Susan Spencer Paul (29 page)

His smile made Lillis shiver with apprehension.

“I’ll promise you nothing more than that I am going to possess you fully. You will never be able to tell Alexander anything. He is dead, sweetest heart. Long dead now.”

She shook her head. “You’re mad,” she declared, quite calm. “You lie.”

“I do not.”

“You’re a mad fool,” she repeated, growing angry. “I’ll believe nothing you say. Alexander is not dead.”

“Sweet Lillis,” John replied, moving to close the distance between them, “I don’t care whether you believe me or no. Alexander died by my own hand only a few hours ago, but that has naught to do with what is about to happen between us.”

Too late Lillis made her move toward the stairs, for John leapt and easily caught her.

“No!” she cried, fighting him.

“But yes, my darling,” he returned, tumbling her onto the cold, hard rooftop. He straddled her with his legs and held her arms down with both of his hands. “There, that is much better,” he said once she was fully beneath him.

Lillis pushed and shoved to no avail. He was not a big man, yet he was certainly stronger than she. “I warn you, John Baldwin, you will regret this.”

“Will I? I think, rather, that I shall enjoy it. And you should enjoy it, too, dear lady, for it is the last time you shall ever enjoy a man.”

He leaned forward and tried to kiss her, and Lillis, with a sense of total revulsion, managed to loosen one hand and slap him. Only momentarily stunned, John slapped her back, hard, and then sat up a little and grinned at her.

“I’m going to give you one last chance, Lillis, to behave yourself. If you do not, I shall beat you until you are insensible and then I will enjoy your body in peace. Do you understand me?”

Unfortunately she did, and all too well. Her mind desperately grasped for any way of escape.

“I—John, I will let you make love to me if you will take me down to my chamber. I will let you do whatever you wish, only don’t rape me here on the rooftop. It is cold and uncomfortable and—please, John. I promise to behave.”

John chuckled and leaned closer so that he could look into her eyes. “Oh, my darling, you are so clever. We would have had such a good time with each other had I been able to keep you.” He kissed her mouth lightly, then smiled at her. “But that is not to be, for you must die, I fear. After I have made love to you, sweet Lillis, I am going to throw you from the parapet. You see? I shall throw you from the same place that your mother threw herself off. Is that not cunning of me?”

Lillis wasn’t exactly frightened upon hearing these words, nor did she feel any sense of foreboding. Her own life was of little concern to her, but she would not, could not allow her unborn child to be harmed in any way. “I’ll not let you kill me, John Baldwin,” she stated.

“No?” John asked, amused.

“No!” she shouted, freeing her hand once more. There was little space between her and John and the rooftop, but Lillis made do with what she had. She drew her hand back, fisted it and launched it sharply toward John’s nose. The impact was amazing. She could hear the crunch of his bones quite loudly, and when, in shock, he covered his face with his hands, Lillis shoved him from her body and rolled away.

Not looking back, she ran for the stairs. They loomed before her as though in a dream, close enough to see but too far to reach. Mere steps away from them John caught her, throwing her to the roof and turning her beneath him again. He was rough now, and his face, when she saw it, was a picture of rage and pain.

“This is what you are wanting now, my dear,” he said.

Lillis had never been struck in the face by a man before, but John proceeded to strike her with both fists, pounding her cheeks and teeth and eyes and striking again and again and again until she was stupid from the pain and force.

She had no knowledge of when the pain ceased and the other started. Her brain reeled as though drunk, all her senses were dimmed. Only vaguely did she realize that John was kissing and fondling her. She could hear moaning but didn’t particularly know whether it was her own pained voice or his excited one that she heard. When his hands began to pull her skirts up she weakly tried to keep them down, but John wouldn’t be deterred, and soon her surcoat was bundled up around her waist.

“Oh, my love, that is so much better, is it not?” she heard him murmur against her face. He was kissing her, wetly, all over her mouth and face so that Lillis was almost grateful for her muddled state. “I’m going to make you feel good, Lillis. So very good. You’re going to enjoy this, darling. You want me, do you not? I know you want me.”

She was sick and disgusted and prayed desperately for salvation. Alexander would come soon. Someone would come. Soon. She begged God to make it so.

