Fire Song (24 page)

She wrapped herself in the blanket and curled up in a tight ball. Why had he not raped her as he had Blanche? She shivered. Perhaps he still would rape her. Perhaps his seeming kindness was all a sham. She shook her head, wondering if she would ever understand any man. Her last thought before she slept was of a bloody battle between her father and Graelam for possession of Belleterre.

Dienwald handed her a hunk of bread. “Eat,” he said, and turned to speak to his men.

She chewed the dry bread slowly, wishing she had a goblet of milk. Her fear, in abeyance the night before, had returned full measure when he had awakened her at dawn. She swallowed the bread and waited for him to return.

“What will you do with me?” she asked, looking up at him.

“I will tell you whilst we ride,” he said.

Ned tossed her up into Dienwald’s arms. She settled herself, and waited for him to speak.

“Why do you not let me ride my mare?” she asked at last.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“I cannot escape you.”

“I know.”

“Edmund, please tell me what you intend. I am very afraid.”

She felt his arm tighten around her and winced.

“Kassia, if I gave you the choice, would you prefer to return to your father in Brittany or to Wolffeton, to your husband?”

“If you are asking me who is more likely to pay you a ransom, I do not know.”

“I am not asking you that. Answer me.”

She sighed. “I cannot allow my husband to claim Belleterre and fight my father. If you gave me the choice, I would return to Wolffeton. It is where I belong.”

“Do you care for your husband?”

Dienwald expected a vehement denial. For many moments she said nothing.

He slowed his destrier to a walk, and Kassia found herself staring unseeing at the sharp-fanged boulders in a near hillside. She swallowed convulsively, remembering yet again Graelam’s kindness to her when she had first come to Wolffeton. His gentleness when he had taken her to his bed. His concern at her pain. What had she done to make him despise her? The stupid material she had taken to sew him a new tunic? She wasn’t aware that tears were slipping down her cheeks.

“I am stupid,” she said in a choked voice.

“Ah,” he said.

Suddenly Kassia stiffened in his arms. “Edmund, you are going in the wrong direction! We are on Wolffeton land!”

“I know, little chick.”

She tried to twist around to look at him, but he held her firm. “We are still several hours from Lord Graelam’s keep. Sleep. I believe you will need your strength.”

“I will never understand men,” she said.

He smiled over her head. “Mayhap not,” he said gently, “but you will not change. You must not change.”

“I would not know where to begin,” she said on a helpless sigh. She leaned back against him, trusting him as she did her father, and fell into a light sleep.

“Little chick. Wake up.”

Kassia straightened, looking around her as she shook the dregs of sleep from her mind.

“Wolffeton lies just beyond the next rise. I can take you no farther.” He laughed softly. “I have no wish to face your husband. I fear he would peel off my hide.”

He pulled his destrier to a halt and nimbly jumped to the ground, Kassia held firmly in his arms. He set her down gently.

There were so many questions in her eyes that he began to shake his head in answer. “Listen to me, Kassia,” he said, lightly stroking his hands over her arms. “You will take care when you return to Wolffeton. Do you understand me?”

He knew that she did not. He ground his teeth, but self-interest kept him quiet.

I will try to do as you say, Edmund,” she said, her head cocked to one side, her great eyes wide upon his face.

“Go now, little chick.” He leaned down and lightly kissed her mouth, then quickly released her. “Ned, bring her mare!”

He tossed her onto Bluebell’s back. “Remember what I told you,” he said, then thwacked the mare’s rump.

He stood quietly, watching her ride toward Wolffeton.

“My lord,” Ned said, coming up to stand beside him.

“Aye?”

“The lass rides into hell, methinks. Ye did not tell her of the woman’s plot.”

“No, I did not.” Dienwald turned and grinned rakishly at his man. “As I told the wench, Ned, I have no wish to have Lord Graelam after my hide! If she knew who I was, the chances are that sooner or later her husband would find out, and not be content until he had me roasting in hell’s fires!”

“But that other lady. She knows ye, my lord.”

“Aye, but to harm me, my friend, she would be doing herself in. And I have the feeling that Lady Blanche cares as much about her pretty hide as I do about mine.”

Ned spat onto the rocky ground.

