Where Love Has Gone (37 page)

“Sir Lamont will have to continue to wait,”
Royce told her. “Elaine is here.”

“Elaine? Here? Why? Is she alone?”

Royce stepped aside so Elaine could enter the
room, and mother and daughter came face to face after more than two
years.

Lady Irmina was clad in glittering blue and
silver court robes with a wide sash heavily trimmed in gold thread
fastened snugly around her still trim waist. Her darkly outlined
eyes widened and her painted mouth unattractively gaped open at the
sight of the daughter she had thought was in Jersey. She was an
older and, to Elaine’s eyes, a far less attractive version of
Aglise, with the same flaxen hair and blue eyes. The perfect oval
of her face was marred by deep lines left after years of a
self-centered and rather dissipated life. A whiff of heavy perfume
reached Elaine’s nose.

“Hello, Mother.” Elaine knew better than to
expect an embrace, much less a kiss. A reasonably polite greeting
was all she dared hope for. Judging by the annoyed surprise on Lady
Irmina’s heavily powdered face, even that much wasn’t to be granted
her.

Elaine glanced beyond her mother to Desmond,
who stood by the north windows. His hair was neatly trimmed, his
face was clean shaven, and he wore a light brown tunic and matching
hose, with his sword and eating knife securely in place at his
belt. He looked ready to take on any challenge. He also looked
angry, for which she couldn’t blame him. She wondered what he’d had
to tell her mother to convince her to accompany him to Royce’s
chambers. Lady Irmina did not like Royce of Wortham and probably
was not happy at having to meet him. Not to mention, having to meet
her elder daughter.

“Why in the name of heaven are you wearing
that dreadful gown?” Lady Irmina cried. “Have you no maidservant to
comb your hair? I hope and pray you haven’t been seen by anyone
important.”

“This is the only dress I brought with me. I
have no servant.” Urged to sly humor by the spirit of mischief that
always beset her when in her mother’s presence, Elaine added, “The
only important people I’ve seen so far are Royce and the king.”

“You saw the king? Wearing that horrible
dress, with no face paint and no jewelry at all? Elaine, this is a
royal court, not some distant and unimportant little manor house.
Oh, I shall die of embarrassment!”

“I don’t think the king noticed my gown. He
didn’t seem to, anyway, and Royce thought I was dressed
appropriately.”

“You are the most impossible girl. Where is
Aglise?” Lady Irmina demanded. “Did she come with you?”

“No, Mother.” Elaine paused to take a
steadying breath. Her moment of mischief was over. It was time for
hard truths. “Aglise is the reason I am here.”

“Oh?” Lady Irmina’s thinly plucked eyebrows
rose. “I trust that she, at least, has done nothing to disgrace
herself. Or me. Sir Lamont will not like it if she has.”

“Mother, Aglise is dead. I am sorry to tell
you so bluntly, but there’s no gentle way to speak such news.”

“No, you are lying.” Lady Irmina’s grating
voice began to rise in tone and volume. “It cannot be true. I am
arranging a marriage for her, to a French nobleman who is a close
friend of my dear Sir Lamont. I will not allow Aglise to die; the
marriage is far too important to me.”

“I am afraid,
Mother
,” Elaine said,
speaking each word slowly and clearly, “that Aglise is unable to
agree with your arrangements for her.
She is dead
.”

“But, I – I have such splendid plans to visit
the French court and make an important place there.” Lady Irmina
looked utterly bewildered, her painted face collapsing into the
perennially irritated expression Elaine had seen all during her
childhood. “How could Aglise do this to me?” Lady Irmina
shrieked.

“I do believe my sister would have much
preferred to live, if only it had been possible,” Elaine said
coldly. “Instead, she was seduced and despoiled by Lord Bertrand,
and then murdered by his wife – the same people to whom
you
sent her.”

“You cannot blame me for this,” Lady Irmina
exclaimed, her face going red under the white powder. “Bertrand was
your father’s friend, not mine.”

“I don’t care whose friend he was,” Elaine
cried. “My sister – your daughter – is dead. Can’t you stop
thinking about yourself and your ambitions long enough to grieve
for her?”

