When she would have argued further, he pressed his finger gently against her lips to silence her, replacing that touch with his lips when she smiled in acquiescence.His kiss was too short for her satisfaction, then his lips feathered over her eyelids.Alienor let her eyes close, surprised when she opened them again to find a merry fire blazing just inside the lip of the cave.
That some time had passed was clear, for the two horses stood unsaddled against the far wall and the darkness of the storm had been replaced with the shadows of early evening.Her wet clothes had been spread out before the fire to dry and Alienor propped herself up on one elbow to look around.The rain still fell, but its pace was more fitful now, and of Dagobert there was no sign.
Dagobert’seuphoric mood did not even last until he reached the shallow stream he had noted earlier.The incessant rain made him reconsider his hopes for the future.What sort of fool was he to think of days ahead with Alienor and their son?He sharpened a stick with more ferocity than the task required.’Twas most likely that he would never lay eyes on the babe, should things continue to go so poorly.
He glanced back up the hills, checking that the smoke from the fire was not discernible against the flat gray of the overcast sky.What matter if Alienor softened to his touch so invitingly?He flicked another speculative glance upward, wondering whether she truly slept, and returned his attention to his fishing with a vengeance.
Jordan’s shrewd guesses and hasty departure had numbered Dagobert’s days.There was the truth of it.’Twas only a matter of time until he was brought before the king, for in his heart, Dagobert feared that the rallied attack they had planned these years past was now doomed to failure.
What manner of man was he to court the favor of a lady who would soon be widowed?Was it not better that Alienor be left with a child to love and no tender feelings toward the babe’s dead sire?He would be found a traitor and condemned.It would be simpler for her if she could deny him.Their marriage had been arranged.Few would expect her to have tender feelings for her spouse in a matter of months.Would it not be easier for her to find satisfaction with another man if she did not mourn him?
Dagobert’s gut tightened at that last unwelcome thought and he impaled a fish in the creek with more viciousness than the task required.
He would not be selfish in this matter.From this moment forth, he would think of his wife’s future.
For he, Dagobert was nigh certain, had none.
Something had changedfor the worse, just when Alienor thought matters came aright.The curt warrior had returned from that foray from the cave, replacing the tender lover who had so beguiled her and that man had remained thereafter.
By the time a fortnight had passed since their departure from Montsalvat, she had endured fourteen days and nights of grim silence.Alienor thought she might scream at the tension between herself and her lord husband.
Not a kind word did he spare her, nor even a word that was not absolutely essential, be it tender or not.’Twas not the weather that ailed him, for the rain had ceased after that first night.The spring sunlight was liable to warm any heart, any heart but the stone lodged where her husband’s heart should have been.
Alienor had ridden alone since the first day and by her own choice.She was unwilling to have so little distance between them that her vulnerability to her husband’s touch would be so obvious.He had made no objection, not even a comment, a fact that did little to reassure Alienor.
As they rode steadily northward, she thought more about taking the final pledges of theparfait, the Cathar vows of poverty and chastity, once her babe was born.He would have no right to touch her then, and that seemed a fitting price for his ability to ignore her presence.It was one matter for her to decide to deny his conjugal rights, quite another for him to appear to have no interest in them.
Dagobert stopped yet again, peering up and down the road with narrowed eyes, listening.He had done as much many times on this day, and Alienor became annoyed with the delay.Enough of the road!she wanted to shout at him.Let us simply reach whatever destination we ride for, that I might have a bath and a decent night’s sleep!
But Alienor remained silent, knowing that he would simply give her that slow, thoughtful regard as he had so often of late, then silently climb back into his saddle and continue as if she had not spoken.He frowned now and pursed his lips, then glanced back.
Alienor’s heart skipped then her lips parted that he addressed her.
“’Tis a fortnight since we left, is it not?”he asked.
Alienor nodded.“Aye.”
He nodded in turn, frowning anew at the road.“’Tis most curious,” he murmured, almost as if he spoke to himself.
Alienor looked up and down the road, only to see leaves unfurling and spring flowers rising from the new grass.There was naught curious at all.She turned back to her husband in time to see him shake his head, then swing up into his saddle again and put his spurs to his destrier.
To Alienor’s increasing puzzlement,this sequence was repeated with slight variation many times over the next few days.Dagobert stopped often to listen, his expression clear evidence that he did not hear what he expected.He even left her concealed in the forest once while he rode into a small village for some mysterious purpose.His brow was furrowed more deeply when he returned.
Even Alienor, with her limited skills in the woods, could see that they had been traveling repeatedly over the same terrain for more than a week.They remained within a tightly defined area, riding on seldom-used paths that became familiar.They never did encounter another soul, for when the breaking of twigs or sound of footfalls betrayed another’s presence, Dagobert immediately led both horses into the brush.There they waited with bated breath until the sounds passed.
The paths themselves were a tangle of undergrowth even this early in the season.The brambles tugged at Alienor’s skirts when the sun grew hot in the afternoon, and dewy new fronds of trees slapped against her face each misty morning.Not a word of explanation was she granted for her discomfort, nor could she fathom a plausible reason for their circuitous path.If they meant to leave Montsalvat for some remote sanctuary, why did they not ride as fast and as far as they were able?
After four days of Dagobert’s apparently futile peering at the ground, despite the fact that his countenance had grown even more grim and forbidding, despite her certainty that her question would not merit an answer, Alienor dared to ask.
“What do you seek?”she asked one afternoon, earning a sharp glance from her companion when she drew up alongside his steed.
“What do you mean?”Dagobert’s innocent expression did not appear with sufficient speed to hide his surprise.He halted the horses with a gesture, fixing his attention on her.
Alienor’s heart skipped but she would not be deterred.“Clearly you seek someone,” she said, emboldened by the rarity of a word from him that did not urge her to silence.“Even the most simple soul could not fail to see that we have been riding in circles these past days.It would seem that you await another here and search for some sign of their passing.”
Dagobert lifted one brow, his gaze searching her face as if he would read her very thoughts.When he did not reply, Alienor continued, taking his silence for permission to do so.
“’Twould seem that if you sought another rider, they might be more apt to use the main road.If so, we would be more likely to miss them on these neglected paths.”
