Susan Spencer Paul

by The Bride Thief

  “But what if Justin went to Briarstone?” Isabelle asked worriedly. “Perhaps he will be angered that I asked for Sir Christian’s help. And Father Hugo will not know what to think if I am not here when he arrives on the morrow, especially if Justin has not returned by then….”

  “I’ve told you over and again that Justin waits only for you to leave Talwar before he returns to it. He told me himself, before he left, that you had decided to leave for Gyer. What’s the matter with you? Why are you looking at me that way?”

  The full moon shining through the stable windows gave light to the play that passed on the faces of the women below. Senet clenched his fist at the sight of his cousin rounding on his sister, who was clearly confused and upset.

  “Justin denied ever touching you,” Isabelle said faintly, closing her eyes as if striving to remember something very important. “I’m not certain that I should leave like this, without him knowing… He said he would write to Sir Alexander.”

  Evelyn’s expression took on a demonic fury, and Senet, watching her, drew in a breath. He had seen such as that before, and knew to be wary.

  “Did Justin deny that I carry his child?” she demanded. “Did he ever deny that, Isabelle?”

  Miserably, Isabelle shook her head. “Nay, he only said that he was glad I knew of it at last.”

  “And so he is, just as I told you he would be. Surely you do not think a man so noble as Justin would admit to anything that would hurt you? Has he ever failed to be kind to you, or to keep you from harm if he could do so?” Evelyn pressed, her voice kinder, more beguiling. She moved to finish the work that Isabelle had begun, saddling the horse, yet keeping her attention on Isabelle. “You want him to be happy, Isabelle, do you not? Don’t force him to choose you over me, simply because he is so honorable and you are his legal wife. He will never be able to set you aside so long as he feels responsible for you. Let him be happy. Give him his freedom, as you know you must. It is the only way that you can fully repay him for all that he has done for both you and Senet”

  “Yes, I…I suppose it is,” Isabelle admitted haltingly, her fingers closing about the reins that Evelyn set in her hands. “I only wish that we had not parted as we did.”

  “There’s no time for you to worry over whatever foolish remark you said that upset him so,” Evelyn told her, swinging onto her steed with remarkable ease. “Now you must only do what you can to set things right. Only think how pleased Justin will be to return to Talwar and find that he need no longer worry over you.”

  “Aye,” Isabelle agreed softly, making two futile attempts before at last, with her skirts tangling beneath her legs, managing to stay seated in the saddle. “Evelyn,” she said, stopping her cousin when she would have ridden out of the open stable doors. “You do love Justin, do you not? You don’t simply want him as you did in London? Only for those things that he possesses?”

  Evelyn uttered a short laugh of disdain. “I love Justin Baldwin more than you could ever imagine doing. I vow before God that I would give my life only to maintain his happiness. Does that satisfy you, Cousin?”

  Isabelle nodded silently, then prodded her steed forward and followed Evelyn out of the stables. The moment they were gone, Senet leaped for the loft’s ladder and rapidly climbed down.

  “Senet! What will you do?” Odelyn called after him, descending as quickly as she could.

  “I must follow behind and see where they go. Hurry, Odelyn.” He took her by the waist as she neared the floor and set her on her feet. “Run and wake the household, everyone, and tell Kayne and the other boys to dress at once and meet me here. I will have the horses ready. Run!” he commanded, pressing her through the door. “We cannot risk losing their trail in this darkness!”

  Not more than ten minutes later, John, Ralf and Neddy came racing through the stable doors, still lacing their tunics and running their fingers through their hair.

  “Kayne’s been drugged!” John shouted above the noise as they all quickly mounted. “Odelyn found him on the rooftop, where he had been keeping guard.”

  “God,” Senet said. “We cannot leave Talwar so fully unmanned. Ralf, you must remain and do whatever you must to guard the keep until Aric returns. Neddy—” he moved toward the youngest boy, his expression sober “—ride to Briarstone and find Aric, bringing him back with as many men from there as can be spared. Can you do this?”

  With a curt nod, Neddy said, “I’ll do it,” and the next moment set his heels into the horse’s flanks and rode for Talwar’s gates.

