Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (19 page)

“Nay, take the baby,” said Ascilia as if she
were frightened by the child.

“He doesn’t bite.” Ruby walked over to the
basin to clean her hands. “You really should try to find someone
like Nyle to marry,” she told her.

“What do you mean by that?” She heard the
woman’s gasp from behind her.

“Well, I mean that I thought he was an ogre
at first, but now I see I was mistaken.” She dried her hands and
turned to see the woman just staring at her. The baby was fussing
and trying to get away.

“How so?” she asked.

“Well, I thought Nyle was a man who had no
feelings or caring within him. But I saw the way he loves this baby
and also how upset he was when I almost got killed in the larder. I
know now that he would do anything at all for me, and tho he didn’t
say it, I truly think he loves me.” She smiled as she sat down in a
chair next to the bed. “He is a wonderful father and I am not sure
what he would do if he ever lost little Tibbar.”

“Really?” The woman looked at the baby
curiously, and then back to her. “And do you love Lord Sheffield as
well?”

“Aye, I do believe so,” she said with a
sigh. “I didn’t think I could ever love anyone since the death of
my mother and baby brother has affected me horribly throughout my
life. But now I realize I had closed off my heart to a wonderful
man in fear. And this little boy has taken the place of the brother
I lost so many years ago. I don’t know what either of us will do if
the king decides to take him back.”

“This is the king’s child?” she asked,
smiling slightly at the baby as if that thought pleased her. Ruby
realized she had just spilled the secret and clamped her hand over
her mouth and just shook her head.

“Oh, please, don’t say anything, as I wasn’t
supposed to tell you,” she begged her. “And whatever you do, don’t
tell Nyle I told you Tibbar is the king’s bastard or he would never
forgive me.”

Just then, the door burst open and Nyle
stood there with his hands on his hips. “These walls may be thick,”
he said, “but I have keen ears that can pick up the crying of a
baby as well as the tone of your wagging tongue, Wife.”

“Oh, Nyle, I am sorry,” she said, running
over to him. “It was an accident. But don’t worry, Ascilia will
keep our secret.”

He looked across the room and saw the
handmaiden with the crying baby, and stormed over and took the boy
from her arms. Tibbar stopped crying instantly. “Who said you could
hold the baby?” he asked. The handmaiden lowered her head quickly
and turned away.

“I told her,” said Ruby from across the
room.

“I don’t want anyone touching this baby
except the two of us and my sister,” he reminded Ruby.

“I didn’t see the harm,” she protested,
having seen the smile on the woman’s face when she’d held the baby
and just knowing what it must have meant.

“There is a killer on the loose and we can’t
take a chance,” he growled.

“Oh Nyle,” she said with a small laugh.
“Ascilia is a handmaiden, not an assassin. You are overreacting
again.”

He looked once more at the handmaiden and
then headed out the door. “Come, wife,” he said. “And after the
meal you and I are going to have a little chat.”

Ruby slipped away from Nyle after the meal
when he was busy instructing his men as to the new security of the
castle. He’d decided to post more guards at the gate and have them
check every person who came to sells their wares and even the
villeins who served him as they tended to their chores.

Ruby couldn’t go two steps without having a
guard following her. And while she appreciated Nyle’s concern for
her safety, she was getting tired of being shadowed. She made her
way across the hall to see her handmaiden, Oralie, whose leg had
been wrapped by the healer, as she wanted to know how she was
faring.

“Oralie, how are you?” She sat down next to
the woman on the bench and put her hand on her shoulder.

“I am faring much better,” she told her.
“However, I fear ’twill be some time before I am healed and I can
resume my duties of your lady-in-waiting. My leg was not broken,
but hurt badly.”

“I understand,” she said, feeling sorry for
the woman as she truly seemed unhappy. “But I am fine for now, as
Linette has been sharing her handmaid with me. Personally, I would
rather not have one at all until you return to my service.”

“I tire of sitting around all day and only
wish I could be of use to you, my lady.”

