with trembling dread. No doubt he assumed her headache had been feigned to avoid the ride with Blanche, and he would take his revenge for the slight he would imagine she intended on his mistress.
But he did not come. At last Eva fell into an uneasy doze, but when she awoke in the morning she was still alone.
*
The next few weeks passed with Eva growing more and more puzzled. Sir Piers was courteous and even amiable in a cold polite fashion at times when they were forced to be together, but he avoided all occasions for total privacy. He seemed to be absorbed in matters to do with his lands, frequently closeted with his bailiff. Political matters also preoccupied him and on several days neighbouring barons gathered at Granfort and held long discussions. Eva understood these to concern the rebellion which Simon de Montfort was leading against the King and the possible threat from Prince Llywelyn of Wales and his Scottish allies.
Sir Piers showed interest in her activities, was attentive in public, but never mentioned their private relationship. Having delivered Blanche's message he never again mentioned her name. Neither did he refer to their marriage. Although to prevent gossip he must retire with her to the solar after supper when there was no entertainment for the entire household, such as when the occasional visitor or traveller was there, he never suggested sharing her bed.
Eva wondered what the servants thought. No one commented or gave her sly looks, and even Gerda, who was most closely involved with their private life, gave no hint she realised anything was out of the ordinary. Eva assumed Sir Piers occupied one of the small rooms which were allocated to important visitors, but she did not know and dared not attempt to discover what he did after he left her at night.
She was growing more and more tense with the uncertainty, the fear he would not permit this mockery of a marriage to continue, and the anxiety of what he would do when he considered it time to make some move. Could he possibly have come to the conclusion that the marriage was a failure and merely be biding his time until he could arrange for it to be ended? Or did he have some more sinister plan in view?
The answer was no clearer when at last they set out for Holdfast. Several neighbours were also travelling that way, and the party gradually grew larger. This fact, which necessitated the men sleeping in the halls of the manors where they rested each night while the women shared the few bedrooms available, freed Eva from the enforced intimacy which would otherwise have been thrust upon them had they been the only guests.
Eva had expected Blanche to join the party until she remembered her manor was not on the direct route.
She had forgotten they had come the long way round on that occasion because of the swollen river. Sir Piers informed her briefly Blanche would be travelling with another party.
Eva glanced at him with a slight frown. He did not seem to be interested in Blanche, yet since they were lovers surely he was planning ways of being together, just as she was thinking how she could ensure some private moments with Gilbert.
The manors and convents for miles around Holdfast were crowded with visitors, and many tents and pavilions had been erected near the fenced off area where the contests were to be held. Already, some days before the tourney was to begin, merchants and peddlers and entertainers of all sorts, minstrels, jugglers, acrobats, storytellers, men leading bears, were establishing themselves, itinerant folk well used to a wandering life, doing good business amongst the early arrivals.
Sir Piers and Eva were to stay in Holdfast itself and the castle was as full as it could hold of the more important guests. To Eva's relief the sleeping arrangements were as they had been at the manors on the journey, and she found herself once more accommodated in the dormitory where she had spent so many years.
Her old friends greeted her enthusiastically, and demanded to be told all about her new life. She contrived to say a great deal about Granfort and the household, and was surprised when Marie commented she seemed very proud of her home.
'Proud?' Eva asked. 'I did not intend to sound so.'
'I did not mean in the worst sense,' Maria reassured her. 'You speak so glowingly of it, and seem to like the servants, I am pleased you are content.'
Eva considered that remark. She had perhaps enthused too much in her desire to ward off questions about Sir Piers. But she could scarcely deny it to Marie. And she would have been ve
ry happy living at Granfort, she suddenly knew, if Sir Piers were not its owner.
*
To her relief there was little time for talk. A great feast was being held that night and they had to make ready. Eva, partly to while away the idle hours at Granfort, had made herself several new gowns, and she wore one in a very fine yellow woollen cloth, softly gathered at the waist, and embroidered at the neck and sleeves with cream and brown.
In the hall one of the first people Eva saw was Blanche, talking with Sir Piers and another, somewhat older man. She suppressed the surge of anger that hit her with unexpected force to find Blanche so soon claiming Sir Piers' company, and crossed to where they stood.