And then, suddenly, Lillis heard several different things all at once. There was a loud commotion on the rooftop and the sound of John swearing aloud. A sharp whistle came from the direction of the stairs and then, strangely enough, a bird’s answering call. John swore again and started to climb off Lillis, but before he was fully off a large bird attacked him, and then there was all the furious confusion of wind and flapping wings and feathers.

Though it was quite dark, and though Lillis’s eyes were swollen from John’s fists, she could still see enough to understand what was happening. A bird was attacking John as ferociously as it would have attacked any prey, and John was shouting and swearing and fighting at it, his arms flailing and his body twisting to escape the creature’s fury.

Lillis scooted away from the struggling pair and then quickly, stumblingly, ran toward what she hoped were the stairs. Before she had gained more than a few steps, however, two strong arms came about her waist, lifting her off the ground to stop her.

She struggled and gouged her captor’s side with one elbow before she heard him whisper angrily, “Lillis!”

“Hugh!” she cried, turning and throwing her arms around him. “Thank God! Hugh!”

“Hush!” he whispered harshly. “And come with me. You were about to run right off the roof, you foolish female.”

He led her toward the stairway, carefully avoiding that area of the rooftop where, in the darkness, John’s struggles with the fierce bird loudly continued.

“Here we are, Hugo,” Hugh announced quietly, bringing Lillis to a halt. “Light the torch now.”

A spurt of flames lit the darkness and then a torch illuminated the area around them, blinding them at first with its brilliance.

“Look!” Hugh pointed. “There’s John and Lady. She—she’s driven him to the corner of the roof!”

John had indeed stumbled to the edge of the roof, fighting the wild bird unsteadily, stepping back and forth, clearly confused from the savagery of the attack. The falcon swooped down on him again, pecking his eyes with her sharp beak and scratching his face with her claws.

“You must call her off!” Lillis cried. “You must call her off now! Oh, merciful God! No!
No!
”

Even as she spoke, John lost his footing and tumbled headlong over the side of the ledge, his scream and the bird following him all the way down until there was silence.

Lillis screamed with horror and the twins stared in mute shock at the place where John had disappeared.

“Oh, my God!” Lillis sobbed. “He was a terrible man, but he didn’t deserve to die like that!”

“Do—do you think he’s dead?” Hugh asked.

“I hope so,” Hugo replied with equal dismay. “There’ll not be much left of him if he isn’t. It would be better to be—dead.”

“It’s terrible! Terrible!” Lillis continued to cry.

Hugo put his arms around her. “He must have been mad,” he soothed, patting her back gently. “Don’t cry, Lillis. There’s nothing we can do now. He’s dead. God’s toes! Cousin John is dead!” He said it as if he only just understood it.

Hugh collapsed on the stair’s top step and put his head in his hands. “God’s my life, what a night! If only we’d gotten here sooner.”

“Where were you?” Lillis asked, pushing from Hugo’s arms and looking from one brother to the next. “Why—you’re both covered with blood! What in God’s name happened?”

Hugh lifted his head and looked at her. Lillis could see more clearly the bruises and cuts on his face and the bloody gash on one side of his head.

“We were supposed to protect you,” he told her. “Barbara sent us a message yesterday telling us to be on guard in case John should come to Wellewyn. She didn’t explain anything else, but only said that we should be ready to protect you if he did come. We weren’t quite certain what to do, and we didn’t want to frighten you for naught, so we spent all of today watching for him.”

“And trying to think of what we would do if there was any trouble,” Hugo put in.

“Yes, we had no plan formed as to what we would do, exactly. We thought we would wait until he arrived and then think of something.”

“But we weren’t the only ones doing the watching.” Hugo sighed and rubbed his chin, which was beginning to swell and turn blue. “John must have had some of his men staying here at Wellewyn to keep an eye on us, for right after the morning meal when we went to our lookout post we were leapt upon by four men.”

“Big men,” Hugh added, nodding. “They beat us senseless and then tied us up.”

Lillis shuddered at the thought.

“They locked us in a shed,” Hugo continued, sliding down the parapet wall until he was sitting on the rooftop. He leaned his head back and closed his tired eyes. “We had the Fiend’s own time escaping, and when we finally did we came straight here to find you.