  John followed the boy out into the darkness, while Senet sent one last look at Ralf, who had already dismounted. “Rouse Kayne as quickly as you can and discover what happened. When Lady Evelyn returns, lock her in her chamber and do not let her out until you’ve had word from me or Sir Justin. Not for any other reason. Believe nothing the witch says.”

  “Aye, Senet. Godspeed.”

  They would need God’s help, Senet thought grimly as he followed John into the night and out onto the open road leading away from Talwar, especially if they were to find and follow Isabelle and Evelyn. Even with only a few minutes’ lead, the women might be impossible to find in this darkness.

  “Damn you, Justin Baldwin,” he muttered as he quickened his horse’s pace to catch up to John, adding, more prayerfully, “Merciful God, bring him back soon.”

  It was Aric who showed them which way to go, when he suddenly appeared out of the darkness and waved them onto a nearly hidden path heading straight into the woods. Once concealed in the darkness, he put up a hand to bring them all to a halt.

  “Lady Isabelle and her cousin are just ahead,” Aric whispered. “We must be silent, else we give ourselves away. Several mounted men went in earlier.”

  “What are you doing here?” Senet demanded, his anger evident despite his low tone.

  “I’ll explain later,” Aric promised, dismounting. “We must hide the horses and go in on foot. Hurry.”

  A few minutes later, moving stealthily through the trees, they neared a clearing where several torches, held aloft by armed soldiers, gave off clear light.

  “I’m disappointed, Isabelle,” Sir Myles was saying. “Are you not glad to see your loving uncle?”

  Isabelle seemed not to know who to look at, either her cousin, whose beauty was marred by a graceless smirk, or her uncle, who was clearly well satisfied with himself and the situation. Swinging her gaze from one to the other, Isabelle demanded, “What have you done with Sir Christian? He was to meet me here. If you have brought him some harm…”

  “Have no fear for the lord of Briarstone, Cousin,” Evelyn replied. “He never received the missive you wrote, asking him to act as your escort to Gyer. The missive I gave into Aric’s care was for Father Hugo, telling him that there is no need for him to come to Talwar on the morrow, and to go on to Siere without me. I hope you will not mind that I signed your name to it, but I could not take the chance of forging Justin’s signature, should Father Hugo be familiar with his brother’s written hand.”

  Both Senet and John turned to look at Aric with accusation, until, with a sly smile, Aric silently pulled a rolled parchment document from out of his tunic and held it up for them to see in the darkness. His meaning was clear— he had never delivered the false missive—and Senet released a breath of relief before returning his attention to his sister, who was staring at Evelyn as if she had never seen her before.

  “It was all lies,” she said, clearly stunned. “Justin said that he had not betrayed me. The child is not his, is it?”

  Evelyn laughed with delight. “What child, Cousin?”

  “God’s mercy,” Isabelle uttered faintly. At the distress in her tone, Senet surged forward, held back only by John and Aric each putting a hand on his shoulder. Isabelle looked at her smiling uncle. “You did it to bring me back?” she asked, shaking her head slowly. “But Justin will know. He’ll realize that I have not gone to Gyer, and he’ll come looking for me.”

  “Will he?” Eve
lyn asked. “When you had such little faith in him, and left of your own accord?”

  “He expected me to go to Gyer!”

  “Foolish mouse.” Evelyn sneered, prodding her steed closer to Isabelle’s, so that she might speak into her face. “Justin is well rid of you, I vow. Do you think I shall have any difficulty convincing him that you left Talwar on your own, keeping your destination a secret, even though I tried to stop you? And who will disprove me? Aric didn’t know what was in the missive that you sent Sir Christian, and Father Hugo will be on his way to Siere by tomorrow. By the time Justin’s priestly brother hears that you have gone, perhaps many months from now, he will only conclude that you sent him on his way out of goodness, so that Justin and I might be together.”

  “Senet…” Isabelle began.

  “Is sleeping soundly,” Evelyn told her. “And will be as confused by your absence as the others when he arises in the morn.”