“After she slept with Bertrand? Really, the
girl had no sense at all. Didn’t I always teach you and your sister
to save yourselves for marriage, and that I’d see to it you were
wed to wealthy and powerful men? While you are grieving for that
foolish girl, consider how the scandal of her death will destroy
any opportunity I might have to marry you off to a man of good
family. Finding a man willing to marry you was difficult enough
before this news. Now, you may not have a chance.”

“At the moment,” Elaine declared with
considerable force, “I have no interest in marrying. At the moment,
what I want most is justice for Aglise, and to prevent -” She
pressed her lips together before she let slip a word about the
scheme to murder the king. Fortunately, her mother was too wrapped
up in her own grievances to notice the uncompleted sentence.

“You will marry when and how I tell you,”
Lady Irmina declared. “It won’t be easy to find someone for you,
homely and stubborn as you are. I tell you again, Elaine, as I have
told you so many times in the past, no man wants a wife who will
not dress properly and who persists in reading and writing! You
ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

“That’s enough,” Desmond said, stepping away
from the windows. “Lady Irmina, you insult a lovely and intelligent
young woman, who did everything possible to find her sister, and
who even now mourns the loss of Aglise. If your heart is so cold
that you cannot sympathize with Elaine, then at least have the
decency to cease berating her.”

“Do not speak to me in that rude manner, you
paltry knave. Elaine, you will come with me to my rooms. Perhaps
Sir Lamont and I, together, can beat some sense into you.”

Lady Irmina turned her back on Desmond. Thus,
she did not see his clenched fists or the look of appeal he sent to
Royce.

“I refuse to go anywhere near your precious
Sir Lamont,” Elaine stated very firmly. “I detest him.” The last
time she’d seen Lamont, he’d had his hands on Aglise’s buttocks
under the guise of bidding her a safe journey to Jersey.

“Lamont is your stepfather!” Lady Irmina
exclaimed.

“Oh?” Elaine’s voice fairly dripped icy
distain. “As Lord Bertrand is my foster father? As he was Aglise’s
foster father?”

“I am certain Aglise lured Bertrand into her
bed,” Lady Irmina snapped.

Elaine was too angry to speak. Tears of rage
stood in her eyes and she knew if she tried to say a word she would
either begin to cry, or else she’d strike her mother. She saw by
Desmond’s white face and grimly set mouth that he was equally
furious. She longed to go into his arms and be comforted, but if
she did, she’d leave him open to her mother’s vicious tongue and
rude insinuations. So she merely lifted her chin, planted both feet
solidly on the floor, and waited. As an unwed girl she was
completely under her mother’s – and her stepfather’s – rule, but
she wasn’t going to submit quietly.

“Step aside, Royce,” Lady Irmina ordered. “I
am going to my bedchamber, and to my dear husband. Come along,
Elaine. You may sleep on a pallet in my anteroom.”

“I regret to inform you, my lady, that you
may not leave,” Royce said, his quiet voice an odd counterpoint to
Lady Irmina’s shrill tones. “Since you know Elaine is here, and
since you cannot be trusted to keep her presence at Caen a secret,
you will remain in these rooms for a time.”

“What do you mean?” Lady Irmina screeched.
“By what right do you hold me?”

“By King Henry’s command,” Royce answered.
“Elaine, I am deeply sorry to have to inflict her on you. I can
only beg you to consider the next few hours as one more service
offered to your king.”

“No,” Elaine whispered. “Royce, please.”

“Royce, you cannot do this to her,” Desmond
exclaimed, speaking right over Elaine’s soft protest. “You’ve heard
this harpy spewing her venom. How can you leave Elaine alone with
her?”

“The decision is mine.” Royce regarded
Desmond with eyebrows raised as if in surprise. “What difference
can it possibly make to you?”

Elaine saw Desmond stare back at Royce, then
shrug his shoulders, before he turned his attention to the
glowering Lady Irmina.

“I understand your husband keeps pigeons,”
Desmond said, his tone provocative.

“I know nothing about pigeons,” Lady Irmina
said.

“No,” Desmond responded, “I don’t suppose you
do.”

“If Lamont does keep pigeons, what of it?”
Lady Irmina asked. “Is it a crime to breed peaceable birds?”

“Most men would choose to breed falcons for
hunting,” Desmond said.

“Sir Lamont’s personal activities are no
concern of yours,” Lady Irmina told him, her elegant nose in the
air.

“I think they are,” Desmond said quietly.