Guy ran a weary hand through his hair. His eyes blurred with fatigue, yet he knew he would ride again within the hour to continue the search, this time northward. He walked down the steps from the keep into the inner bailey, pausing when he heard men shouting. Had Graelam found her? He galloped down the steps, and came to an abrupt halt at the sight of Kassia, alone, riding her mare into the inner bailey.

“Guy!” she called, waving to him wildly even as she slipped off her mare’s back. “Guy!”

She ran toward him, her hands outstretched. Guy wanted nothing more than to crush her against him, so great was his relief that she was safe, but he saw the
men closing about them, and grasped her hands, holding her away from him.

“You came back,” he said roughly.

“He brought me back,” Kassia gasped. “I thought he would rape me or kill me, but he did not! He was kind, Guy! He brought me home!”

“What,” Guy said, startled by her strange words, “are you talking about?”

“Where is Graelam? He is all right, is he not?”

“He is searching for you. I expect him to return shortly.”

“Blount! Rolfe!” she cried, pulling away from Guy. “How good it is to see you again!” She had no time in her excitement to realize that the men were gaping at her, for she saw Blanche standing on the steps leading up to the great hall, her son, Evian, at her side.

“Blanche! Are you all right? I was so worried for you!”

Kassia started toward her, but Guy grabbed her arm. “Wait,” he said tersely.

She responded to his voice, and turned slowly to face him, confusion darkening her eyes. “What is the matter, Guy? Did everyone believe me dead? I was afraid, but he wasn’t evil as I thought at first. Indeed—”

She broke off, hearing the thundering sound of approaching horses. She felt Guy take her arm and hold her still beside him. Why had Blanche not come to welcome her? Why were the men regarding her like she was a ghost?

Graelam rode at the fore of his dozen men into the inner bailey. He was so bloody tired he could scarce see straight. His face was gray with worry, and fear, and anger. He raised his head, his hand upraised to halt his men, and saw her standing beside Guy. He felt a spurt of sheer relief, before rage flowed through him.

He leapt off Demon’s back, his hands clenched into fists. He held himself still for an instant, drawing on his waning control.

Kassia pulled free of Guy and ran toward her husband. “Graelam! I am home! I am safe!”

He caught her arms and stared down at her.

“You are unharmed?”

She nodded happily. He closed his eyes a moment, nearly choking on his rage. “Aye,” he said very calmly, “I see that you are quite unharmed. Why did you come back, my lady?”

She cocked her head to one side in question. “He brought me back, my lord. He did not harm me, I promise you.”

Graelam was aware that every servant and all of his men were watching. He should take her inside, away from all his gaping people, but he could not seem to bring himself to move. He saw Blanche from the corner of his eye, her face white, her hand clutched over her breast. “He, my lady?” he asked coldly, turning back to her. “The man you hired to help you return to Brittany brought you back?”

“Hired . . .” Kassia repeated blankly. “I do not understand, my lord. I was kidnapped, but the man, Edmund is his name, felt . . . sorry for me, I think. He brought me back.”

Graelam swallowed convulsviely. He took her arm, saying as he drew her forward, “Come, we shall go into the hall.” He heard Guy call to him, but he ignored him.

Kassia took double steps to keep up with him. What had he meant about her hiring men? She darted a glance upward to his set profile. She could see the lines of weariness on his face, and felt a spurt of hope. He
had been searching for her. He must care something for her.

He released her suddenly, and gently pushed her down into a chair. He stood over her, frowning down at her thoughtfully. He said very pleasantly, “So you think, wife, to return to me, and have me smile at you and forget what you did?”

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but she blurted out her thoughts. “You searched for me.”

“Aye,” he said, “I have spared nothing trying to find you. That appears to please you.”

His voice was calm, but his eyes, dark as a cloudless night, were cold, so cold that she shivered.

“It . . . surprises me,” she said quietly.

Graelam’s eyes narrowed to black slits. Abruptly he turned away from her and called out sharply, “Blanche!”

Kassia felt a wave of relief to see Blanche walk slowly toward them.

“Blanche,” Kassia said, “you are all right? That man, Edmund, he did not harm you?”

