They all walked casually through the hall—a designed parade to keep tongues from wagging-- and went into a room off the main hall, where there were many candles lit, a table with benches and two tall heavily carved chairs at either end. A ewer sat at each end and a tray of goblets. Two squires in the earl’s colors were already positioned unobtrusively in the back corners, and the knights stood back as the earl led Glenna to a seat at his right, gestured for Ramsey to take the other end and for Lyall to sit on his left.
“Ramsey tells me quite a story about the two of you.” The earl raised a hand by the ewer and each of the squires moved swiftly to the table, pouring and serving the undiluted wine while the Earl Valan settled in and leaned back in his chair, fingers on one hand drumming on the table.
Not a good sign, though his voice was even and withoutanimosity or anger, and Lyall wondered if that might be all the worse for them. The look Glenna wore was stubbornly intent and he loved her for it, but he rose and spoke before anyone else.“I have acted foolishly and have been driven by my past and my desires. Glenna was a victim.” Lyall gave her smile. “She has championed me, to save me from the consequences of my actions, and has forgiven the crack in good sense.”
Earl Valan gave him an arched look that questioned his choice of words and demanded plain speak.
Lyall raised his hand. “She calls it a crack. I know what I have done is most serious. I failed and betrayed my stepfather, you, and my king.” He paused. “And I failed her, the one who holds my heart, my today and my tomorrow.” The look Glenna exchanged with him sent a pang of meaning through him and the realization she was his reason for living. He did not take his eyes off of her as he continued. “She is my wife, in body and heart and mind, and I swear on my own black soul it is I who will defend her best because I will do so with my life. I would give everything I have, down to my blood and bone, to live out my time on this earth with her by my side, so I will not step away as I was asked.”
Her smile softened. Without her, there was nothing. He faced Sutherland. “Know this…there is no other man who will protect her as I will.” He tapped his heart with a fist. “So dear she is to me.”
The earl was an experienced diplomat and his face revealed nothing.
“Lady Glenna believes that she can save me, because I am now her husband and she is the daughter of the king.” He looked down, laughing in self-deprecation. “But the truth is: what is between us is my greatest gift and I would willingly hang tomorrow knowing that she has been mine for these few days.”
Her expression told him that his words troubled her, and she slightly shook her head, warning him to stop.
“You can take me away, Earl Valan,” Lyall vowed. “You canlock me up, shackle me to castle gates, stick my sorry head on a pike or draw and quarter me, but I will not deny her. Lady Glenna Canmore is my wife for my life.” He paused. “However long that may be.”
The thought of losing her, thus losing the man he could be, made his eyes burn and he looked away…unfortunately, right into the intense and thoughtful face of his stepfather.
Was that compassion he saw? If so, he deserved none.
Glenna stood abruptly and faced the earl. “You tell me I am the daughter of the king. Then hear me when I say we are wed. You harm my husband and you harm me.” She flattened her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Heismy husband.”
Earl Valan laughed softly and shook his head. “Why do I think you want to add ‘you oaf’ to your last comment?”
Her brow creased but she said, “You think you know me that well?” She laughed without humor and moved to the window, leaned against the wall not looking at any of them.
“I know I saw a sudden gleam in your eyes, and you moved away to hide it from me. Know you this. I have been called such names many times, my lady. I understand you more than you can fathom.”
Glenna refused to look at the earl, but stood with her arms crossed, her shoulder against the open shutter.
Lyall spoke from his heart, but he was at a loss now of what else he could say, and he sat down and took a sip of wine, hoping to calm things somewhat while his mind searched for another way to persuade them.
“I would not condone what my son by marriage has done, my lord,” Ramsey interjected. “I would say that he has acted without thought and selfishly. But he has taken something valuable from all he has done. I believe I know Lyall, perhaps better than he knows himself. Consider this: there are those who would say he does not have the wealth or position due a man wed to the daughter of a king. I would petition now, at this moment, to make him my heir.”
Hearing that was like being hit in the head with a flail. Lyall expected to argue with Ramsey for him to not dissolve their marriage… not to hear defense and support for him, support he did not deserve and was difficult to hear. He stared into this wine goblet.
Anger he could defy. Kindness? He wanted to hang his head with shame at his actions, at how he had let bitterness consume him, and with that shame came a great regret. To be where he was now, so clear eyed and aware of what he knew he wanted, and aware of how he wasted it and risked his future, was strangely comforting. He had no doubts. He wasn’t fighting his conscience, perhaps because this time what he wanted was not about his pride. With Glenna, his pride was not all twisted up inside of his desires.
The earl gave his stepfather a direct look. “Well and good, Ramsey. However, we are not here to debate whether he is suitable.”
“Nay, you are here to dictate the validity of our marriage,” Glenna said quickly. “To twist and turn my life so that I cannot follow my heart but understand my worth is only to be bartered to assist the Crown. My marriage is sacred to me. A handfast is the law of the land.”
“That is true, were you not who you are. Thereisno royal marriage without witnesses. That, my dear, is the law as it pertains to you.”
“What would have happened, had I, Glenna Gordon, wed a sheep farmer before my father the king decided I could come out of hiding?”
Lyall had to look away. The idea of her wed to a sheep farmer almost made him laugh out loud.
“You believe that such was possible?” The earl looked amused. “You believe you were free to marry a pig farmer?”
“Sheep farmer,” she said tightly
“‘Twould never have happened, Lady Glenna, and I prefer not to waste words arguing over the impossible.”
“I did not think any of us was wasting words. But I would now question the truthfulness of the stories we have heard about the grand romance of my parents. Was it a grand romance? Is only my father allowed to marry for great love? And if I am my father’s daughter, is not fighting for my right to the man I love in my very blood?”