Blanche greeted her warmly, with no signs of embarrassment, and asked how she was.
'I was so sorry not to have been able to bid you farewell, Eva. I hope that we can spend much time together during this tourney.'
'My dear, may I present you to Lord John de Burgh,' Sir Piers was saying, and Eva turned to greet the other man. He was in his late thirties and already his dark hair was turning grey, but he was handsome and had twinkling brown eyes and a ready smile.
'Every man here must be envying Piers,' Lord John said gallantly. 'May I hope that you will dance with an old man just once? I thought I had best make the request before all the other men had the opportunity.'
Eva blushed, laughed, and felt immediately at ease with him. He knew her father, she discovered, and said how sorry he was Sir Edmund had decided not to attend the tournament.
'He would be proud of you, as Piers is.'
Eva doubted that, but there were so many people to greet from the old days at Holdfast, and so many new ones to meet, she and Sir Piers had little time alone together, although the group about them always seemed to contain Blanche and Lord John.
She did not at first see Gilbert. It was not until they were seated for supper that she saw him on the far side of the table, a long way further down. He saw her looking at him and bowed slightly, then turned away as he felt Sir Piers' eyes upon him.
It was much later before Eva had a moment's conversation with Gilbert. At the conclusion of one dance, the one claimed by Lord John, she found Gilbert standing nearby.
'Lord John de Burgh, my cousin, Gilbert Fitzjohn, she said breathlessly.
'Eva, it seems so long since we saw one another,' Gilbert said with a cautious smile, casting a glance about him. 'How is your father?'
'Well, I think, although I have not seen him since – the wedding,' she replied.
Lord John had turned away and Gilbert leaned close to Eva in order to whisper in her ear.
'By the quintain, tomorrow morning, near the booth selling Flemish lace,' Gilbert said quickly, and Eva had just time to nod and smile at him before she saw Sir Piers making his way through the crowd of people towards them.
Gilbert had disappeared when she turned round again, and Eva felt bereft of a supporter. Sir Piers was looking grim, the first sign of real emotion he had displayed since that night which now seemed so long ago.
'You lose no time, my dear,' he said through gritted teeth.
'Am I forbidden to speak with my cousin?' Eva demanded angrily, oblivious of the people about them.
'Do what you will!'
Sir Piers turned away after this sudden capitulation, and Eva stared as he walked across to the main doorway and out of the hall. Then she felt Lord John, who had been talking to another man nearby, take her arm and she went unresisting back to the bench where Blanche was sitting talking to some other ladies.
*
Eva did not see her husband again that night, and he was out inspecting the tournament ground when she rose the next morning. She quickly went out of the castle to find the booth Gilbert had mentioned, and almost forgot their assignation in her delight at the beautiful lace the merchant was displaying.
'Eva,' she heard as she was debating which piece of lace to purchase, and found Gilbert at her side.
'Where can we go?' she asked urgently.
'We dare not attempt to meet in secret, there are too many eyes watching,' Gilbert said angrily. 'We can walk together though. If we go in that direction we'll still be in full view. No one can make mischief, yet we can talk without being overheard.'
Eve walked beside him towards the woods where she had earlier tried to escape from Sir Piers, and she shivered as she recalled the cold misery of that occasion and her narrow escape from drowning.
'You gave way to them!' Gilbert accused as soon as they were out of earshot of the others.
'I had no choice,' Eva protested. 'But Gilbert, all is not lost,' she added eagerly. 'It might be possible to obtain an annulment.'
He stared at her in amazement.
'What do you mean? Has he – is he incapable? The great Sir Piers?' He began to laugh and Eva felt an irrational desire to defend her detested husband.
'Not at all! At least,' she amended hastily, 'I don't know! All I know is that he has not yet shared my bed. I told him how I felt, and we have quarrelled constantly. I think he regrets the marriage as much as I do. He might agree to an annulment. Do you still want me? Will you go to Rudge Manor and tell Father? I hoped to see him here but he's not coming. I cannot go home myself, but you could.'
Gilbert was still laughing.
