Chapter Two #3
“Are you well?” he asked, concern in his voice as he held her steady. “Did you injure yourself?”
Lyssa shook her head. “N-Nay,” she said. “B-But I do not understand. W-Why must I be removed from the hall?”
Garret looked at her, seeing that she was both disappointed and fearful.
She also looked as if she had no idea what was happening and it occurred to him that he’d all but carried her from the hall in his haste.
He was so accustomed to acting swiftly and decisively when it came to Prince John and his corrupt wife that he’d had no thought to discuss his actions with the lady, in any fashion.
“Has no one told you why, my lady? Surely someone has told you something.”
She shrugged, looking back at the hall and the open door they’d come through. “I-If I may be honest, all we have heard is rumor,” she said. “T-Truthfully, I do not even know the woman. I-I have not even seen her nor have I been introduced to her.”
“Hopefully, you will never have to meet her. That is what we are trying to avoid.”
“A-Are the rumors true, then?”
“What did you hear?”
Lyssa hesitated and he hastened to reassure her. “I do not serve the prince, my lady,” he said. “I serve his brother, so you may speak freely.”
Lyssa still appeared hesitant. “U-Unsavory things. S-Someone told me that Hawisa… I know it is ridiculous… but someone told me that she drinks the blood of virgins.”
Garret hadn’t heard that one. Unfortunately, given Hawisa’s reputation, he wouldn’t have been surprised had it been true. “I do not know if that particular habit is true, but she is not someone an innocent young woman should know.”
“T-Then I truly must leave the party?”
Garret’s attention moved to the open door.
He could see people moving around inside the hall but he wasn’t inclined to stand here, in full view of that open door.
If John or Hawisa’s people were to follow, that would not be a good thing for either him or for the lady.
His hand was still on her elbow as he pulled her out of the line of sight from the door.
There was a wall in front of them with a small postern gate that led into the cemetery for Westminster Cathedral.
He took her straight through that gate, shutting it behind them.
“I do apologize, my lady,” he said, “but it is for your own safety. What else have you heard about the prince and his wife?”
It was very dark where they were, with the cemetery off to their left. With the giant cathedral to her right, looming over her in the darkness, she felt rather frightened by the entire situation.
“O-Only gossip, as I have said,” she admitted. “A-Are you sure you will not tell them?”
“I swear on my oath.”
That was good enough for Lyssa. “I-I have heard tale that if the prince sees a woman he fancies, then he demands that she is brought to him and she is.”
Garret grunted. “That is putting it mildly. My lady, forgive me for being so bold, but if he sees a woman he wishes to take advantage of, it does not matter if she is a man’s virgin daughter or his wife. If he demands her, he shall have her.”
Lyssa looked up at him. “H-Have her?”
Garret glanced around their surroundings to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Indeed.”
“F-For what purpose?”
He looked at her then, hardly believing she was so na?ve. “To bed her, of course.”
Lyssa’s eyes widened. “B-But he has a wife!”
Garret cocked an eyebrow. “You have been living a sheltered little life, haven’t you?”
Lyssa felt foolish the way he’d said it. “I-I have lived a proper one, if that is what you mean,” she said stiffly.
It was quiet in the yard and dark. From what Garret could tell, they had not been followed.
At least, he didn’t see anyone. But rather than rush this ravishing creature back to The Wix, he selfishly wanted to have her to himself for the moment.
He hadn’t gotten the chance to do it in the hall, which he had been hoping for, so now was the perfect time.
He was an opportunist.
Garret’s gaze lingered on her in the darkness. The only light was that from the half-moon above and the torches in the palace yard where the hall was. He found himself gazing at the perfectly lovely little face, becoming increasingly enchanted by it.
“I did not mean to insinuate otherwise, my lady,” he said quietly. “I have never thought you were anything other than a proper and noble young woman from a fine family. May I ask how you came into the service of the Duchess of Colchester?”
It was a polite enough question. “M-My aunt has served Colchester since before the duchess married the duke,” she said.
“I-It is rather complicated how I came to serve the duchess, but suffice it to say that my mother left my father a very long time ago. H-He was a warlord with properties in France, near Limoges. He married my mother, who was the daughter of a great Welsh warlord, simply for the dowry. S-She went to live with him in France but, after I was born, she returned home. W-When she died earlier this year, my Aunt Rose brought me to live with her and serve the duchess.”
Garret could have listened to that honey-sweet voice all night. She had a way of talking that, even with the catch in her speech, made her sound as if she were purring. Her voice was smooth and comforting and, most of all, hypnotizing. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and listen to her.
“I see,” he said after a moment. “Did you not foster, then?”
Lyssa nodded. “T-Through my mother’s father, I fostered at Pelinom Castle in Northumberland,” she said. “B-But my mother’s health was so poor for the last few years of her life that I came home to tend her. W-When she died, Aunt Rose sent for me. S-She said it was unseemly for me to live alone.”
Garret had let go of her elbow by now and was leaning back against the enormous wall of the cathedral. “She was right,” he said. “A young woman should not live alone. What do you think about living with Colchester? It is a very big and very busy household, I should imagine.”
