Chapter Six #2
“Yes, but does she want you? Where is she now? Why did she run away from you? Why aren’t you with your new wife?”
Rowan took a deep drink of ale. “She has to do women’s things, I don’t know what they are. Maybe she wanted to bathe and put on a pretty gown. What do most brides do on their wedding day?”
Lora put her fists to her temples in anguish.
Outside they could hear the noise of the revelers.
“Rowan,” she said as calmly as she could, “you have always been a sensible man. You have studied hard to learn about Lanconia. You have told me how great your responsibility is toward this country, but now you risk everything and I don’t understand why.
You have always been most sensible about women.
When that beautiful Lady Jane Whitton visited us last year, every other man could see no farther than her pretty face, but you said she was a viper and you turned out to be right.
So why has this Jura bewitched you? She is not as pretty as Lady Jane. ”
“Jura is more beautiful than a thousand Lady Janes.” He was looking over a plate of fruit tarts.
“She is not!” Lora shouted. “She is the sister of a man who would like to see you dead. You are taking an enemy into your bed. She could slit your throat at night.”
“Lora, please calm yourself. Here, have a cherry tart.” He looked up at his sister and saw that she was very serious in her anger.
“All right,” he said, pushing his chair back.
“Perhaps I was a bit hasty, but sometimes a person knows when he is right. I knew from the moment I saw her that she was mine.”
Lora sat down across from him. “What do you know of her? Besides kisses, besides her beauty, what do you know of her?”
“All that I need to know.”
Lora sighed. “Let me tell you of this Jura because I have made it my business to find out about her. She is the loyal, loving sister of a man who wants your throne—and the way to get that is through your death. She had no intention of winning the Honorium today. It was common knowledge among the guardswomen that Jura meant to help Cilean win. If you had looked with open eyes at the match between Jura and Cilean, you would have seen that Cilean was not hit, she fainted. Now she lies in the Women’s Barracks with four broken ribs, and a sprained shoulder.
It’s a wonder she was able to stand on her own feet after the wrestling match. ”
Rowan was looking at her with a faraway expression and Lora knew she was making no impact on him.
“And then there is her lover,” Lora said softly.
Rowan’s eyelids lowered a bit. “Brita’s son.”
“Yes, Brita’s son, Daire.”
“Daire?” Rowan asked. “But Daire is—”
“Your friend? You thought he was your friend. Have you been telling him of your love for Jura? Has he said nothing of the fact that they have been betrothed for years?”
Rowan frowned and Lora hoped he was at last listening to her.
“Jura is your enemy,” she said. “She wants you out of Lanconia. She meant for Cilean to marry you, but I think she said yes to the priest because she realized she could get close to you if she were your wife. Oh, Rowan, I beg you to listen to me. I fear for your life. A wife is so close to a man. She could poison you, or stab you and blame someone else. And you are so blinded by her that she could make you do things you ordinarily would not. Look at how you have already called the Honorium in order to get her. Poor, sweet, dear Cilean now lies broken because of your wanting of this woman. Who else will shed blood because of your passion for her? She doesn’t like Phillip or me.
What will you do if she orders us to leave you? ”
“Cease!” Rowan ordered. He stood and began to pace the floor. There was so much truth in what Lora was saying. He knew Jura had power over him, but he had not considered how she might use that power.
“I cannot believe she wants my death,” he said softly. “She feels for me as I do for her.” Doubt, he thought, doubt seemed to plague his life. But about Jura he had no doubts. Jura’s love for him and his for her was the only sure thing he’d encountered since he rode across Lanconia’s border.
Lora grimaced. “Rowan, I am a woman and I know how easy men are to trick. Each man believes himself to be the best at all things, believes himself to be the only one a woman loves. But this Jura loves Daire and her brother, and she married you for them. She will remove you from their path, and once you are dead she will marry her beloved Daire and Geralt will rule.”
“I don’t believe you,” Rowan said fiercely. “The woman…cares for me.”
“Then where is she?” Lora shouted. “Why is she not here with you? She is with her lover, I tell you, making plans for what to do with you.”
Rowan stared at his sister for a moment, and some of the fog began to clear from his brain. If what Lora said were true…“Where is she?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know,” Lora answered. “I sent Montgomery out to look for her, but he didn’t see her. Daire rode out of the city walls after Jura was carried inside. Perhaps she went after him.”
Rowan remembered the cool, quiet glade where he had first seen Jura. Perhaps she had gone there. He turned toward the door.
“Where do you go?” Lora asked, anxious.
Rowan’s eyes were cool when they looked at her. “I am going to find my wife.”
“And if she is with Daire?” Lora whispered.
“She will not be,” he said coolly, and left the room.
Lora stood where she was for a moment, then she thought of what could happen if Rowan found the woman he loved in the arms of another man. She ran from the room to search for Xante. Xante would know what to do.
“Meddling fool,” Xante said when Lora told him some of what she had said to Rowan. He was saddling his horse. “Jura is no murderer and she is a maiden. She does not lie with Daire. You should not have told Rowan these things and made him doubt.”
“He is my brother and I must protect him.”
“As Geralt is Jura’s brother, but she would no more poison Rowan than you would poison Geralt.”
“You don’t know women as I do,” Lora said stiffly.
“No, but I know Jura.” He stopped and looked at Lora, standing there biting her lip with worry. He adjusted his saddle. “Did you love the man you married as much as you love Rowan?”
She was startled. “Yes,” she answered.