  “Then Kayne will surely know something is amiss,” Isabelle argued insistently. “He was serving as guard this night, and will know that you have been gone, as well.”

  “Kayne, I think, will only feel some shame and regret for drinking too much wine and falling asleep at his post I took him the wine myself, well mixed with a sleeping draught. He drank only a little, to serve him credit, but I can easily persuade him that he drank much more, and soon became insensible. Guilt will keep him from pressing the matter more. No one will see me return to Talwar, and no one will know that I have ever been gone. In the morn, I shall be as distressed as the rest of the household, and more than ready to comfort Justin when he returns to find you gone and lost. Not that he will suffer long, since he already wanted you gone. Oh, he will want to know where you are, I grant, for he will feel responsible for you yet. But when he realizes that you cannot be found, he will forget you soon enough, and he and I will find the happiness that you tried to deny us.”

  Isabelle held her cousin’s gaze. “Do you love him, Evelyn? In truth?”

  “I didn’t lie about that,” Evelyn told her. “You need not fear that Justin will ever be unhappy, for I would gladly kill to make sure of it. And you already know that he loves me.”

  “Nay,” Isabelle said sadly. “He told me that he does not. I wish I had believed him instead of you.”

  “He does love me!” Evelyn cried, raising a fist to strike her cousin.

  “Not now.” Sir Myles reached out and grabbed his daughter’s hand before it could descend, steadying his horse as it bumped against hers. “’Leave Isabelle to me.”

  “She’s mad!” Evelyn shouted furiously, pulling herself free of her father’s restraint. “She’s crazed if she thinks that any man would choose her over me. A plain, ugly, stupid mouse!”

  “Very well, my dear,” her father agreed placatingly. “Very well. I shall take care to punish her thoroughly for stealing your rightful husband from you, and give you my word that she will learn sorrow. You must keep your thoughts on handling Sir Justin, and not worry o’er Isabelle. And you must return to Talwar before you are missed.”

  Evelyn glared at her cousin, who sat solemn and still in the cold night air. “Only make certain that you do as you have said, Father, for if I find that she has been living in luxury and comfort so that you might better win her efforts on your behalf, I will ruin everything for you. I vow it on my mother’s soul.”

  Without another word, she backed her horse a few steps, then turned and rode away.

  “Where are you taking me?” Isabelle asked, her gaze moving over the men her uncle had brought with him.

  “It is none of your concern, Isabelle. Only be thankful that I have let you live, for by rights I should kill you for the slight you have given your cousin and me.”

  Isabelle leaned forward in her saddle, pinning her uncle with a steady gaze. “You should kill me, then, for I will be of no better use to you alive. I will not labor for you again. You have nothing left with which to make me obedient.”

  Chuckling, Sir Myles tapped Isabelle’s pale cheek with two lifted fingers. “Oh, you will, my girl. Never doubt it. If you value Sir Justin’s life, which will now be under Evelyn’s command, you will do exactly as you’re told.”

  Isabelle leaned away from his touch, her face twisting with disgust. “Evelyn would not kill him. She is many things, but she could not do anything so vile.”

  “Could she not?” her uncle mused aloud, leaning to pull the reins of her steed from her hands. “Think well, Isabelle, and wonder how it is that you were so ill, and how you came to lose your babe.” Ignoring her gasp, he continued pleasantly, “If your memory serves you well, you will soon understand that Evelyn played her part in both. And she drugged the boy named Kayne, did she not?”

  “Merciful God,” Isabelle uttered, horror and shock thickening her voice. “My baby…”

  “And so you see, my dear,” Sir Myles went on, as the horses set forth into motion, and as he pulled Isabelle’s mount after his, “you must be a very obedient and dutiful niece if you don’t want Sir Justin to meet with a similar fate. Wish him a long and happy life, and luck in keeping Evelyn content, and do nothing, my girl, to make me regret my care of you. Despite her declarations of love, I could easily persuade Evelyn to do my will with but the promise of a few well-purchased rewards. Never forget it.”

  John and Aric waited until the riders were well away before at last releasing Senet, who stood bolt upright with a furious oath. “Bastard!”

