“Away,” Dagobert conceded.
’Twas far from a satisfactory reply.Alienor glanced up, then saw his gloved hand rising in her peripheral vision.She flinched instinctively, thinking he meant to cuff her for her insistence on asking questions, aware that she knew naught of the man who rode with her.
He noted the gesture and glanced down at her with what seemed to be surprise.His expression made her wish she could have controlled her reaction.The wet reins he held brushed against her cheek as he pulled her hood forward once again.Alienor was enclosed in the cocoon against his chest.
“’Twill be a long day, my lady,” he said, and his tone was distant now, a tone of defeat underscoring his words that Alienor had not heard before.“Rest for the babe, if you can.”
Despite her best efforts to the contrary, Alienor felt her heart soften and she felt his disappointment as keenly as if it were her own.
Instinctively wishing she could comfort him in some way, she tightened her arms around his waist and leaned more fully against him, as if she would gather him close for consolation.For a heartbeat and no more, it seemed that his fingers tightened around her waist, as if he accepted or even welcomed the solace she would offer.Alienor thought she heard him sigh before her eyes closed.She slept again, the pounding of the destrier’s hooves and the drilling of the rain an incessant lullaby.
His wife fearedhe would beat her.
Dagobert was unable to believe that his life had taken so many turns for the worse.Did she think he cared for her health and rest only so that there might be more sport in the beating?Did she honestly believe that he could touch her cruelly after so much tenderness had passed between them?
He had the right to beat her as her legal husband.Another man might have said he had adequate justification, if she truly had been at the root of his recent troubles.Dagobert spared a glance down at the lady sleeping against his chest and a wave of protectiveness surprised him with its power.He pulled her a little closer and she nestled against him like a cat before the fire, her sleepy murmur fueling a warm glow around his heart.
Could she have betrayed him?Could she have engineered his unveiling with Jordan de Soissons?With every step further from Montsalvat, Dagobert found the accusation harder to accept.Was that his heart or his wits at work?
If naught else, this journey would eliminate her ability to communicate with anyone but him, for they would not stop at inns or taverns.Alienor could not know their path for he knew it not himself.He chose at each fork in the road.
Away from Montsalvat was his sole objective.
Away from those he loved, so that their lives might be spared.
And what of this one he loved but dared not trust?He looked down again.And what of the babe Alienor bore him?Did his son not deserve a better legacy than a life of endless traveling?What else did he have to offer his wife when the comfort of his own hearth was denied to him?
Dagobert thought about creating a new life for his family, away from the demands of Montsalvat, away from the intrigue of his heritage.Perhaps they might ride to Normandy or Germany when this battle was behind him and he could make his way with his blade.Perhaps they could go to Iolande’s family in the distant north, or perhaps over the seas to Outremer, to what remained of the Latin Kingdoms in the East.
Perhaps, but probably not, Dagobert conceded with a sigh of defeat, the brief bloom of hope fading as abruptly as it appeared.There were but two ways for this matter to resolve itself.One left him king.One left him dead.
And the second seemed far more likely at this point.
His legacy to his son and his widow would be all or naught at all.
Alienor had beenawake for a while when the horse’s pace slowed, although she had not dared to speak during that time.The rain still pounded on her back and beat on the new leaves of the trees around them; Dagobert still held her tightly against his heat.She pulled back her hood as the destrier’s pace changed, risking a glance beyond the curtain of wool.The sky grew dark around them, and she looked up to Dagobert with surprise that an entire night and day had passed.
“A storm.”He did not spare her a glance but clearly had felt the weight of her regard.“Tis best we stop until it passes.”
Alienor nodded but he had already halted the steed and swung out of the saddle.She shivered, feeling cold and bereft once he was gone.She twisted to grip the pommel, seeing that he led the horses into a cave directly before them.The patter of the rain halted abruptly as they passed into the shelter.
Before she could slide down to the ground, Dagobert was before her, his hands fitting around her waist as he lifted her from the saddle.When she would have stepped away, he held her silently there, between him and the steed.Alienor caught her breath, knowing that he looked down at her, for she could not guess why.
“You are certain about the child?”he asked softly.
Alienor looked up at him in surprise.A flicker of warmth lighted the gray depths of his eyes and she wondered at the concern she saw there.Still he did not release her and her heart raced at the intensity of his expression.
“Aye,” she acknowledged.“I do not lie.”
His gaze flickered and she feared his intent.Did he mean to abandon her in this place, wherever it was?
“October?”he asked, such hope in his tone that Alienor felt reassured.
“Aye.”She nodded slowly in agreement, warmth flooding her veins as his lips curved in an unexpected smile.He shook his head with a wonder that echoed her own and glanced down at her belly, as if unable to believe what she said.
“In truth, you seem smaller than before,” he murmured, and their gazes caught and held.Alienor’s breath caught as his fingers brushed over her stomach, his caress leaving a shiver of pleasure in its wake.He watched her all the while and she felt trapped beneath his scrutiny.
And yet, she would not have stepped out of his embrace for all the riches in the world.She felt that her tender lover had returned and that she could look upon him fully for the first time, as if her initial impressions of her husband’s goodness were all true.
