‘Addle-brained? I think not. I have only held these lands for a few sennights and can imagine the pain and anger if I faced losing them. You were born to this and now have lost everyone you held dear and gained only a bastard knight as husband when most certainly your father aimed higher than that for you. Surely I can learn to be lordly and allow you that weakness?’
The sound of Brice shouting outside broke into their silence, alerting them to the demands each one faced. But, Giles hesitated to break their truce and broach the topic he wished to know about most. Still, he must.
‘Lady, tell me of Edmund.’ Fear filled her gaze then and he shook his head. ‘I wish only to know of his claim to you.’
‘I do not carry his child, my lord.’ The light of recognition lit in her gaze then. ‘That is why you wanted to know, because of your own birth?’
‘Yes, lady,’ he said quietly. ‘And I never threatened you or any child you might carry. I simply wanted to know the truth first.’
‘There is no child, my lord. He has no claim on me, other than if we married,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘And I suspect that your claim to Taerford is stronger now.’
‘He has no claim on your heart, then?’ he asked, taking one of her hands in his. Rubbing it gently with his thumb, he was pleased when she did not pull away from his touch.
‘Edmund is more brother to me than if he had been one in reality, my lord. There was no attachment like that between us for we each knew our duty.’
‘Your father did not betroth you to him before leaving for the north?’
‘Nay. Edmund comes from a good Saxon family…and I bethink that his family arranged a marriage for him.’ She paused and shook her head again. ‘He fostered here, but there were no plans for a betrothal. Until…’ Her words drifted off.
‘How did he serve your father, lady?’ He held his breath, for he suspected that it was not Edmund who served the earl, but…
‘As I said, my lord, Edmund fostered here.’ She was not going to confirm what he suspected, probably believing that she protected Edmund in some way.
‘When did he arrive here in Taerford? How soon after Harold’s fall?’ That could give him an indication of the possibility of the man’s plans and how far he had progressed on them before Giles’s arrival.
‘Only days before you, my lord, just after I received your missive. He sent out a call to other allies to come and make a stand with him here in Taerford.’
Ah, so Giles’s own arrival had put a stop to that gathering, or had it? Reports of bands of rebels came daily from the other Normans in the area. ‘And now? Do you know where Edmund and his men are now, lady?’
Fayth shook her head. ‘I know not of his condition or whereabouts, my lord. When you had him dragged from the keep, it was the last time I saw him.’ There was doubt in her eyes then, as though she did not believe he was alive.
‘He left here alive, lady, at your request, and was taken off my lands.’ Giles stood then, releasing her hand and walking a few steps away. ‘But, if he returns to my lands, I will put him to death.’
She shivered at his words, knowing that he would indeed follow through on that promise. Pray God Edmund had left and sought kith and kin far away from Taerford. Brice knocked on the chapel door and pulled it open before either of them could respond.
‘My lord. My lady,’ he said with a nod of his head. ‘The day is full upon us and there is much to be done. Have you completed your parley or do you need more time to come to arrangements?’
‘Brice! Be gone from here. The lady and I are not yet finished,’ Giles called out to his friend.
‘The sun has broken through the clouds, my lord. Make haste for there is much to be done.’ The other knight closed the door and called out to someone else in the yard, his voice carrying through the closed door.
‘My lord, I should go,’ she said, standing before him.
‘Wait but for one more moment, lady.’
Fayth faced him now. There was something more to be said between them. He gambled by taking her hands in his as he spoke.
‘On the matter of your father’s death, I know only that I served Duke William from my place in his left flank, where all the Bretons fought under the command of my uncle, Alain Fergant of Brittany. There is no way to know where your father fought or if we engaged each other during the battles that day.’
He tugged her closer, letting go of her hands to reach up and shift the drooping circlet that held her veil in place. She’d not even realised it had fallen to one side until he righted it.
‘If you would hate me, hate me for things I do and not for those I cannot answer for.’
She did not meet his gaze then; instead she stared at the proof of her father’s death, dangling there around his neck, in view of one and all.
Her father’s ring.
‘But you have his ring, my lord,’ she said, and if her tone was harsh, it was due to the pain that seized her heart whenever she saw it there. ‘He would never willingly give that up while alive.’