  “Aye,” Aric agreed, coming up beside him. “I thought something was amiss when Lady Evelyn put that missive into my hands, instead of Lady Isabelle. We agreed that she could not be trusted, did we not?”

  “She’s a murderer,” John murmured as he, too, stood. “She poisoned Lady Isabelle and made her lose the babe.”

  “We cannot think on that now,” Senet said, “or we’ll lose sight of all else in our anger. Has Sir Justin not taught us better than that?”

  “S’truth,” Aric agreed as they began to return to the horses. “What should we do, then?”

  “Go after my uncle and his men and discover where they’re taking Isabelle, and then return for Sir Justin,” Senet replied. “We must hurry. Aric, you go back to Talwar while John and I follow Sir Myles.”

  “No.”

  Senet threw the other boy an angry glance. “There’s no time to argue. Someone must go back and tell the others what Lady Evelyn is about, and I’ll need Johri to remember the way we go so that we can readily lead Sir Justin there.”

  “I’m going,” Aric stated stubbornly. “Lady Evelyn won’t be causing any trouble until we get back. She’ll not want to overset Sir Justin, and will behave well enough until she’s found out. But you’ll need every man possible following after Sir Myles. Three of us together will fare far better than two.”

  “He’s right,” John put in as they reached their steeds, swiftly untying them and mounting. “We’ve no money and no arms, save the daggers Sir Justin gave us, and only these clothes, hardly fit for traveling. If we don’t get caught and charged for stealing horses like dirty thieves, won’t we be glad enough just to keep pace with Sir Myles? We need Aric. He’s the best among us in a fight, isn’t he? I say, God’s word, he is.”

  “You speak the truth,” Senet admitted. “And this is no civilized tournament we’re entering, nor even a war with rules of combat, such as Sir Justin has taught us.” With a nod to Aric, he said, “Thank you.”

  “I’m not doing it for you,” Aric replied brusquely, “nor even for Sir Justin. ‘Tis Lady Isabelle I think of.”

  “It is well enough,” Senet said. “Kayne will be pulling his hair from his head, wondering where we are and what he should do, but he will have to do his best until Sir Justin returns. God be with him, and with all of those at Talwar.”

  “God be with us,” John added softly as they set off into the night, where a thick, hanging mist had already made the start of their journey both treacherous and cold.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

 
Justin returned to Talwar four days later, in a foul mood. If the presence of several soldiers from Briarstone seemed strange to him, he did not stop to take note of it, but rode through the front gates and up to the doors of the manor house. He dismounted the weary-looking Synn, tersely instructed two of Sir Christian’s soldiers to take care of him, then walked into his home without any concern for how his filthy, unshaved, unkempt appearance might seem to those inside. He was greeted by the sight of Sir Christian, his brother Hugo, several men-at-arms, and Gytha and Meg, all of whom had stopped what they were doing and turned to gape at the man who’d so suddenly entered the house.

  “Where’s Isabelle?” he demanded. “I want to talk to her now!”

  “Justin,” Sir Christian began, taking a step toward him. “Where have you been? I’ve had men out searching the countryside…”

  “I don’t have time for that,” Justin snapped, waving his friend aside as he started for the working chamber. “Isabelle!” he shouted. “Isabelle! I want to talk to you! You’re not leaving Talwar, and I don’t care whether you agree to it or not!” The sight of the empty working chamber wrought a curse from him, and he flung the door shut.

  “Justin!” Hugo said sternly.

  “Not now”, Justin told him, and, striding across the room, began to take the stairs toward the upstairs bedchambers two at a time. “Isabelle Baldwin! Do you hear me? I said you’re not leaving Talwar! I don’t care what you think about your cousin and me, but I’ll not let you leave me for it! I’ll lock you in your chamber if I have to! Because I damned well love you, and I’ll go to Hell and back before I’ll let another man have the care of you! Do you hear that? Isabelle!”

  He disappeared down the hall, and those standing below in the great room could hear him going through each chamber, shouting Isabelle’s name and slamming doors. At last he appeared at the top of the stairs.