The Sorceror's Revenge (28 page)

             
‘You have been in France all this time?’

             
‘Most of the time, though I have visited Rome, Spain and England, but my life is in France.  Mary is there.  She is safe and cared for by her nurse Marta and others.  I have her well guarded and no one can steal her from us.  She wants to see the mother who loves her, Anne.  I have come to take you back with us if you will trust me to  care for you.  I swear that no one will ever be able to snatch you from me again.  I was careless before but it will not be so in future.’

             
‘Oh Nicholas…’ Melloria breathed.  ‘I wish with all my heart that I could come to you, but I know that Robert would never rest until we were both dead.’  Tears were in her eyes as she leaned forward and kissed him.  He caught her to him, his kiss tender and yet demanding, drawing the heart from her so that she clung to him desperately.  ‘If I came while Robert lives I should be breaking the vows I made in church when I became his wife.  Even so, I would come but I know that he would destroy us both.’

             
‘He cannot destroy us if you come with me,’ Nicholas said.  His voice was calm, strong and it soothed her. ‘I shall protect you and our children, I swear it on my life and all that I hold dear.’

             
Melloria raised her eyes, her cheeks wet with tears.  ‘I want to be with you more than I can say, but I fear that I shall bring Robert’s wrath on us all.  I love you, Nicholas, and our children – all our children.’

             
‘Mary is a beautiful child,’ Nicholas told her, his fingers caressing her cheek.  ‘She has been lonely and hurt, Anne, and she needs her mother.’

             
‘Will you not bring her here to me?’

             
‘Mary must stay with me.  She would not be safe here.  England will soon be at war, Anne.  No one will be safe, especially in this castle.  Robert has enemies. His enemies will bring him down.  Come with me to France.  We shall take Iolanthe and go now, before Robert returns.’

             
‘I do not know what I should do…’ Melloria cried.  ‘My heart tells me that I should come but…’  She heard a blast of trumpets from outside and her eyes widened in dismay.  ‘Robert is back.  They sound the trumpets like that only when he returns home.  ‘You must go.  If he finds you here with me, he will kill you.’

             
‘Come with me…’

             
‘Not yet,’ she said.  ‘Come to me again when it is safe.  Robert will not stay long.  I will pray for guidance, and if my heart is true then I shall come to you – and bring our children.’

             
‘Mary is already with me…’ Nicholas’s gaze narrowed.  ‘When I was wandering in my mind, hardly knowing who or what I was, I thought that you were in pain, that you bore a child… was I right?  I could never be certain…’

             
‘We have a son.  I do not know where he is for I was forced to give him up as soon as he was born.  My sister Beatrice told me that it must be so, for if Robert had guessed there was a child he would have killed the boy and me.’

             
‘We have a son – I have a son?’ Nicholas looked at her.  ‘Sometimes I have thought there was another child but I believed it was just my mind wandering.  You gave birth to my son, Anne?’  There was a look of such wonder and joy on his face that it made her want to weep for love of him.

             
‘Yes.’ Melloria smiled at him, tracing his scarred cheek with the tips of her fingers.  She loved him so but a part of her felt that it would be wrong of her to leave her husband and take Robert’s daughter from him. Nicholas thought of both Iolanthe and Mary as his, because he had brought them into the world, and loved Iolanthe like a father, but in truth they bore Robert’s blood. ‘We have a son, but I do not know where you may find him, Nicholas.  And now you must go.  If Robert discovered you here his rage would know no bounds.’

             
‘He will not.’ Nicholas smiled.  ‘I shall leave as I came and none will notice me.’

             
‘How?  I do not understand…’

             
‘There are things it is better not to ask, my love.  I shall give you time to think and pray, Anne.  I love you and would have you come to me of your own free will.  I had hoped to spare you, but you must learn the extent of your husband’s black heart.  One day you will wish you had come with me, but I shall never force you or blame you for your doubts.’

             
‘I do not doubt you,’ she whispered.  ‘But you must go now, my love.’

             
‘Yes.’ Nicholas reached forward and kissed her.  Melloria closed her eyes, her body seeming to melt in the pleasure that trickled through her like molten honey.  When she opened her eyes in what seemed but seconds later, and looked for Nicholas, he was gone.

             
‘Nicholas…’ Melloria turned in a circle, looking for him but there was nothing, just a lingering scent.  She went to the bed curtains and moved them.  No one hid there.  She looked at the panelling behind the bed, tapping it as she sought a secret way, but there was no sound, no echo of a secret chamber behind the panel, naught to tell her how he had managed to leave so swiftly and so secretly.

             
She went to her window and looked down at the inner bailey.  Her husband was being greeted by his steward.  There were at least forty men-at-arms milling around, and but one way to leave through the gate that separated the inner and outer bailey.  If Robert saw Nicholas he would have him killed instantly.

             
She searched for Nicholas’s tall lean figure but could see no one resembling him.  Then, just as she was about to turn away, for a fleeting instant she saw a dark shape pass the guards at the gate and disappear. The guards gave no sign that they had seen anything, nor did they issue a challenge.

             
Melloria’s heart raced.  It was not possible for someone to become invisible.  Such things were whispered of by those who believed in magic and sorcery, but Melloria knew that it was impossible.  Nicholas was human flesh.  She had touched him and kissed him; he was not just the product of her fevered imagination, as he might have been when he had helped her through the birth of their son.  This time he had been here in the flesh - so how could he have left the room in an instant?