“There was no one below, so we came up to the rooftop and heard you talking to John and trying to fend him off. We didn’t know how to save you and we certainly didn’t have much time to figure something out. Setting Lady on him was all we could think of. It’s a damned good thing we got our birds from Gyer when we did.”

“Better than you even know,” Lillis said. “He was going to throw me off the roof after he had raped me, or so he said. You saved my life. I’m so proud of you both, and more grateful than I can ever tell you.”

Hugh smiled grimly at her. “Of course we had to save you, Lillis. You cannot think we would have let anything happen to you. The trouble is, what are we going to do now? John may be taken care of, but Wellewyn is filled with his men. Most of them are at the fire, causing it to burn just as fast as everyone else tries to put it out, but soon they’re going to come looking for their master and when they find him—”

“We must leave the castle at once,” Hugo stated, “and somehow get Lillis to Gyer. Alex will know what to do when we get there.”

“That’s right,” Hugh agreed, struggling to a standing position. “We’ll have to sneak some horses from the stables, first, and then—”

The sounds of a loud, violent commotion taking place downstairs made him stop. They looked at one another and listened. There was a great deal of shouting and yelling and clattering. It sounded as though every piece of furniture were being crashed against the walls, and as though every door were being rammed open.

“But why are they destroying everything?” Lillis asked with both fear and concern. There wasn’t much furniture at Wellewyn to begin with, and now, from the sounds of things, there wouldn’t be any.

Hugo put up one hand to silence her. “Hush!” he whispered. “Listen!”

The voice that sounded over all the noise was a distant rumbling at first, growing louder and closer with each passing second until it turned into a thunderous peal.

“Lillis! Damnation! Where are you?
Lillis!
”

The three standing together on the rooftop of Castle Wellewyn cried out in unison, and bumped into one another in their rush to get down the stairs.

“D
arling, you must keep still!”

“Well—ouch!— You’re hurting me, Alexander! Ouch! Stop it!”

Alexander sighed and lifted the towel he was cleaning his wife’s face with. She lay on the bed where he had placed her, glaring up at him through swollen eyes.

“Is this any way to treat your wife after she’s been through such an ordeal? I’ve no need to be mauled any further this night. John did a perfectly thorough job of it already.”

Alexander’s expression darkened and he dipped the towel in a nearby bowl of water, squeezing it out afterward as though he were squeezing his dead cousin’s neck. “Don’t speak that man’s name to me ever again, Lillis. The only reason I wish he was still alive is because I should like to have the pleasure of killing him with my bare hands.”

Lillis winced when Alexander dabbed the tender area by her left eye. “You don’t mean that, do you, Alexander? John—er—your cousin was certainly a bad man, but you’d not have killed him, would you?”

“Yes, I would. And not because of what he did to me, or even for what he did to Willem. He hurt you, Lillis, and any man who hurts you is going to die. Now hold still.”

Lillis wisely didn’t point out that he was hurting her at that very moment. He was still murderously upset, and she wasn’t going to do or say anything to make matters worse. He was with her and he was alive and well, and she was content.

“The twins were very brave,” she whispered, pleased to see Alexander smile a little.

“Yes, they were, were they not?” He chuckled as he remembered the sight that greeted him when he’d reached the bottom of the stairway that led to the roof. One moment he was in a dead panic, searching frantically for his wife, the next he was nearly knocked down by three half-crazed figures who came flying down the stairs, all shouting at him at the same time. “Who would have ever thought that those two fiends would be able to pull off such a feat?” he said with pride. “I suppose I shall have to give them some kind of reward.”

Lillis smiled. “Yes, I suppose you shall.”

They fell silent, and Alexander began to look grim again as he continued his gentle ministrations. Lillis reached up a hand and tentatively touched his cheek.

“Tell me the truth, Alexander. There are no mirrors here. I am ugly to look at, am I not?”

Alexander shook his head. “That’s foolishness, Lillis. You’re the most beautiful woman in God’s world.”

“Not now. My nose must be three times its normal size, and my eyes probably look like those of a frog. You shall have to put a grain sack over my head just to sleep in the same bed with me.”

Alexander laughed. “A sack indeed! Your wounds will heal very soon and then you will be more beautiful than before, and well you know it! But if you wish to be reassured, my love, I will gladly do so. And I’ll speak the truth to you.” He looked into her swollen eyes. “You could be completely bald and have one eye sticking out of the middle of your forehead and I would still love you as much as I ever did, and you would still be the most beautiful woman in the world. And,” he added, “if there was only some spot left on your face that wasn’t bruised or bleeding, I would kiss it.”

