Janna Mysteries 1 & 2 Bindup (22 page)

The tiring woman stayed silent.

‘Is this your usual meeting place?’

Cecily swallowed hard, but kept mute.

‘You were expecting to meet your lover, weren’t you! You were expecting to meet …’

Hugh, whose livelihood depended on his aunt’s good opinion?

Or Robert, who stood to lose everything if Dame Alice discovered the truth?

‘Robert of Babestoche.’ Janna held her breath.

A shocked gasp was her only answer. Cecily glanced towards the door as if planning to escape. Janna’s muscles tightened in anticipation of the need to stop her, should she try to flee. ‘Tell me who you were expecting to meet here, Cecily!’ she demanded.

No reply. In the silence, Janna heard soft scufflings, rustlings as tiny creatures went about their business. ‘Listen,’ she snapped, losing patience at last. ‘I’ve risked everything to come and see you. Just answer my question. Or nod if I’ve got it right. You and my lord Robert have had an affair, yes?’

Cecily gave a reluctant nod. Janna felt her muscles relax. She began to breathe again.

‘You told my lord you were expecting his child?’

This time the nod was accompanied by tears. Cecily buried her face in her hands.

‘I know that what I did was wrong,’ she said, ‘but his kind words and compliments persuaded me that he cared for me, that he loved me. I know he does not love Dame Alice, for he spends little time in her company and much time seeking his pleasure elsewhere. I thought, when he wooed me, that he meant his loving words. I was wrong.’ Her voice shook with desolation. ‘When I told him I was with child, I expected him to rejoice at the news. Our own child, an expression of our love.’ Unconsciously, Cecily’s hands moved to stroke her stomach, to cradle the unborn baby that was no more. Tears coursed down her cheeks unheeded. ‘Instead of welcoming a child to bless our union and seal our love, he was exceeding wrath with me. He bade me tell no-one of my condition.’

Now that she had started, the words gushed out in a flood. Cecily was finding relief in unburdening herself. ‘While I waited for him to speak of love, he told me instead that I would have to leave, go somewhere safe, and that he himself would make the plans for it. I understood then that, while Robert takes his pleasure elsewhere, he will do nothing to upset Dame Alice or cause her to turn against him. He warned me that she must never find out about our liaison for, if she did, she would cast me out of the manor and I would have nowhere to go!’ A tinge of bitterness crept into her tone. ‘I suspect he fears that Dame Alice might take similar action against him as well. He greatly fears her wrath for she holds everything in her own right, as an inheritance from her family. Robert was but her steward before she married him.’

Fear. Cecily’s words confirmed what Janna had suspected lay behind all that had happened. Fear of being found out. Fear of losing the comfort and privilege to which Robert had become accustomed.

Cecily raised a tear-stained face to Janna. ‘I know now that what was between us is over. I was only ever a passing fancy for Robert, but I do not wish to leave Dame Alice and my home here. I know I have wronged ma dame, but she has been kind to me. She is the only family I have.’

Janna put a comforting arm around Cecily as she started to cry once more. Cecily’s hopes and dreams were already shattered, but there was more to come. This final betrayal would likely destroy her altogether. Janna could only hope that Cecily was stronger than she looked. She searched for the words to break the news as gently as she could.

‘You said the wine was a gift from Robert. What did he say when he gave it to you?’

‘He said I looked ill. He said that he was worried about me. He bade me keep the wine for my own, and drink it down for it would give me strength and make me well again.’ Cecily tossed her head. ‘I know now that his only concern was to keep my condition a secret until he could send me away.’

‘Was the bottle sealed when he gave it to you?’

‘No, it was not.’ Cecily looked faintly puzzled.

‘Because it was not sealed, did you perhaps add anything to the wine before you gave it to my mother, special herbs perhaps, or maybe some honey to make it more palatable?’ This was Cecily’s final test, although Janna was already sure she knew the answer.

‘No, there was no need. The wine of Normandy is very fine, whatever Dame Alice might say about it.’

A sudden vision rose before Janna: Robert pouring wine for Dame Alice. She had knocked the goblet from his hands, claiming that the wine was tainted. Before trying to poison his mistress, had Robert first tried to poison his wife? Janna tried to calm her agitation. She must not speak of it, at least not yet.

