“They will be leaving on the morrow to travel to our holdings in Brittany.” He shrugged then. “My wife failed in her duty, giving me neither a son nor a child of the blood I needed.” Stunned at such a revelation, she gasped. He shook his head and laughed.
“Worry not over them, Brienne. Both will be well compensated with lands and gold. A marriage has already been arranged for Adelaide. They go now to see to it.”
Though she knew of such things, that nobles married for titles, lands, and gold, because she knew the warmth of love, the coldhearted sound of it shocked her.
“So, Jehanne’s daughter, it is good to know that you will be at my side in this grand effort to right past wrongs.” He walked toward the door, and Brienne followed. “We will begin our campaign to bring Sir William to our side at supper. He will dine with us in the family hall. Prepare yourself well.”
With that, he lifted the latch and opened the door, allowing her to leave. She practically floated down the stairs and along the corridor, ignoring the servants and the noises and everything.
Jehanne’s daughter, he’d called her.
William followedthe servant from the main keep over to where the family and closest retainers lived. His men would eat with the others in the hall. He felt naked, wearing only his eating dagger and no other weapon, and uncomfortable. Though with the number of armed guards scattered around every step of the path they took, unless he was mounted and armored, he would stand no chance of even surviving if they turned on him.
He nodded to several soldiers he’d trained with over the last few days here. Lord Hugh had a core group of warriors who would be formidable in a battle, and William hoped his premonition that he would be the one they fought was wrong. But he’d long ago learned to trust that sense, and it had saved his life many times.
He climbed the steps to a higher story and down a corridor. The chamber they entered was a large one, holding one long table and several smaller ones. This night, only the long table was prepared for use. He’d been escorted to his seat when Lord Hugh arrived . . . with Brienne at his side. His surprise was even greater when Lady Margaret and Lady Adelaide entered behind them. If anyone thought this unusual, they did not show it by expression, glance, or gesture. A few higher servants and companions of the ladies took their places, and everyone waited on Lord Hugh to sit.
William discovered that because it was such a small group, they were seated on both sides of the table instead of all along one side. And it placed him where he could watch and speak to Brienne.
Dressed in a simple but costly gown that nearly matched the shade of her unusual eyes, she was a treat to watch. It was hard to believe that just a week before, this young woman had lived in the village. She spoke quietly with two of the women who served as companions to the women in Lord Hugh’s family. He could not help but smile when her face lit in delight at something she heard.
The meal began and continued through several servings. Heavy platters of roasted meat and fowl, pots of stew, wheels of cheese, and loaves of bread filled the table until he swore it buckled in the middle. Servants paced, quietly and efficiently, around them, assisting with the food, offering wine and ale, until everyone had eaten their fill.
Through it all, William watched her. A few times, he answered her questions about other places in Scotland or in France. He listened to her throughout supper and enjoyed her curiosity about what lay outside Yester’s boundaries and outside Lord Hugh’s dominion. For a moment he thought about taking her and escaping these lands, going back to France and showing her the sunny fields where grapes grew. Or to visit his mother’s family holdings near the coast, with its turquoise waters and warm, sandy beaches.
He ached to have her to himself, away from the king, away from her father, and away from all the intrigue and danger that festered around them. But wanting could never be having.
“She has blossomed, has she not, Sir William?” He turned to Lord Hugh, who watched him with much interest, almost as interested as he’d been in Brienne.
“She is lovely, my lord,” he admitted.
No one with eyes that could see would not agree with that now. Garbed as a lady instead of a villager, she seemed at ease with it all. Lovely and more to him, she yet glowed as no other woman did in his sight. There was something between them that pulled his attention back to her, over and over. He wanted to sit and watch her uninterrupted by duty, by honor, by any other demands on him.
“Lady Margaret,” Lord Hugh said, a bit louder. “Are the arrangements made for the morrow?” William glanced down at the lady, who stopped her conversation and nodded to her husband.
“Aye, my lord. As you ordered,” she replied in a low, respectful tone. “We leave after we break our fast in the morning.”
“Very well,” he said. “Adelaide, you are accustomed to this betrothal?”
“Aye, my lord,” came the reply from the young lady, who sat motionless next to her mother. “Certainly, my lord.”
“Then mayhap you should retire early so that you are well rested for your journey?”
Stools scraped back along the stone floor, almost in unison, as they obeyed his suggestion immediately as the command it truly was. He and the other men stood and watched as they left. The servants cleared the table of the remnants of the meal and placed trays of sweet pastries and cakes before Lord Hugh.
“Come, Brienne,” he said then to the only remaining woman in the chamber. “You need not sit over there by yourself. If you are not too tired, stay with us.”
Instead of the stern, unfeeling voice with which he’d ordered his wife and daughter away, he spoke to her softly, inviting her to stay.
William waited for her to sit, now in the seat next to him to the right, and then he sat. Eudes and the captain of his guards sat on the other side of Lord Hugh. Alain, his steward, faced his lord, seated to William’s left. As Lord Hugh’s discussion about travel arrangements continued with his men, William turned to Brienne.
“You seem more at peace, Brienne,” he said quietly.
“I am, Sir William,” she said, smiling. “I thought on your words and their wisdom. And I thank you for your friendship at a time when I needed it most.” She touched him then, resting her hand on his. “This is where I wish to be.”
Though his body reacted to just this slight contact, he tamped down the feelings that coursed through him.
“I wish I could follow my own advice,” he said, keeping his hand still so she did not realize she yet touched him. “I am always so much more proficient at sharing my wisdom than in learning from it myself.”