“Well, you can!” She waved Linette over who
was playing with Tibbar. “Linette,” she said, “I would like to let
Oralie, my handmaid, watch over the baby as well.”

“Of course,” she said, putting the child in
Oralie’s lap.

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” she said,
“however I can not move around and it may be difficult.”

“Why should it?” asked Ruby. “Tibbar doesn’t
walk yet and is really no trouble at all. “We could all take turns,
and I will assign a servant to help you if you should need it.”

“My Lady Ruby, you have made me so happy,”
she said.

Ruby next called over a young servant girl
that came with her from Blackpool whom she knew she could trust.
“Blodwen,” she said. “Please stay with Oralie and help her take
care of the baby at all times.”

“Of course, Lady Ruby,” she told her.

Ruby got to her feet and noticed that Nyle
was still engaged in conversation with his steward and the bailey
as well. She knew he’d be busy for some time and wanted to go
explore the castle as she’d yet to really see her new home.

“Linette, will you go with me to explore the
castle and its surroundings?” she asked.

“Of course,” she said. “That sounds like a
wonderful idea.”

Nyle watched from the opposite side of the
room as Ruby not only left the baby in Oralie’s care, but left with
his sister, when she knew he had told her he needed to talk to her,
as well as not to leave the baby with anyone besides the three of
them. When would she ever learn?

“So, did you want to go over the tallies
now, my lord?” His steward Lewis pulled a scroll from his side and
unrolled it. Nyle could see it was very long and knew this was
going to take much longer than he’d intended.

“And the villeins need you to settle a
dispute, as well as one of the serfs is requesting your permission
to marry, said the reeve. “They are waiting for you outside the
church as we speak.”

Nyle turned to Locke who was standing next
to him, and gave him an order in a low voice. “Follow my wife,” he
told him. “I have a feeling she’s going to try to lose the guards
and I want someone following her to protect her until I can finish
up. And tell Sir Godin to assign two guards to watch over the baby
as well.”

“Of course, my lord,” he said, and took off
to carry out his orders.

* * *

Ruby and Linette had climbed the battlements
and seen the armory as well as convinced one of the guards
following them to let them see the barracks as well. They walked
along the elevated walkway now, two guards right behind them as
they stopped and looked out over the wall.

“I always loved climbing the battlements at
my father’s castle at Blackpool,” said Ruby. “I feel so free when I
am up so high.”

“You should visit me in the Highlands some
day then,” she told her. “The hills and moors and fields of heather
are breathtaking. You would really like it.”

“I may do that some day,” she said, facing
out toward the open air and raising her face to the sun. She
reached back and unbraided her hair and let it blow in the
breeze.

“Are you happy here?” Linette asked her.
“And are you happy married to my brother?”

“I am,” she said with a smile. “I never
thought I would like being married but I do. However, I miss my
father and my sisters.”

“Then why don’t you go back to visit them?”
she asked.

“I would like to, but I am not sure Nyle
would take kindly to that idea right now, although he has promised
to take me. As you can see, he has me so well guarded that I cannot
take two steps without being shadowed by a guard. I feel like I am
no longer free, but more like a prisoner here.”

“He only does it for your own safety,” she
told her. “I can see he cares about you immensely.”

“I understand,” said Ruby. “But I am used to
being reckless and doing whatever I want. I love being the lady of
the castle but I still feel the need for excitement in my life as
well.”

“Well, I have had more excitement since I’ve
come here than I’ve had since the day I got married,” she told
her.

“Do you love your husband?” asked Ruby.

“I do,” she said. “I married a Scotsman and
moved to the Highlands, however Adair is often gone for long
periods of time. I, too, long for excitement.”

“Then let’s do something about that,” said
Ruby, looking back toward the guards. “And the first thing we have
to do is to lose these guards.”

“Nyle won’t like that,” said Linette with a
smile.

“And did you never do anything your brother
disapproved of when you were growing up?”

“My brothers were already away being
fostered by the time I was old enough to remember them. Being
almost ten years younger, I was like an only child.”