Lillis smiled, though the movement made her lips bleed again. “Do you know, Alexander, that is the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me? And I feel exactly the same way. I love you just as much as I ever did, even though half your face has turned black.”

“Quit smiling or you’ll never stop bleeding,” he demanded, mopping her lips with the towel again.

She touched his stained chin with her fingertips. “How did you get all black like this, husband?”

“Ink. That’s what Barbara used to switch the poison out of the bottle.”

“Ink?”
Lillis repeated incredulously. “Oh, Alexander, you didn’t drink ink, did you?”

“I didn’t have much choice,” he rejoined grimly. “I can only hope it will wear off in a few days. I suppose I should scrub it with some terrible potion or other. Aunt Leta will probably have a recipe for something particularly vile that will take it off right away.”

“I imagine she does,” Lillis agreed.

Alexander put the towel down and carefully slid his hands beneath her back. He hugged her tenderly, and Lillis put her own arms around his shoulders and held him in return, savoring the warmth and feeling of him. A minute passed before she said, “Alexander, tell me what’s wrong.”

He turned his face into the hollow of her neck. “I almost lost you today. I thought I had lost my brother. I thought I was going to die.”

“But you did not. None of those things happened.”

“But I wasn’t able to protect you, Lillis. You nearly died because you were so far away from me and because you wouldn’t let me leave more of my men here. Can you imagine how I felt as I rode here this night? Every moment I cursed myself for leaving you here so open and vulnerable.”

“You could have left a hundred men here and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Every man in Wellewyn was attending the fire. It wouldn’t have made a difference.”

“It might have.”

“No, it wouldn’t have. And who is to say John wouldn’t have tried to kill me at Gyer? He tried to kill you, and very nearly succeeded.”

“That does little to reassure me, wife.”

Lillis laughed and stroked his hair. “He’s gone and cannot harm us now. We must be thankful to God for all the miracles that have been given us this day. And we must be thankful to Barbara, as well, for it could not have been easy to betray her brother in such a way, after being under his mastery for so many years. She must have been terrified of him to have done all that he made her do in order to further his plans. And yet, she loved him, I think. How will she take the news of his death, I wonder?”

Alexander nestled against the warmth of her body and felt comforted. “That’s Jason de Burgh’s concern, not mine. He’s pacing the great hall wondering what he shall say to her on the morrow. They’re going to be married in a few days’ time and we’ll be rid of Barbara. We’re going to give them the finest wedding ever had in Gyer.”

“Better than ours?” Lillis teased.

Alexander lifted his head and looked at her, hating anew the bruises that covered her face and wanting to kill John Baldwin all over again.

“Our wedding was less than wonderful, was it not, my love?” He yawned and sat up to take his boots off.

“It was—a wedding,” Lillis said.

He laughed. “I suppose that’s the most you could say about it. It was, indeed, a wedding.” Lying down beside her, he took one of her hands and brought it up to his lips. “I love you, Lillis Ryon, and desire to make you my wife. Will you do me the honor of wedding with me?”

Lillis returned his gaze steadily. “We are already married, Alexander.”

He shook his head. “A forced marriage, not a marriage of love. We shall wed again, all anew, and repeat our vows and mean them, with naught between us but love. No land, no relatives, no fighting.”

“No captivity?”

“Definitely not. There will be no more guards, and no more locked doors. I want you to be my Lady Gyer in every way, with all the honor and respect and dignity that you deserve. Will you marry me, Lillis?”

Lillis gazed into Alexander’s beautiful green eyes with real wonder. How very far they had come from that night when they’d first met, when she had been his prisoner, and he had been her captor.

“There is something I must tell you first, my lord, before I give my answer.”

“What is it?”

Lillis reached a hand out to hold one of his; their fingers entwined and Alexander rubbed his thumb gently across her forefinger in a loving caress.

Shyly she said, “I’m with child.”

Alexander smiled, beaming down at her. “I know.”

“You—know?”

He nodded. “John told me.”

“
John
told you?” Her voice was tinged with anger. “That man whose name I am never to speak again
told
you?!”

