“I am not entirely sure she should go alone,” she said to Helen, who had come to stand next to her. “When she is that angry… sometimes she says things she does not mean.”
“Go with her,” Helen said, also the slightest bit fearful of Lady Isabel’s temper. “Find Eric. Mayhap he can keep her calm.”
Mira nodded quickly. Leaving the chamber full of young women and their poetry, she dashed out after Isabel.
The woman wasn’t difficult to track. She was cursing up a storm as she passed through the inner gatehouse, into the central bailey beyond. She was nearly halfway across the bailey when she caught sight of something on the walls and came to an abrupt halt. By that time, Mira had caught up to her.
“Lady Isabel,” Mira said. “Would you permit me to summon Sir Eric? Mayhap he can help you straighten out any misunderstanding with Lord de Honiton.”
Isabel pointed to the wall. “Lord de Honiton is up there with Eric,” she said. “Douglas and Jonathan and the de Winter knight are with them. Why are they all up there? What in the world are they doing?”
She was stomping off again, making her way to a turret that had narrow spiral stairs that led to the wall walk. The walls of Axminster were particularly tall, taller still at this point because on the other side of the wall was a cliff. The twenty-five-foot wall was tripled in height between the top of the wall and the bottom of the cliff. It could be dangerous because, like many walls around England and Scotland, there was a minimal lip, which could give an enemy trying to scale the walls something to grab on to should they throw grappling hooks.
But if someone fell over the side, it would surely kill them.
Mira wasn’t thinking about any of that as she followed Isabel to the turret. She could hear Isabel muttering the entire way up those narrow stairs. Once she hit the wall, she quieted, however, because the men were about twenty feet away from her. Mira came up behind Isabel, who, when she saw the young woman, tried to turn her away. But Mira wouldn’t go. She thought Isabel might need her support. They were hissing at each other, arguing in mostly sign language, when Douglas caught sight of them.
“Lady Mira?” he said. “Lady Isabel? What are you doing here?”
Mira didn’t know what to say. When Isabel turned to look at Douglas, Mira discreetly pointed at her and shook her head, hoping that would give Douglas a hint that something was amiss. He saw the miming and was smart enough to realize that Isabel wasn’t pleased about something.
He braced himself.
“Lady Isabel, may we be of service?” he asked.
Isabel thrust her chin up, something she was very good at doing. “I’ve come to see Lord de Honiton,” she said as she moved toward the men. “Am I interrupting some conclave? Something that, as Lady of Axminster, I should be part of?”
There was that imperious tone again, one that left no doubt as to who was in charge of Axminster. ItwasIsabel. There was no substitute. She was furious that the men were up on the wall, gathering, and she was not included, but she was more furious that Jerome might have called the meeting specifically to leave her out of it.
“Was this your idea?” she said to him. “This meeting, I mean. Was ityouridea?”
Jerome was clueless about her question. “My lady?”
Isabel wasn’t going to let him play stupid. “Clearly, you went back on your word to me that I could announce our betrothal, because the servants tell me that you are demanding fish and fowl and eel in celebration of the fact that you are about to become the Earl of Axminster,” she said, growing louder as she went along. “I can only assume you are now trying to run Axminster without my input by gathering my knights. Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”
Jerome was taken aback. Eric had found him with his men in the central bailey, making arrangements to send Raymond home, when Eric had come upon him and very kindly offered to show him some of Axminster’s points of interest.
It seemed like a nice enough gesture.
As Eric had explained, it was going to be Jerome’s property soon enough, so he should get a look at what he was acquiring. Given that Jerome was thrilled with Isabel’s offer, which had most definitely been spreading around, he’d readily agreed. He thought it quite sporting of Eric to take him around Axminster, which he had visited a few times in the past but had never been given a detailed tour of. He’d been so eager that he hadn’t even considered Isabel’s thoughts on the matter, and when Douglas, Jonathan, and young Davyss joined the tour, he felt important. Douglas and Jonathan had some good insight into Axminster’s defensive features. Jerome had been so swept up in a glimpse of his future castle that Isabel’s rather angry appearance had him completely off guard.
But he wasn’t going to take her scolding. He didn’t like bold women, and Lady Isabel was one of the boldest he’d ever seen. If they were to be married, then she would have to understand her place in his world. She wasn’t going to give him orders and she certainly wasn’t going to embarrass him in front of his men.
A storm was brewing.
And it was about to get ugly.
*
He had toget her off the wall.
Douglas never thought that Mira would be an unwelcome sight, but at this moment, her appearance, and that of Isabel, was not only unwelcome, it was also dangerous.
They had de Honiton where they wanted him.
Like a sheep to the slaughter, Jerome had been more than willing to follow Eric to the wall for a guided tour of the land around Axminster. When Douglas, Jonathan, and Davyss had emerged from the keep a short time later, they could see Eric and Jerome on the northern wall. Eric was waving his arms around,clearly describing the landscape to the future Lord Axminster, but more importantly, the place he’d chosen to explain the land was where the parapet of the wall was low for strategic reasons. It was also where the walls were built next to a drop-off that plunged down the side of a hill and into the River Ax.
The perfect spot if you wanted to push someone over the side.
