Chapter 6 #2
An hour passed. Another. Rafe must have dozed, because he jerked awake on hearing some small sound.
“What is it?” he asked out loud, reaching for the dagger at his side. His brain was muddled, and his instinct was to expect a battle.
No one was there, but he heard the sound again, a soft moaning. It came from Angelet’s room.
He took a breath, then eased the door open. The candle had burned low, but still illuminated the room. Lady Katherine sat in the only chair, her head nodding over her chest.
Angelet, however, appeared to be waking. Or at least her sleep was no long the deep catatonia that gripped her before. A thin sound escaped her lips.
Rafe sat on the edge of her bed, there being nowhere else to sit. He leaned over, putting a hand to her head.
“Angelet?” he asked quietly. If Lady Katherine woke, she would not look on the scene with much sympathy. “Angelet.”
Her brow wrinkled up, a sign of some internal pain.
Rafe immediately bent and laid a kiss on her forehead, hoping to soothe her. He pulled back to find her eyes now open, staring at him in wonder.
“What has happened?” she asked. “I was waiting for you in the chapel, and…” she trailed off. “Oh.”
“You remember?” he asked.
“It’s coming back. You found me?”
“I did. You were near the altar, unconscious.”
“It happened again,” she said in a small, hopeless voice. “I hoped I would be free of it for some time, but luck was not with me. Well, perhaps it was, if you found me.”
“Simon and I both found you, and brought you back here when your own servants showed no inclination to do so.”
Then she blinked, seeming to realize something for the first time. “You stayed with me.”
“Just outside. Lady Katherine remained here. See?”
She looked over, but immediately returned to him.
“But you hardly know me, and you stayed.”
“Well, you needed me to,” he said.
“It was most kind.”
“Self-interest, nothing more,” Rafe said. “If you die, I’ll have no one to escort to the nunnery, and then no one gets paid.” He leaned over as he spoke, his fingers sweeping strands of that unusual silvery blonde hair from her face.
Angelet smiled. “Your words are harsh, but your gesture too tender. Part of you is lying to me, Sir Rafe.”
“No knight leaves a lady in distress. What else can I do for you? Do you need food or drink? There’s wine here.”
“I need only rest. I hate this part most of all, when I can barely rise from my bed. My head hurts so.”
He put his hand to her head, very cautiously. “Where?”
“Behind my eyes, but also at the back by my neck, and, well, everywhere.”
Rafe began to stroke her head with his fingers, moving lightly from her temple to the base of her neck. “Does that feel better or worse?”
She closed her eyes. “It’s…not worse.”
Good enough. He continued to do it, to soothe at least a little of the pain.
Angelet shifted to lie on her side, her hands tucked up under her chin, her eyes closed.
Rafe glanced over her. The dip of her waist and the rise of her hip showed plainly under the blanket, the sort of curve he liked to see in bed.
He couldn’t recall the last time he’d been alone with a woman that hadn’t led to pure carnality. Yet here he was, alone with a beautiful woman and thinking of nothing more than how to heal her.
Well, not nothing. She’d certainly caught his interest, even though she was not his usual type. But he had no intention of acting on his impulses in this situation. The idea of taking advantage of a helpless woman was repellent.
After a moment she whispered, “You said there was wine? I am thirsty.”
He reached to the table, where a glass of wine stood. Then he slipped his free arm behind her shoulders. “Just rise a little, so you can drink this down.”
Angelet dutifully sipped several times. “Enough,” she said at last.
Rafe eased her down, then replaced the goblet on the little table. “How do you feel?”
“Less thirsty,” she said, with a tiny smile. “I’ll take what victories I can.”
“Sleep, Angelet,” he said. “I’ll stay here.”
“That’s good,” she whispered, her eyes closed. He remained by her side until she drifted off again. Then he moved back out to the hallway. He used the old tricks he learned on campaign to stay awake during sentry duty, and only when dawn colored the sky did he allow himself to relax.
* * * *
Later in the morning, Otto himself came to Angelet’s room. Rafe stood just inside the door as the lord looked her over. “How are you, girl?”
“Better,” Angelet replied. “I am most grateful someone found me and brought me to my room.” She didn’t say Rafe’s name, probably to maintain a bit of discretion.
“Well, I shall remain with you this morning,” Lady Katherine said. “You will need some bread and a little broth, I think, to revive you.”
“That would be most welcome,” Angelet said.