‘This was not a fine wine,’ she said softly. She put her hand on Cecily’s arm to steady her. ‘The wine that Robert gave you was mixed with monkshood. The poison was meant for you, Cecily.’

‘No!’ Cecily’s howl of distress echoed around the empty barn.

‘Robert meant
you
to drink the wine,’ Janna said steadily. ‘That was how he planned for you to leave Babestoche Manor. He knew his secret would be safe if you were dead.’

‘No!’ Cecily cried again, her voice catching in her throat. ‘You are mistaken, Janna. Your grief over your mother’s death will not let you believe that it was one of her own potions that poisoned her.’

Janna wondered if Cecily really believed that, or if she was merely trying to protect Robert, and herself, from the truth. She walked over to an empty barrel and reached inside to find the bottle she had secreted there. She held it out to Cecily for her inspection. ‘This is the bottle that you gave to my mother, is it not? She took a sip or two, but she poured the rest away, recognising, I think, that there was something wrong with it. You told me that my mother called for a monk as she lay dying. You were wrong. She was trying to tell you that the wine was poisoned and that the poison was monkshood. She was trying to warn you that Robert wants you dead.’

‘No! I don’t believe you. Surely you are wrong!’ The statement was uttered without conviction. The seeds that Janna had planted were now in full bloom.

‘We never drank wine, my mother and I. Not being familiar with its taste, she would not have known at first that there was anything wrong with it. And so she drank enough to kill her,’ Janna persisted. ‘It seems that Dame Alice was more fortunate.’

‘What do you mean?’ Cecily looked puzzled as she tried to work out the apparent change of subject.

‘You told me she said that the wine was tainted. I, myself, saw her knock to the floor the wine Robert poured for her.’

Cecily’s face paled as she came to understand the full import of Janna’s words. She reached out and took the bottle from her hands, and turned it over and over as if to fathom the secret it held. ‘This was my gift from Robert,’ she whispered, ‘and yes, I defied him, I broke my promise of silence. I thought it was safe to do so. I thought if I could go to him afterwards and tell him that the danger had passed, he might relent and let me stay. Instead he berated me for going to your mother, even though I promised him that I’d never uttered his name with a single breath, and that no-one could connect my plight with him.’

Janna remembered the scene she’d witnessed between them in the hall. In truth, Cecily had been pleading to stay on at the manor. But instead of chastising her for leaving without permission, as Janna had supposed, Robert was in a rage because she’d involved Eadgyth in their affair. ‘You have every reason to fear my lord Robert,’ she warned. ‘He lies behind everything that has happened. You see, he heard me ask Aldith if there was monkshood in the cordial she shared with my mother. After your confession, he knew exactly how and why my mother died, and he also knows that I do not believe she died by her own hand. To protect himself, he discredited me and did all in his power to stop me talking about my suspicions. That’s why he incited the villagers to frighten me away and to burn my cottage. I’m sure he was delighted to learn that I’d died in the fire!’

‘How could I have so misjudged him!’ Cecily thrust the bottle back into Janna’s hands.

Janna thought of the other young women who had visited her mother for the same reason as Cecily. ‘You are not the first to be gulled by flattery and kindness,’ she said, hiding a wry smile as she thought of Hugh.

‘And because of it, your mother now lies dead.’ Cecily shuddered. ‘I am so sorry, Janna. Truly, I would rather have died in her place than bring her harm and cause you this grief. Yet I acted in all innocence, please,
please
believe that.’

‘I do believe you. And I don’t hold you responsible for my mother’s death. The blame lies full square with my lord Robert, who has shown that he will stop at nothing to save his own skin.’

‘How did you know he was my lover? How did you come to suspect him?’

‘My lord Hugh told me how distressed Robert was when my mother took ill and he was summoned to Dame Alice’s bedchamber. He thought it was because Robert expected to find Dame Alice at death’s door, but I think it was the shock of seeing you alive and well when he thought he had silenced you for ever.’

In her distress, Cecily was tearing at the kerchief in her hand, ripping it into shreds. Janna felt deeply sorry for her, but she had come here to convince Cecily of the danger she faced if she stayed on at the manor. ‘I thought nothing of it at the time,’ Janna continued, determined that Cecily should know and understand everything. ‘It was only when I added it to everything else that had happened, including the scene I witnessed between you and Robert and the subsequent action he has taken against me, that I understood who was behind all this.’ No need to mention Hugh’s name, she thought, feeling suddenly light-hearted that, for once, caution had kept her out of trouble.

