Page 102 of Fortress of Snow

“Will you catch up with us?” Mazy clung to his hand much the same way Juliana had been clinging to her.

“We will. I will be back with you before night falls.”

“If you don’t, we will stop and wait for you.”

Berenger nodded, then gave her a kiss on the lips before addressing the guards and telling them the plan.

Mazy did her best to smile and keep Juliana calm and happy, trying not to worry about Berenger. They rode the rest of the day at a slower pace, putting distance between them and the burned-out castle.

Later that day, when she saw Berenger coming toward her looking healthy and strong and peaceful, the air rushed out of her and she whispered, “Thank You, God. Thank You.”

Berenger rode his horse straight to her. “Did you encounter any problems?” he asked.

“No. Did you?”

“No.” He obviously didn’t want to speak of the fire in front of Juliana.

That night as they bedded down in a small stand of trees between the road and a stream, Mazy lay facing Berenger. “Did you discover who burned Bristow Castle?”

“Not for certain. But I spoke to Juliana’s former nurse. She heard that a letter had arrived for the head house servant, who was very loyal to Lady Bristow. The rumor is that Lady Bristow ordered the head house servant to set the castle aflame.”

“You don’t seem upset about it burning,” she whispered.

Berenger didn’t reply right away. After a few moments he said, “I am sorry for the people who no longer have a position and are worried about their future. But the king will most likely order that the castle be rebuilt, since it was in an important location for the country’s defense. But even if the king does not provide, Juliana is our daughter now, and if her holdings in Bristow are not enough to rebuild the castle, she will be well, as we will always take care of her. I know you feel the same way.”

“Of course. But it still seems like a sad loss.”

“It is, but think about it like this. Now Juliana will never have to see the place where she was bullied and abused. Perhaps if there is nothing to remind her, she will forget completely the unkind things that were done to her.”

Mazy placed her hand against Berenger’s cheek. “You are so wonderful and kind. God was so good to give me you.”

“I feel the same.” Berenger brushed her cheek with his fingertips. “There is no other woman I could ever want. Just my Mazy Mazelina, the Knife Girl of London, the sweetest and bravest woman in England.”

Mazy smiled at his compliments and kissed his hand. She fell asleep holding his hand against her cheek.

***

Today was the day they would see their own Saynborne Castle and its lands.

Already Mazy had seen so much of the country that her father had once promised to show her. And soon she would seethe vast waters of the sea that she had heard described but had never beheld.

“Slow down,” Berenger said, smiling as if about to laugh at her.

Mazy hadn’t realized she’d been going any faster than usual. “I’m just so eager to see it. Aren’t you?”

“I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“How could I be disappointed?”

But then she started thinking, if it turned out to be a ruin, with the roof leaking and no functional shutters on the windows, or if there were no trees or flowers...

“I won’t be disappointed.” She smiled to reassure him and herself.

Juliana was riding with her nurse and was bouncing up and down. “I hear the sea!” she cried.

Mazy heard the faint roar of the sea waves as they rode ever closer. Others had described the sound to her as a constant rushing in one’s ears, or like the beating of the wings of a large flock of birds, but now she was hearing it for herself. Her heart raced as she tried to imagine how vast it would be.

She’d thought the land would be rocky, but all was lush and green farmland, with some marshland mixed in. And then there it was, the vast sea, shining blue and bluer as it spanned the east and touched the sky in the distance.