AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nay. Of course not!”
“I have already made the arrangements. ’Tis late to change them. I would hold you to your word. ”
She realized her hand was pressed against the rough stone wall as she peered into the shadows. All she could see was a part of his shoes and hose and the corner of one sleeve. Her heart beat steadily in her chest as she closed her eyes. God forgive me. “Aye,” she said at last. “I will keep my word. ”
Though her words were low and sober, inside she danced and leapt. But in the back of her mind, there was still the worry of what her acquiescence might mean for him. And guilt. For if aught happened to Malcolm because of her…. “If you are truly certain you are prepared for the king’s wrath,” she was compelled to add. “I fear what he and Eleanor will do. ”
“I am willing. ”
“Very well,” she replied, wishing he would step into the light. Wishing she could see his face, read what was there.
“I will send word to you anon. ” And then he was gone, swishing into the darkness, down a side hallway and into the shadows.
ELEVEN
Three days later, Lady Judith of Kentworth developed a horrible rash with red splotches all over her face and arms, and one presumed, elsewhere.
She was sent to her chamber after an examination by the queen’s trusted lady and healer Maris of Ludingdon, and there she was confined to be certain she spread no contagion to Eleanor and her baby.
For Judith, this quarantine was both a blessing and a curse. While she had some much-needed privacy and an opportunity to rest, she was also left alone with her thoughts and fears. She heard naught from Malcolm, nor did she know what to expect.
Nor was Judith even able to take the time to visit her raptors, which she had been forced to neglect since she attracted the attention of Henry. Fortunately, she communicated with Tessing through Tabby and knew that Hecate and the others were doing well. The eyases were growing and their baby feathers had fallen away. Soon they would be flying far and wide, and would need to be moved from the hacking house into the main mews.
While in her chamber, Judith had ample opportunity to look down from her arrow-slit window, watching the men training in the yard far below. She was certain she spotted Malcolm more than once—he was nearly always bare of torso and taller than all but Ludingdon—but on this day, well after the midday meal of her third day in confinement, she did not see him. In fact, the yard seemed to have fewer men than in days past though the weather was clear and sunny.
Maris had visited briefly on the morrow of each day, providing her with a salve to keep the splotches from itching. She also insisted Judith bathe daily in a tub with soaking oats and lavender to help keep the rash from irritating her further. By now, the patches were hardly visible and no longer itched, and Judith knew she would have no excuse to hide for much longer.
A knock at the chamber door had her turning eagerly from the window. Maris had already visited several hours before, and Judith expected no one but Tabby. But just as she reached to open the door, she hesitated. It could very well be a page from the queen or the king, come to assess her health.
The knock came again, more loudly and firmly. “Judith!” demanded a masculine voice.
She flung the door open. “Gavin?” she cried, shocked and delighted to see her cousin. She threw herself into his arms, which came around her tightly after an instant of hesitation, for he was not normally a demonstrative person. “What do you here?” she said, pulling away to look up at him.
Without responding, he stepped into the chamber and closed the door behind him. “I’ve come for your wedding, of course,” he said, looking at her closely. “You seem healthy enough, despite the story throughout the keep you’ve contracted some worrisome disease. Though a little peaked, as Maddie would say. But Ludingdon tells me it was all his wife’s doing. ”
“Madelyne! Is she here too?”
“Nay, she did not come. I traveled too swiftly and she has just delivered herself of a baby only one month past. A girl,” he added, with a flash of pride and affection in his eyes. “Rosalind. ”
“I am happy for you, Gavin,” Judith said, squeezing his hands. He’d been so troubled for so long, and the serene, beautiful Madelyne de Belgrume had brought love and light into his life.
“And you, Judith. You are to wed Warwick. Is this what you wish?” Gavin was looking down at her, his expression particularly serious. “If you mean to wed him only to be free of the king, tell me now. I will extricate you from this place if need be, and you will not be required to barter yourself in marriage. ” His features, always dark and forbidding, were as stern as she’d ever seen them. “Now tell me true—do you wish to wed Warwick or nay?”
“I would wed him, Gavin. Not only to be quit of the court
. He is a good man, and kind, and I believe he will make a fine husband. I have long wished to return to Lilyfare and to leave the queen’s side, but she would not allow it. ”
Her cousin relaxed. “’Tis glad I am to hear of it, Judith. I was most pleased when Warwick sent word, requesting my blessing and explaining the circumstances. But I wanted to hear it from you myself. ”
Malcolm had asked Gavin for his blessing? For some reason, that information made Judith even more content with her decision. “But I fear what Henry and Eleanor will do to him when they learn of this. ”
Gavin shook his head. “Do you not worry. Warwick has laid his path neatly, and only part of it was sending word to me. And the marriage contract he had prepared is more than fair. Now, if you are willing, we must go at once. We haven’t much time. ”
“Go where?”
He looked at her in surprise, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Why, to your wedding. Your groom awaits. ”
Judith never imagined her wedding would take place in the tiny, out-of-the- way chapel where she and Malcolm had first agreed to marry.