Lyssa smiled faintly, thinking of the chaos she’d been part of for the past few months. “I-It has been quite an experience,” she agreed. “A-Although Pelinom Castle was quite busy, as well. I-I experienced two sieges there.”
Garret grinned. “And you manned the battlements?” he teased, watching her laugh and shake her head. “The gatehouse, then? Surely you are responsible for victory over their besiegers.”
Lyssa giggled. “A-Alas, I shall disappoint you,” she said. “I-I was kept inside to tend the injured.”
“I see.”
“B-But… it was not by choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“M-May I tell you a secret?”
He was warming to the conversation. “Anything, my lady.”
She wrinkled up that little nose. “I-I was not very good tending the injured,” she confessed. “M-Mayhap, I would have done better on the battlements because the sight of blood makes me weak.”
She made such a face that he laughed deeply. “I cannot imagine you were very effective in your duties, then.”
She threw up her hands. “I-I was terrible!” she insisted, becoming animated. “T-They would bring a poor wounded man to me and all I could do was turn green and fall to the ground. I-It is a wonder half of the men did not bleed to death because of me. I-I am a terrible nurse!”
Garret hadn’t stopped laughing. She was a delightful storyteller, humorous and animated. “I will remember that if I am ever wounded.”
“Y-You would be wise to avoid me at all costs.”
He continued to chuckle, his dark eyes glimmering at her.
In just this short conversation, he had officially become interested in the woman.
She was bright and she was full of humor.
He liked that a great deal. He simply couldn’t believe she wasn’t already spoken for and wondered how he was going to somehow broach that question. He found that he needed to know.
“I am sure you have talents in other areas,” he said. “So you cannot tend a wounded man? It is not the end of the world. I am sure any husband would overlook that for the other talents you would bring.”
The conversation didn’t go as he’d hoped. He was looking for answers with his leading statement on any matrimonial prospects she might have but all he received was an instant mood shift. The light vanished from her face and she averted her eyes, now suddenly looking at the ground.
“I-I am sure that is something I need not worry over,” she said.
Then, she looked over her shoulder, nervously, at the great hall looming behind them.
“I-If you are to return me to The Wix, mayhap we should get on with it so that you may return to the festivities. E-Even if I cannot attend, there is no reason why you should not.”
This sudden change in mood had happened once before and Garret was struggling to figure out, once again, what he’d said to upset her.
Before, he’d said something about her being rather perfect that she’d taken offense to.
Now, he’d mentioned a potential husband and she’d lost all of her humor.
Rather than overlook it this time, as he’d done before, he pursued it.
He wanted to know why such things upset her so, if for no other reason, than he would not say them again.
“I do not need to be in that musty hall with a crowd of revelers,” he said, his voice low.
“I am perfectly happy in conversation here, with you. But I must ask you something, my lady. Earlier this evening, I told you that I believed you were rather perfect and that evidently upset you. Now, I have mentioned something else to upset you greatly, although all I mentioned was a future husband. Since I cannot continue to upset you so with my clumsy conversation, will you please tell me what I have said to cause you such distress?”
Lyssa was turning red in the face, embarrassed, but also greatly disappointed.
How could she tell him that she knew she would never have a husband?
There was no man in England or France who would tolerate an imperfect wife, a woman with a stammer that only grew worse when she was upset or nervous.
He would think she was a fool and she so very much wanted to impress the man.
More and more, she was attracted to him but she knew that it would never come to anything.
A man as powerful as Garret de Moray could command the finest bride in all of England, not a little nobody like herself.
In fact, he was only being kind to her out of duty, taking pity upon a stammering woman.
She knew that. Forcing a smile, she simply shook her head.
But it was breaking her heart.
“Y-You have not caused me any distress, truly,” she lied.
“I-I… I-I suppose the excitement of the evening simply has me overwrought. I-I did not sleep at all last night from sheer excitement of the event tonight and now I must leave, so it is nothing you have said. I-I apologize if you thought otherwise, my lord.”
Garret listened to her smooth reply. It wasn’t the truth and he knew it, but he didn’t press her.
The time would come again when he would ask her for her honesty because he didn’t intend this should be the last time he ever saw her.
In fact, he had no intention of returning her to The Wix.
She was disappointed at missing the party, something that all young women looked forward to.
Now, through no fault of her own, she was being taken away and hidden purely for her own safety. But it didn’t have to be that way.
On impulse, Garret had something else in mind.
“Your evening need not end,” he said. “I have something quite bold to suggest if you would be open to it.”
Lyssa was both intrigued and a little apprehensive. “I-I am listening.”
His black eyes glimmered at her. “Will you trust me?”
It was a question with only two answers.
Either she did or she didn’t. Based on what she’d been told of the man this evening, he was so trustworthy that even the king placed him in very high esteem.
According to Juliana, there was no man more respected in the knightly ranks of England.
Did she trust him? Truly, there was only one answer she could give.
“A-Aye,” she said. “I-I will.”
The smile that spread across his face was something Lyssa would remember for the rest of her life.
“Good.”