             
Melloria crossed herself, an icy shiver trickling down her spine.  Nicholas would not use sorcery to pass unseen through the castle bailey – or would he?  Old Griszelda had told her once that people said Nicholas consorted with the Devil.

             
It was nonsense!  She had dismissed it then and she dismissed it now.  Nicholas was a good man.  Whatever powers he had came from learning and his skill.  He used them for the good of others and she would not let superstition cloud her mind.

             
Yet what had he meant about wishing to spare her from learning the extent of Robert’s black heart?  What did he know that she did not?

37

Melloria picked up her sewing.  She had abandoned the altar cloth for the moment and was using some lengths of the finest linen woven in Rheims to make a night chemise for Iolanthe.  As the door opened, she glanced up and saw that Robert had finished his meeting with the steward.  She inclined her head and offered him a polite greeting but she did not rise and go to him nor did she smile.

             
‘I was sent to deliver a message to the prince. He plans to visit Gascony soon, I think to avoid trouble if there is civil war,’ Robert said, his blue eyes dark and brooding as he looked at her.  ‘It is almost inevitable that there will be war soon, Melloria.  His Majesty bade me take you to court if you would care to come.’

             
‘I thank His Majesty for the invitation, but I prefer to stay here with my daughter.’

             
‘You know that I could compel you?’

             
Melloria stood up and walked towards her bedchamber.  Robert followed her.  Inside, she turned to face him.

             
‘If we are to quarrel it is best that we do so in private.  Lady Maria may return at any time and I would not have her hear.’

             
‘I do not wish to quarrel with you, Melloria.  It is your stubbornness that makes me lose my temper.  You defy me in everything and I have had enough of your reproaches.  I have sent men to look for the child but she is not to be found. I am certain she is dead.’

             
‘Yes, perhaps you are right,’ Melloria said.  ‘You need not search for her more, Robert.  I acquit you of the charge and release you of your promise to find her.’

             
‘You release me?’  His eyes narrowed.  ‘Why?  What are you hiding from me?  Has someone been here?  Have you news of the child?  What have you done, Melloria – have you betrayed me again?’

             
‘If I had news I should tell my husband.  Why do you accuse me, Robert?  I do not know why you should think I would betray you…’  Her heart was racing. Could he know that Nicholas had been here?

             
‘I know you are hiding something.’ Robert moved towards her.  His hand reached out and gripped her wrist, his fingers digging into her flesh, hurting her so that she cried out.  ‘Tell me or I shall really hurt you, Melloria.  You drive me beyond the point of breaking.’  His face twisted with either anguish or anger. She was not certain which emotion was uppermost in his mind.

             
‘There is nothing to tell you. I spend the days quietly with Iolanthe and your son.  They fight as children will but now that Harry is with his tutors for much of the day they do not fight as much as before.’

             
‘Damn you!  I know you are hiding something.’

             
‘I have nothing to tell you, Robert.  If you fear I have some dark secret it is into your own mind that you should look.’

             
He let go of her wrist, his face working with temper.  ‘I shall leave you to reflect, Melloria.  You have defied me too long.  This night you will do your duty as a wife.  I shall return and you will yield to me. If you do not you have only yourself to blame for what follows.’

             
Melloria sank to her knees as he left her.  Why had she not gone with Nicholas when he urged her?  What kind of duty could she owe to such a man?  She had heeded her conscience but now she wished that she had fled while she had the chance.

* * *

Robert sat drinking in the hall.  His steward had ordered a feast to celebrate the lord’s return, and the men had eaten well and drunk deeply of the good ale served them.  Robert brooded over his wine.  It was the finest in his cellar but it tasted sour in his mouth, as had the succulent food served him.  Melloria had sent word that she had a headache and would not join them for supper.  He knew that she was deliberately defying him and the anger fermented in his guts.

             
How dare she continue to defy him?  Robert had heard something at court that made him suspect that Nicholas Malvern might not be dead.  The King had spoken of an apothecary who had cured him of a raging toothache without extracting the tooth.  The name he had used was Count Niccolai Malvolia, but the description fitted the man who had stolen Melloria’s mind and convinced her she was his wife Anne.

             
Had the rogue been here in his absence?  Was Melloria planning to leave him?  Was she in love with the apothecary?  Had she been Malvern’s wife in truth?

             
Robert’s dreams had been disturbed more and more of late. He could not sleep and woke sweating and fearful, tortured by the visions of Hell that haunted his nights.  Sometimes he saw demons or a fiery cavern, sometimes he felt the demons claw at his flesh and tear him with their long sharp teeth.  He was suffering what the priests described as the torments of Hell, the punishment that awaited sinners after death.

             
Robert’s mouth felt dry.  He was not an evil man.  It was his right to send for a bride on her wedding eve.  He had done nothing that needed the cleansing of the confessional.

             
Anger clawed at his insides.  Damn the woman for fighting him and making him threaten her – and damn Melloria for loving someone else.  She was his wife and yet she denied him the marriage debt.  She refused to lie with him, though she knew that he could force her by law.

             
Robert brooded on his grievances as the night wore on.  He would not drag his wife before the Church courts but he was damned if he would put up with her refusal to do her duty any longer.

             
Getting to his feet, he strode from the hall, entering his own chamber and slamming the door hard.  He poured himself another glass of wine from the flask that stood by his bed and drank it straight down, then went to the door between Melloria’s chamber and his.  He threw it open and entered.