'This is a jest! Oh, Eva, of course I still want you to wife but it is amusing to think he has not taken what is his. But I cannot leave here. It is impossible at the moment. Could you not send a message? Ask your father to come here? He would listen to you but I would have no chance of convincing him of the truth. He would think I lied. Who would believe such a tale?'
'Then what are we to do?' Eva asked blankly, recognising the truth of that.
'Ask your so loving husband himself,' Gilbert suggested, and Eva shuddered.
'I dare not,' she confessed. 'He has been so strange of late, distant and polite, with no emotion, not even anger. And yet his eyes are hard, like stones.'
'One of us must do something. Is it not worth confronting him, to be free at last?'
'Will you be there too?' she pleaded.
'If it will help. I cannot see he will take kindly to such a discussion in my presence, but if you are afraid of him then I will certainly come to protect you.'
'When?'
'Not until the tourney is over. It would not do to cause a commotion while all the guests are here. But you will be staying for a few days longer than the others, no doubt, so we could do it then.'
With that Eva had to be content, but the plan did not give her much pleasure. She dreaded the angry scene which must ensue between Gilbert and Sir Piers, and almost wished she had not insisted on Gilbert's presence. It might have been better to have confronted her husband by herself. The shame Sir Piers would no doubt feel might lead him to violence. If they were alone it would be better, for somehow she did not think he would wreak his vengeance on her, however angry he was. It was not that sort of violence she feared provoking in him.
*
The next day the contests began. The first was a mock battle, and the ladies and the other spectators gathered round the long railed enclosure. The combatants were preparing in their tents at opposite ends of the lists, and many of them sported favours given to them by the ladies.
'May I wear your sleeve?'
Eva turned round to find Gilbert at her side. He smiled at her with a challenge in his eyes and she recklessly smiled back. She was wearing another new gown, of wool dyed with the new scarlet, and was busy loosening the bright sleeve in order to give it to Gilbert when she saw Sir Piers approaching. Hurriedly she detached the sleeve and handed it to Gilbert, casting a defiant glance at her husband as she did so.
He paused, glanced from her to Gilbert, and then smiled at Blanche, who was sitting beside Eva.
'Since my wife has selected another champion, may I be yours?' he asked softly, and Blanche, with a worried look at Eva, gave him her own blue sleeve.
Gilbert had moved away, and soon they were all abs
orbed in the thrills of the fighting. The heavily armoured knights, on their powerful warhorses, charged from opposite ends of the lists and engaged in a fierce mock battle in the centre, trying to unhorse one another with their maces and swords. As various knights were thrown their squires dashed into the mêlée to help them to their feet, or lead loose horses aside so that they did not throw the rest of the combatants into confusion.
Sir Piers was fighting with skill and fierceness unequalled by any of the others. Once Eva rose to her feet in alarm when he and Gilbert met in the centre of the field, she was so certain he would attempt to harm Gilbert. But Sir Piers, after swinging a rather wild blow towards Gilbert, passed him and attacked another of the opposing team.
With a sigh of relief Eva subsided, and found Blanche's hand gripping hers tightly.
'Don't be afraid, Piers is one of the best men here, he has experience as well as natural skill.'
Eva glanced at her and smiled bleakly. It was not Piers she was afraid for, but she could hardly tell Blanche that.
At last it was all over and neither Gilbert nor Sir Piers were hurt, although many bruises and a few broken bones had been suffered. Gilbert, his team defeated, came briefly to Eva to return her sleeve and thank her for supporting him, then disappeared with a muttered excuse that Lord Henry had work for him. A moment later Sir Piers stood beside her.
He spoke little, but walked back to the castle beside her. Blanche was walking ahead with Lord John, and chatting to him so animatedly she was not aware of the complete silence maintained by Eva and Sir Piers. Eva wondered what was to come. Would he now abandon the unnatural calm which he had kept for so long? Had she provoked him at last into anger? What would he do?
When they entered the hall he took her arm and led her inexorably towards a small room where Lord Henry conducted business affairs. There was no one about and the room was empty. Most of the guests were still sampling the delights of the traders and entertainers at the fairground.
The Baron's Bride Page 11