Blanche smiled at her gently, a sad, pitying smile. “The man did not harm me, Kassia,” she said. She is like a cat, Blanche thought, always landing on her feet. By God, what was she to say, how was she to act? What would Graelam do if he discovered the truth? That made her still any guilt she felt. Why, she wondered, does everything I do end up in disaster? She had no choice now but to brazen her way through this.

“Tell her, Blanche,” Graelam said, “what you told me.”

She looked down at Kassia again, and said slowly, “Perhaps I was wrong, Graelam. Perhaps she did not hire those men. It simply appeared so to me.”

“What are you saying, Blanche?” she whispered. “You
know I did not hire those men. How could you ever believe that?” Her voice rose in her disbelief. “You saw them come after us. Surely you knew that they meant us harm. Their leader, Edmund, he raped you! Surely you realized they—”

“Yet you are returned safe and unharmed,” Graelam interrupted her smoothly.

“Kassia,” Blanche said urgently, “you are here again, safe. It is obvious that they meant you no harm.” She shrugged. “I was not certain if you were fleeing from them when they rode toward us. I thought that you were . . .” She paused, leaving a delicate, damning silence.

“That I what, Blanche?” Kassia said harshly, disbelieving what she was hearing.

“That you had hired them to help you escape Wolffeton and your husband. Forgive me if I misjudged you.”

Kassia stared at the circle of disbelieving faces around her. Edmund had warned her, but she had not understood. “But the man raped you, Blanche. How could you believe that they would do less to me?”

“He did not rape me, Kassia. No man save my husband has ever touched me. He merely . . . fondled me for a moment, and that made me scream. I believed he was in a hurry to return to you.” That, she thought frantically, must surely have been the truth!

“Kassia,” Graelam said very quietly, “you will cease your act.”

Act? What am I acting?

She struggled to her feet and looked at the faces around her. She saw Guy reach out to take her hand, saw her husband shove him away.

“Listen to what she has to say,” Guy said to Graelam.

“I will listen,” Graelam said. “Sit down, my lady. And talk.”

Kassia sat down again in the chair, her eyes staring blankly ahead. It was a nightmare, she thought vaguely. In a moment, she would awake, and she would be safe and warm.

“Speak,” she heard Graelam say.

She raised her eyes to her husband’s cold, set face and said very softly, “Blanche and I went riding yesterday morning. We were without escort, but on Wolffeton land. Three men came toward us. We tried to escape them, but they caught us. The leader, Edmund, told me he had raped Blanche and let her go. He took me up on his destrier. I thought he would rape me or kill me, or hold me for ransom, but he did nothing. He was . . . kind to me. He brought me home.”

Graelam regarded her silently. “Such a pitiful little tale,” he said finally. “Surely you had ample time to invent something more believable.” He turned to Guy. “Well, chivalrous knight, have I given her enough of a hearing?”

Guy had been watching Blanche’s face. He saw fear and something else in her eyes. Kassia’s story had been so unbelievable as to be the truth. He said quietly to Graelam, “If Kassia hired these men to return her to her father, what did she pay them?”

Blanche smiled, her relief so palpable that she quickly lowered her head so no one would see it.

“And why did she have them return her to you, my lord? If indeed she did hire them to escape you, the fact that she changed her mind must mean something.”

“Perhaps,” Blanche said, knowing that she must say something, hating herself for the damning words even as she spoke them, “she paid the men with her body.”

“No!”

Blanche scented victory. She must not succumb to pity or regret now. She said calmly, her eyes thoughtful on Kassia’s face, “And perhaps they did not like the bargain and thus let you go.”

You have been such a fool, my girl. Such a fool. Kassia gazed at Blanche helplessly. Slowly, the words forced from her mouth, she said, “My lord, I did not try to escape you.”

“I have heard enough for the moment, my lady,” Graelam said calmly. “Go to our bedchamber. I will come to you soon.”

Guy, who knew his lord much better than did Kassia, felt shuddering alarm at Graelam’s passionless voice. He touched his hand to Graelam’s sleeve. “I believe her,” he said.

“Do you indeed, Sir Guy? Do you not question why a man would kidnap a woman only to return her unharmed? It is foolishness.”

“I believe her,” Guy repeated, more firmly this time.

“You,” Blanche hissed at him, wanting to strike him for his obvious concern for Kassia, “are a besotted fool.”