To Alienor’s surprise, Jordan straightened and faced Iolande squarely.“If I ever had a dubious purpose in your view, ’tis abandoned now.”
Iolande snorted while Alienor stared at Jordan in shock.
Then she remembered his gasp when Dagobert had bared his chest.
Surely he was not one who believed?
“I had not guessed that the old tales came truly to life,” Jordan confessed with apparent sincerity.“I thought only that Dagobert preyed upon his people’s beliefs to further his own ambition and there is naught lower, in my view, than that.”
“Then you had no understanding of the full measure of the man,” Iolande replied.
Jordan had the grace to redden.“I would never have believed it if I had not seen the mark of the cross myself.”He ran a hand over his hair and looked astonished.“To think that there was truth in the old tales all along.To think that the kings of Rhedae exist!”It seemed his entire world had been turned askew by the restoration of his faith in legends and tales, but Alienor remained skeptical of his changed perspective.
“I owe an apology to your house, Countess,” he said to Iolande.
Her expression thawed slightly but her tone did not change at all.“Words have little cost and less merit,” she said.The knight looked abashed at her censure.“And seizing my son’s wife for your own lends little credence to your apology.”
Alienor gasped at Iolande’s assumption but Jordan shook his head.“I have not laid a hand on her.”
“A likely tale.”Iolande scoffed, but Alienor saw that she was not sure any longer.
“The lady refused my advance,” Jordan continued.“She vowed to remain faithful to her husband while he lived.”He turned quickly to Alienor.“Have I not honored your wish?”
Alienor felt the weight of Iolande’s gaze on her, as well.“Aye.”She turned to Iolande.“There is a widow who sees to his needs, as she did before my arrival.He sleeps on a straw pallet, leaving me the bed.”
Iolande looked thoughtful for a moment, then addressed the knight.“’Twould indeed seem that you change your ways, serpent, but I would still know the fullness of your intent.”
“My insult is not yet repaid,” Jordan acknowledged with a nod.“Indeed, there is only one task I may assume to undo the wrong I have brought to you and your family.”
Iolande said naught, but waited and watched.
Jordan took a breath and his next words fell in a rush.“I would make amends for my part in seeing Dagobert imprisoned by correcting the wrong.I will help to secure his release.”
Fear flashed in Iolande’s eyes even as Alienor caught her breath in wonder, then the older woman ushered them quickly into the sunlight.
“’Tis hardly fitting to discuss the matter in the king’s own hall,” she chided.Her expression had changed, though, and Alienor knew they both felt new hope.
“Come stay with Alienor,” Jordan offered.“The widow will be more than happy to welcome me for the fullness of the night.”
And so it was done, though the notion of accepting Jordan’s hospitality would have been unthinkable but moments before.
There was naughtlike solitude and certain death to persuade a man to reconsider the choices made in his life.Dagobert had no distraction from that task in his dark cell beneath the palace.
Why had Alienor been with Jordan?Once his jealousy had faded and his reason returned, Dagobert could not explain the situation.He knew Alienor was not witless, and he had no doubt that she disliked the knight who served the crown.She could not be in his company by choice.
And where was Eustache?Dagobert had not spied his friend and comrade in the court.It was possible he had missed the older knight, but Eustache had not been near either Iolande or Alienor.What if he was not in Paris?
If Eustache was not in Paris, then he could not have sponsored Alienor’s release.
And that conclusion gave Dagobert a very plausible reason for his wife being in Jordan’s company.How that unscrupulous knight would have enjoyed finding Alienor in distress!Dagobert had no doubt that a man like Jordan would have been quick to ensure that Alienor was in his debt.
And she was possessed of such honor that she would not have fled him, not if his coin had seen her freed.
Dagobert paced and paced, but he could find no other explanation, as much as he disliked the one he had found.
Worse, it was his own fault.His lady wife was alone in Paris, alone without a denier to her name, in possession of only the clothes upon her back.He had brought her from Montsalvat, away from every person she knew.If she was beholden to a man like Jordan because of his own choices, Dagobert could only despise what he had done.
He had wondered once what he had to offer his bride, but the truth was he had given her far less than was even her due.He had put the pledge sworn to his father above his marital vows to her, even though he knew that their chances of success diminished with every passing day.He had ceded to Eustache’s distrust of all others, even though his heart had urged him to trust his wife.He had refused to speak to her, or to confide in her, and in so doing, he had lost any right to expect her respect—let alone her affection.She carried his child, despite his shortcomings, and he bowed his head in the darkened cell, wishing his fate could be otherwise.
