‘Nay. Though I wish to see her mood lighten, I have no wish to see the joy in her expression at the news.’
Brice laughed then, long and hearty, drawing attention.
‘You will not find the transition from foreign bastard knight to lord an easy one either, Brice. I wish I could be there to see how you fare when faced with these very same problems.’
‘I intend to learn from your errors, Giles.’ Brice nodded to the lady. ‘Do you seek me or your lord husband, Lady Fayth?’ he asked in a louder voice.
She came to stand before him and yet did not raise her eyes to meet his. ‘I did not know if you had asked Lord Giles for permission to go to the village, sir,’ she said to Brice.
‘Why do you wish to go to the village, lady?’ Giles asked. ‘You can speak your request to me.’
Her veil covered her head and her hair and wrapped around her neck, keeping everything he liked most from his view. He realised that this Saxon clothing covered its women from head to toe, showing little difference in a stout figure like Emma’s or a slender one like the lady’s. Mayhap Simon’s wife could be prevailed upon to send some of the dresses she wore to Fayth? The more form-fitting style appealed to him.
He brought his gaze back to the veil, for it was all he could see of her until she raised her head a little. The white fabric also brought out the dark circles still under her eyes. At least she would sleep well while he was gone these next few days.
‘I, we, my lord, have taken inventory of all supplies and foodstuffs in the keep and the other manor buildings, but my father stored much of the produce, wool and weaving in the village. I need to go there to…’
He watched her as she spoke but all he thought of was the night before when she’d writhed under his touch. He wanted to see the flush of sexual arousal on her cheeks and to see the way her eyes gleamed when she cried out her release. He wanted to see her smile once more.
‘Brice can do that,’ he offered, now concentrating on her words and not his fantasies.
Brice’s continued glare told him of his failure to do it well. The lady was more valuable than all of the supplies or stores in the keep and village and he could not afford to let her out of the safety of the keep’s walls. ‘I would not have you exposed to the dangers outside these walls, lady. I want you to stay here until my return.’
Fayth did look up then, startled by his words. ‘You are leaving, my lord?’
‘Oui.Aye. The king has granted me lands and I must ride the borders to see the extent of them. The map I have is only the most rudimentary and tells me nothing of their conditions or uses.’
‘I could tell you that, my lord. I have ridden these lands since I was a child.’ He did not know if her offer was to help or to keep him from going out onto the lands beyond the manor and village.
‘The king granted me your father’s lands and more, lady. My property includes eighty hides of land.’
She gasped at the size of it, for it was more than double her father’s property. ‘But Lord Leofwyne owns the land to the north and east of these lands,’ she said, shaking her head.
‘He fell in battle, lady. His lands are forfeit to the duke.’ Giles had spoken the words softly, but their effect was as though trumpeted throughout the keep. She paled before him.
‘How many others? How many Saxons were killed by your Duke William?’ she cried out. She’d only just begun to think on such things, lost in her own battle not to accept the pleasure he offered, but now, with his declaration about the extent of his reward for battle service, she needed to know.
He grimaced before answering her, so she knew the number would shock her. His expression became flat, his eyes dull and his lips tightened in a thin line across his face.
‘Close to four thousand, lady. So far as could be told, all of Godwin’s sons. Harold’s housecarls fought at his side and perished. The great earls of Mercia, Sussex, Wessex, Kent and East Anglia. Many more that I cannot put a name to.’
His voice carried no gloating tone and she thought she could hear sympathy in his words and that surprised her. ‘And their lands and people are given away?’
‘The duke has the right,’ he began, but then he stopped and did not try to justify the actions.
Fayth could not comprehend the amount of devastation caused by this single battle, except that life in England was changed for ever by it. Her stomach churned at the thought of never seeing uncles, cousins and other kin again. And how did the women fare without their men to provide for and protect them? Surely not all Saxon lords had daughters to use to legitimise the gifts from the duke and to cement the invaders to their conquered peoples.
From Edmund’s words, she believed that many Saxon lords still lived and were gathering in the north to push the Normans out of their country. He mentioned that thewitanvoted Edgar the Atheling as king and that support was growing throughout England for him.
Horrified that she’d been sitting here, safe in the keep and succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh with this man while not knowing the truth of her people’s, the Saxons’, fate shamed her. And not being brave enough to face her captor, be he husband or not, and to find out filled her with resolve. Her shame became her strength and she asked the question that had haunted her days and nights. The one that would either give her hope or ruin any chance of living in peace with her husband.
‘Did you kill my father to gain these lands?’
Giles knew no good answer to her question, but he would not lie to her in this matter either. He’d like to, especially since her face now grew deathly pale, very different from the recent glow that was taking hold there. She clutched her hands so tightly before her that they grew white from lack of blood.
‘I may have, lady.’ He ran his hand through his hair and looked away for a moment as a certain despair filled him. ‘I may have.’
When she stumbled and would have fallen, he stepped next to her and put his arm around her waist to support her. She would have pulled free, but he held her easily and began walking towards the keep with her.