‘There were others I suspected guilty before I thought of my lord Robert,’ she admitted, not wanting Cecily to get entirely the wrong idea about her powers of deduction. ‘Aldith the midwife, the priest and Fulk the apothecary – they all had good reason to want my mother dead, and the means to bring it about. When I began to ask questions, I was forced to rule them all out for one reason or another, until only Robert was left. The kitchen maid confirmed that he knows where monkshood grows in the garden and is fully aware of how dangerous it is. His motive was to silence you, and he had the perfect opportunity to do it, except you gave his gift away and my mother died instead.’

Tears came into Janna’s eyes. She hurriedly turned away so that Cecily would not see them. ‘I must go,’ she said. ‘It’s not safe for me to stay here. It’s not safe for you either, mistress. You must leave this place, and quickly, before Robert tries once again to silence you.’

There was no response. Cecily was staring blindly at the bottle that had caused so much harm. Janna set it down on the earthen floor, and wiped her hands. ‘You must flee,’ she said again. ‘You’ve escaped death for the moment, but you’ll always be a threat to Robert while you stay here.’

‘I doubt he’ll try anything against me now,’ Cecily said tiredly. ‘The baby is lost so that danger is over. No-one would believe me if I was to speak out against him. He must think the secret of the wine is also safe, for the only witnesses were you and your mother. So far as he knows, his secret has gone to the grave with you.’

Janna shook her head. ‘Even if you could be sure of your safety, mistress, it would surely be better for you to leave, to start a new life away from this place with its sad memories. Do you not have some kin you could go to, who would give you shelter and look after you?’

‘I have no-one save Dame Alice. My father was her tenant, and she took me in when he died. I was only a child, but she was very kind to me.’ Cecily’s lips quivered. ‘I have betrayed her kindness, I know, but I will not do so again, nor will I let any harm befall her.’ She squared her shoulders and faced Janna. ‘From now on, I will taste my lady’s wine before she drinks it. Ma dame will not find it tainted again.’

Janna gave a reluctant nod. She respected Cecily’s desire to make amends, but still she felt deep concern for the tiring woman. ‘Just as I have assumed a new identity, so can you too.’ She grasped Cecily’s hand. ‘Come away with me,’ she urged. ‘Come away to safety.’

‘No.’ New courage and conviction shone in Cecily’s eyes. Janna understood that she would not be persuaded to run. She released Cecily’s hand and stepped away. ‘Then I beg you, for your own sake, to be careful,’ she said. ‘And for the safety of both of us, please keep your knowledge that I am alive to yourself, for Robert would have me dead – and you too, if it assures his safety.’

Cecily nodded sadly. ‘I will keep a careful watch,’ she said, adding, ‘but it is not only Dame Alice who keeps me here. I fear what might become of me, should I leave. I have not your courage, Janna.’

Janna was startled by the admission. She gave a short laugh. ‘It is not courage that accompanies my journey, it is hope. Besides, I have lost my home and all here wish me dead. I have no choice but to leave. But you, mistress, have more courage than you know.’ And you will need it, she added silently. It would be hard for Cecily to face Dame Alice with the knowledge of her betrayal, but even harder to face Robert knowing that he had wanted her dead.

Cecily smiled faintly. ‘I have an old kirtle that would fit you better than those grubby articles you wear. It would certainly suit you better! If you will but wait here, I can fetch it for you.’

‘No.’ Janna put out a hand to detain her. ‘I am content with what I have.’ It was not quite true. Her skin was beginning to itch; creatures seemed to have taken up residence in the dirty, sweat-stained smock and breeches she wore. The thought of a fine clean gown to wear was tempting beyond belief, but Janna was content with her new identity if not her clothes, and the clothes would wash. ‘Do not trouble yourself about me, mistress,’ she said. ‘I am leaving now. You will not hear from me again.’ She hoped that was not true, but her secret wish to return with her father and bring Robert to justice was not something Janna was prepared to share with Cecily. Noticing the tiring woman’s obvious bewilderment, she explained further. ‘Henceforth I mean to live as a youth, to have a youth’s freedom as well as the safety of a new identity. Pray keep my secret if you value my life.’