“Well, we need to make up for lost time
then,” said Ruby. “Be ready to pick up your skirt and run. I think
it’s time we had a little fun.”

“But a lady never picks up her skirt, but
rather glides,” Linette told her.

“Well, then mayhap it’s time you get a
lesson in how
not
to be a lady. And I can think of no one
better than myself to teach you.”

* * *

Ruby ducked into the mews with Linette right
on her heels. She dove around the dark corner, diving into the hay,
startling several of the hooded falcons in the process. She fell
down in the hay laughing and Linette joined her.

“We did it,” said Linette. “We managed to
shake the guards.”

“Shhhh.” Ruby held her finger to her lips
and peeked out the crack in the side wall to see the guards running
by.

“I think they went this way,” said one of
the guards, and they took off in the opposite direction.

The girls fell to their backs laughing.

“I haven’t laughed like this in a long
time,” said Ruby.

“I have never acted so reckless or
carefree,” added Linette.

“Who goes there?” came a voice from the
mews.

Ruby sat up quickly peering into the
darkness. She hadn’t known anyone was inside. “’Tis only Lady Ruby
and Lady Linette,” she answered, trying to see who it was who had
spoken to them.

A boy walked forward who was perhaps several
years younger than herself. His arm was outstretched and a hoodless
falcon sat perched upon it, turning its head to look at her with
one eye.

“Who are you?” asked Linette, sitting up
next to her.

“I am Darby, the falconer’s apprentice,” he
said. “I am new here.”

“Aye,” said Ruby, getting up and brushing
off her skirt. “I met you the other night. So, tell me, how is the
training going with the birds?”

“I enjoy it immensely,” he told them.
“However, Bertram, the falconer does not seem to train me as much
as I’d like. He tends to be gone a lot lately, as he sometimes
leaves for town and does not return until the next day.”

“Well, that’s not right,” said Ruby. “Where
does he go?”

“I’m not sure,” said the boy. “My lady,
would you like to hold the falcon?” he asked. “’Tis a young bird
that I have been training.”

“I would,” said Ruby taking the extra glove
from him and putting it on. “I had a falcon in Blackpool that was
mine, but one day on the hunt it was killed by one of the hounds
who mistook it for a pheasant I guess.”

“You are the lady of the castle and should
have a falcon. This one’s name is Jibbs, and I think it should be
yours.” The boy placed the falcon on Ruby’s arm.

“You look like a true lady now,” said
Linette, eyeing Ruby with the bird.

“Will you work with me in training this
falcon to truly be mine?” asked Ruby.

“I will,” he said. “It is still a young bird
but I think it will serve you well by the time we are done.”

“Lady Ruby?” Locke walked into the mews,
moving his head back and forth trying to see in the darkness. “Are
you in here?”

Ruby looked at Linette and they both burst
out laughing.

“I think our fun is over for the day,” said
Ruby. “And I do believe my husband is not going to be happy
tonight.”

“I’d have to agree to that,” said Linette.
“And I can only say that it was worth any of his ranting and
raving.”

Ruby gave the bird back to Darby, thinking
of how mad Nyle would be with her and that mayhap she shouldn’t
have done anything to anger him after all.

Nyle sat next to his wife and little Tibbar
the next morning on the bench as mass had just finished in St.
Agnes’s Church in the village. He listened to the church bells ring
and it did naught to calm his thoughts. It pained him that he
hadn’t had a proper marriage ceremony with Ruby and neither had her
family been present as was her wish.

God’s eyes, he hadn’t even given her a ring.
He looked down to his own finger with his gold signet ring and
thought to himself that he should give it to Ruby until he could
buy her a proper wedding band. But he realized he couldn’t, as it
was the last remembrance of his father, and besides, it wouldn’t
fit her. He’d just have to find another ring at a later date.

She seemed so natural with the baby on her
lap and he was impressed by the way she’d changed and was making a
true connection with Tibbar. His feelings for her had been growing
lately, even if she did continue to anger him by disobeying almost
ever order.