Arianna watched the two men grin at each other and nearly cursed as she hastily laced up her gown, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it was to put anything over her wet, torn shift. She was tempted to curse at the men, too. They were obviously intoxicated by the idea of thwarting some foe, just like men everywhere. She had seen that expression far too often to mistake it. The fact that they would take up the challenge to protect a woman and two children as well as avenge Captain Tillet’s drowned men only added to the sweetness of the battle. It was fortunate that she had seen another side to men as she had grown or she could easily think they were all bloodthirsty idiots.
She looked at Adelar and Michel. The boys looked as frightened and uncertain as she felt. She did not need to ask if they were as terrified of being taken from her as she was of letting them go. It was written all over their pale faces, causing tears to shine in their wide gray eyes. Although her legs protested the movement, she went over to where the boys huddled together as the men moved quickly to finish the preparations to leave. Arianna knew she had very little time to soothe the children, or herself.
“We should stay with you,” said Adelar. “All of us together.”
“We will be together again soon.” She kissed each boy on the forehead.
“Do ye trust these men?”
“Aye, I think I do. Ye heard. They are my kinsmen through marriage and I have heard about them. The captain trusts them as weel. Go, my fine brave laddies. We will meet again verra soon and, mayhap, this will prove the safest way for us to get to my family. Heed weel the men who take ye with them.”
Tears stung her eyes when both boys hugged her tightly. She stroked their hair and then clenched her hands into tight fists to stop herself from snatching them back when they joined the men. Arianna ignored the pain and weakness wracking her body and stood watching until they were out of sight. Doubts and fears churned her stomach but she struggled against them. In the end the decision to let the boys go rested upon one hard, cold fact. She was in no condition to keep them safe and would not be for a while.
“Come,” said Sir Brian as he tossed her cloak over her shoulders, grasped her by the arm, and tugged her toward the three horses waiting for them. “We need to leave now.”
“Why three horses?” she asked, placing a hand on the flank of the white mare he led her to.
“I want to be certain the men hunting those boys think they have three choices to make, that they need to break into three groups to track us all down.” He looked at her. “Are ye strong enough to ride?”
Arianna nodded, praying she was not fooling herself. The very last thing she wished to do right now was get on a horse, riding hard in an attempt to pull some of her enemies away from the trails the boys had taken. She wanted a bath, clean clothes, a hot meal, and a soft bed. She even wanted to cease having to be so strong, having to silently endure all her fear, pain, and weariness. It would be so lovely, she mused as she pulled herself up into the saddle, if she could just fall to the ground and give in to her misery, perhaps cry loudly and messily like a child for a little while.
Brian mounted, checked the lead to the third horse loaded with several packs to mask the fact that it was riderless, and then glanced at Lady Arianna, who was securing her cloak more firmly around her body. She did not look as if she would stay in the saddle for long, but he had the suspicion that there was a core of stubborn, hard steel in the woman. All he needed was a few hours of hard riding out of her. As he kicked his horse into a steady gallop, he found himself hoping he could offer her a few comforts when they had to stop for the night.
After an hour of hard riding, Brian slowed their pace a little. The trail they followed was wide enough that Arianna moved up to ride at his side. He caught her glancing behind them several times.
“They wouldnae have reached the place we left for a while, and deciding what to do when confronted with three trails will hold them back for a time as weel,” he assured her. “They willnae follow the whole way at such a hard pace, either. They are unfamiliar with the area and will need to keep a closer eye on their route to be sure they stay on our trail. Nor will they wish to ride their horses to death, if they e’en have them.”
“I suspect they brought horses with them,” she said. “The ship was verra large, much larger than Captain Tillet’s, and they wouldnae have wished to chase me and the boys on foot if they thought we had escaped drowning. Your mon Simon may have left ere they were able to bring their horses to shore.”
“Which will take more time. Good for us.”
“True. The DeVeaux and Amiel may e’en have held back on bringing the horses to shore until they were certain a search or chase would be needed for ’tis a lot of work to do. They were looking for our bodies.” She winced. “When they find the dead we had to leave behind they will ken that Michel and Adelar survived. I am so sorry those poor men died only to be left to the carrion.”
“’Tis nay your fault. And I dinnae think the men hunting you and those boys would act verra kindly toward us once we said they couldnae have ye, so ’tis best we didnae wait there to confront them.”
Arianna sighed and rubbed her forehead, but it did little to ease the pounding in her head. “Nay, ’tis why I ceased to seek any help. That and the fact that Claud’s family didnae wish to believe that Amiel was doing any wrong. They certainly refused to believe that he would ever deal with the DeVeaux.”
“Who is Amiel?”
“My husband’s brother.”
“Ah. So the boys inherit somethinghewants.”
Explanations were needed but Arianna heartily wished she did not have to give them. It meant revealing her humiliation, her shame. Unfortunately, the man not only deserved the answers he wanted, he might need them to better protect her and the children. She had learned enough from her family, and from ruling over her husband’s lands as he spent much of his time dallying with another woman, to know that even the smallest piece of information could make a difference between life and death.
“At the moment the boys are my husband’s heirs.”
“At the moment? I assumed they are his heirs because he was wed before he married you.”
“He was and he remained married even as he took vows with me.” She could feel the heat of embarrassment color her cheeks and almost welcomed it for it chased away some of the chill lingering in her body. “No one kenned it, but he had married a girl in the village nearly six years before he married me. He did not annul that first marriage, which gave him the boys. Instead, he allowed all of us to believe Marie Anne was his mistress and had me train his boys. I kenned they were his sons, but I had thought they were his bastard children, ones he wished trained to a better life.”
Brian bit back the curses stinging his tongue. He could only guess at the depth of the humiliation she had suffered. It was all too easy to recall the anger and bitterness suffered by his father’s wives over the man’s unfaithfulness. For this woman to discover that she was a mistress and not the wife she had thought herself must have been a hard blow indeed.
Then he thought on how she treated the two boys his family now rushed to a safe haven. Brian had no doubts that she cared for them and they for her. It said a lot about the woman that she did not turn her anger or heartache onto the boys. Few women he had known would be so kind and loving toward the children of a man who had so cruelly betrayed them.
“Yet you still call yourself Lady Lucette?”
“To do otherwise would only shame both our families. I may be angry with Claud for his deception, but he is dead now, as is his wife. Murdered by his own brother, I believe. And his family? They may have nearly cost the boys their lives by refusing to heed my warnings, but they were grieving the loss of their eldest son and still reeling from learning how many lies he had told everyone. My family had naught to do with it all save to offer me what they all thought would be an excellent match. There is naught to gain in letting Claud’s lies be kenned save to shame all the ones who have done no real wrong.”