Alexander could feel his wife’s body growing taut beneath him. Shifting his weight atop her a little to keep her down, he did his best to soothe her.

“Well, he didn’t exactly tell me, for he wasn’t entirely certain himself. He only said that you were very likely pregnant.”

“How kind of him!” Lillis said between clenched teeth. “Did he not realize that it is a wife’s privilege to inform her husband of her condition?”

“He was about to kill me, dear,” her husband noted logically. “I’m sure he didn’t care for common courtesies at that moment. But that doesn’t matter now. I’m very pleased about the child, love.”

Lillis only half heard what Alexander said. “I had meant to surprise you with the news,” she told him. “I was going to tell you myself. That rotten, horrible, cruel—” She stopped and looked at him. “Did you say that you are pleased, Alexander?”

He smiled and kissed the tip of her swollen nose. “Very pleased,” he said.

Her anger melted away under the tenderness and pride in his gaze.

“Our first child,” she whispered.

“The first of many, I hope,” he said, covering her belly with his hand. “I’d like to have a dozen children with you, Lillis. I wonder if this one will take after his mother?”

Lillis swallowed loudly. “Alexander, if it is a boy, I should like to name him Jaward, after my father.”

Alexander stared at her in disbelief.

“You jest.”

She shook her head. “No. I wish to name him Jaward, after my father.”

“No,”
Alexander said angrily, sitting up and away from her. “Absolutely not!”

Lillis looked at him sternly. “I only said I wished to name him Jaward. It is a request, not a demand. Can we not discuss the matter?”

“No!” he shouted. “No son of mine will carry that—that man’s name! Don’t mention this matter to me again, Lillis. Ever. I shall have the naming of the child.” He stood and strode angrily to the window, flinging open the shutters with force.

Disappointment shot keenly through Lillis as she watched her husband’s straightened back. She wanted to rage at him, to scream her frustration, but instead she turned on her side, shut her eyes and tried not to cry. She couldn’t really blame Alexander for feeling the way he did. There were still so many things he didn’t understand, so many things he didn’t know about what had happened between their two fathers. He didn’t even know the truth about the twins yet! She would be patient. She would speak with him again in the morn and then perhaps—

The bed dipped and Lillis stopped thinking. In another moment she felt Alexander’s arms sliding around her waist, pulling her gently up against his chest. He sighed and rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Forgive me. I fear it may take some time for me to cease being so angry with your father, and even more to stop behaving so foolishly. Forgive me.”

The tenderness in his voice undid her, and the hot tears made her swollen eyes sting. “It’s all right, Alexander. I understand how you feel about him.”

He squeezed her. “We’ll discuss the matter of the child’s name together. I cannot promise that I will agree to Jaward, however.”

“I only ask you to consider it,” Lillis replied, wiping her tears away. “That’s all.”

“I’ll consider it, I promise.”

“Then I will marry you.”

She felt him smile against the top of her head. “Will you? Because I’ll consider the name?”

She laughed. “Because I love you, and because I believe that you’ll try not to tyrannize me so much.”

“I have never tyrannized you, madam.”

“You are probably the greatest tyrant in all of Christendom, sir.”

“You’re confusing me with Aunt Leta, dearest.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Lillis agreed with a laugh.

He gently pressed her onto her back so that he could look into her eyes.

“I’m very happy, Lillis, and so very fortunate. I have you and soon will have our child. I shall thank God every day of my life for giving you to me.”

“As I shall thank Him for leading me to you,” she said, then added seriously, “Alexander, there are a great many things I must tell you about our families. Things that will not be easy to hear.”

Alexander was intrigued. “Truly? I shall prepare myself to hear them, then. But let us wait until the morrow, love. For now I want only to think of you.” He very gently kissed her lips. “Does that hurt?” he asked.

“A little,” she replied, putting her arms around his neck. “But not terribly. I’ve missed you so much, Alexander, since that last night we were together. Will you make love to me?”

He grinned at her. “I don’t know. Do you happen to have a grain sack handy?”

Lillis gasped and punched him in the side. “You beast!”

Alexander laughed aloud and hugged her. “Calm yourself, woman. You know I only jest.”

“You had best prove it, then, my lord.”

“Gladly,” Alexander replied, and happily set out to do her bidding.

* * * * *