“Desmond,” Elaine asked, “does this mean what
I fear it does?”

“We cannot be absolutely certain yet, but now
you will understand why Lady Irmina must remain here and why she
can have no contact with Sir Lamont.”

“Yes,” Elaine agreed, bowing to the
inevitable. “I do understand.”

It was the most miserable night of Elaine’s
life. Not even the many nights of worrying and wondering where
Aglise could be, nor the long night of vigil over her body could
compare to her present wretchedness.

Sir Lamont de Bruay, the stepfather she
despised, kept pigeons, and Elaine did not doubt that Desmond would
soon learn whether the birds were the same ones used to send
messages to Jersey. If so, Sir Lamont was probably the spy for whom
Desmond and Royce were searching.

Was it possible that, as Lady Irmina’s own
foolish words seemed to indicate, she was also involved in treason?
Why else did she plan to marry Aglise to a French nobleman who was,
by her own admission, a close friend of Sir Lamont? Why else did
Irmina imagine she could make a grand place for herself at the
court of King Louis VI?

The possibilities were too ghastly to
contemplate. Not that Elaine was granted time for quiet
contemplation. Her mother did not accept temporary restraint
without noisy protest.

Lady Irmina paced back and forth across
Royce’s bedchamber while in a loud voice she raged against her
captor for his cruelty in keeping her from the husband who awaited
her in their bed. Once, she tried to open the door and leave, only
to be stopped by a guard in the corridor, who told her she must
remain where she was until Royce’s order released her.

“Who does Royce imagine he is?” she screamed
at Elaine. “How can you, my own child, be a party to this unjust
imprisonment?”

Elaine refused to answer. But when Lady
Irmina began to throw any object she could get her hands on, with
the clear intention of destroying all of Royce’s movable
belongings, Elaine snatched a delicate silver cup from her
hands.

“If you continue in this way,” Elaine said,
“I will call the guard to tie you up until Royce returns.”

“Royce!” Lady Irmina screeched. “That
villain! Why is he keeping me here?”

“You know why. He told you why. It’s because
you don’t have the good sense to keep quiet,” Elaine said. She
experienced no shred of guilt for her lack of respect toward her
parent. “Mother, you are behaving like a spoiled child. Your
tantrums do not impress me and they will certainly have no effect
on Royce.”

“You despicable girl!” Lady Irmina flounced
away from Elaine, to fling herself down on Royce’s bed, where she
pounded the pillow in frustration. After a few minutes of wild
sobbing, she fell asleep, worn out by her rage.

“Just like a naughty little girl,” Elaine
murmured, drawing the coverlet over her mother’s thin form. She
could only hope Lady Irmina would sleep though the night. Elaine
removed the wrinkled blue gown that had so distressed her mother,
then slid beneath the sheet, taking care not to waken the older
woman.

Daylight brought a servant with hot water,
followed by Desmond bearing a tray of food and the welcome news
that the
Daisy
had tied up at the docks below the castle
shortly after dawn. He glanced at the still sleeping Lady Irmina
and spoke more softly.

“I’m sorry about last night. Royce decided
you would be the best person to keep watch over your mother, but it
can’t have been pleasant for you. I heard some of her noise while
we were working in Royce’s office.”

“I understood how important it was to keep
her confined,” Elaine said, dismissing Lady Irmina’s tantrum. “What
of Sir Lamont?”

“The two of you will see him later this
morning, when you attend King Henry.” Desmond glanced toward the
sleeping woman on the bed. “You may use the information to coax
your mother into more polite behavior.”

After another quick look at Lady Irmina,
Desmond seized Elaine’s hand and pressed a long kiss on her palm.
He departed, leaving her certain that he would much prefer to kiss
her mouth and then take her to bed.

Her heart warmed by his action, Elaine
hastened to waken Lady Irmina. The news that they were to wait upon
the king produced another bout of tears.

“How can I face King Henry in a wrinkled
gown?” Lady Irmina wept.

“Wash your face and comb your hair and be
done with this foolishness,” Elaine advised sternly. “The king
won’t notice what you are wearing. He has more important matters on
his mind.”

“That’s all very well for you,” Lady Irmina
said, watching Elaine splash water on her face. “You never take
care with your appearance. But I need my face paint and my
hairdresser.”