“Quite a commotion you caused last night,” Otto told Angelet.
“The fit came on without warning,” she said. “As they always do.”
“You knocked the candlestick off the altar,” Otto said. “It’s damaged.”
“I’m sorry,” Angelet said meekly. “I have no memory of that.”
“The candlestick is your concern?” Rafe asked. “Not your daughter?”
“She’s not my—” Otto snapped, then checked himself. “She has an affliction that no one here can deal with. Of course we’re all concerned for her health.”
“Of course,” Rafe echoed, not believing it.
“I had wanted to speak to you last night,” Otto said, again turning to Angelet. “Ernald insisted something important occurred, and you would know what he was speaking of.”
Angelet’s eyes grew wide. “Did he? I’m not sure what he could have meant.”
“Do you not?” Otto grunted, and looked sidelong at Rafe.
Rafe jumped in. “In fact, my lord, I have some questions of my own. Shall we let the lady rest? We can speak elsewhere.”
“Very well.”
Otto led Rafe to another part of the manor house, and then to what must be his private room. There were documents, sealed and unsealed, filling cubicles along the wall. In one corner stood the chest of money that Otto presented last night, the whole thing still bound with the chain and lock.
Otto sat in a large, high-backed chair. Rafe continued to stand, since there was no other place to sit.
“About last evening…” Otto began to say.
Before Otto could bring up Ernald’s trumped-up accusations, Rafe launched his own offensive. Always keep an opponent on his toes. “Did you hope to hide the lady’s condition? What if she’d had an attack on the road? None of us would know what to do!”
“The matter will be addressed. The maid Bethany has seen the attacks before,” Otto said. “She told me early this morning that she will be pleased to accompany Angelet on the journey.”
“Will Bethany’s knowledge be sufficient?” Rafe remembered Bethany’s cold reaction to Angelet’s collapse and her total lack of any assistance. He narrowed his eyes, waiting for Otto to come to his senses.
The lord finally shifted in his seat, looking a bit uncomfortable. “I suppose I should have mentioned it.”
“Yes, you should have.”
Otto grumbled, “What do you want? An apology?”
“More money.”
“What?” Otto’s eyebrows nearly rose off his forehead.
“This job is not what was first described. Your reticence about the lady’s health and your choice to flaunt the gold in that chest both mean the journey is much riskier than you implied.
If you want me and my men to guard the cortège from here to Basingwerke, it will cost more.
Double, in fact. And you’ll pay before we move out. ”
“Ludicrous.”
Rafe shrugged. “Very well, my lord. If you don’t like my terms, then hire another group. Farewell.” He headed for the door.
“Hold, sir knight!” Otto said quickly. “Angelet needs to travel now. There’s no time to wait for another group.”
Rafe smiled to himself. He’d gambled on Otto’s impatience, and it paid off. But when he turned back to Otto, his face was serious. “And how much is your time worth?”
“Double the original price is too high. I could offer you…half again as much.”
Rafe made a show of considering it. “Agreed.”
Otto clearly hated being outmaneuvered, but he said, “Done, then. And I’ll lend your group four of my guards as well, to ensure the safety of the venture. But you must leave tomorrow.”
“Certainly, my lord. We’ll leave as soon as the wagons in the cortège are loaded…and the payment is in my hands.”
Rafe nearly skipped out to the courtyard. Negotiating with Otto had gone better than expected. It was almost too easy, in fact.
He gave Simon and the boys the good news.
“This is amazing,” Laurence said. “We’ll eat beef for a year!”
“He must value the lady’s safety highly,” Simon murmured.
Rafe disagreed. “He wouldn’t weep if the lady didn’t make it to the end of her journey. But the money is another matter. That’s what we’re really guarding.”
Simon chewed his lip. “Did Lord Otto say that to you?”
“No,” said Rafe. “He didn’t have to. You’ve got to learn to listen to what these lords don’t say. It’s just as important as what they speak in words.”
“God’s wounds, I’m even greener than I thought,” Simon groused.
“That’s why you enlisted me, is it not?” Rafe clapped him on one shoulder, a gesture of camaraderie that he didn’t really feel. Yet it seemed to mean a lot to the other man.
“I suppose so. Well, I’ll learn a lot on this trip, that’s for certain. And we’ll see both the lady and her dowry safe to her destination.”
Rafe was going to have to teach Simon the trick of expecting the worst.