Brian didn’t speak for some minutes.
“Tell me what you know. My brothers protect me too much sometimes. Why am I being held captive? Why should your brother hate my family?”
Brian immediately felt a kinship with Mary. “My brother also protects me. But I listen and I hear things. I will tell you what I know. A young woman named Alice Valence was once in love with your brother, the oldest one, Gavin is it not?”
Mary nodded.
“But for some reason I do not know, they did not marry. Alice married my eldest brother, Edmund, and Gavin married—”
“Judith,” Mary supplied.
“Yes, Judith,” Brian continued. “My brother was murdered one night.” He stopped a moment. He did not tell of the evilness of his eldest brother, the way everyone lived in terror of him. He didn’t mention the lovely young girl who cut her wrists the night Edmund was killed.
“And Alice was a widow,” Mary said quietly.
“Yes, she was. She, I believe, made some attempt to win Gavin back to her. There was an accident and hot oil spilled across her face. She was scarred badly.”
“Do you think there is some connection between this and why I am here now? Where is this Alice now?”
“She lives here. She had no one else.” He thought of the kindness of his brother Roger. “This fall Roger had a public fight with another brother of yours. They fought over a woman.”
“That could only have been Stephen. Bronwyn…never said a word.” Mary rubbed her hand across her face. “I had no idea this was going on. Oh, Brian, what are we to do? We cannot let our families war with each other.”
Brian was startled by her words. What did she mean “we”? How could she assume that he was on her side? Roger was his brother. Of course, he’d take Roger’s side. There must be a good reason why Roger was holding this quiet, gentle woman a prisoner.
Before Brian could say a word, Mary spoke again. “Why do you limp?” she asked quietly.
Brian was startled. No one had asked him that in a long time. “My leg was crushed by a horse,” he said flatly. Mary just looked at him as if she expected more, and Brian found himself transported back to a time he didn’t like to remember.
“Elizabeth was five,” he said in a faraway voice. “Even then she looked like an angel. One of the woodcarvers used her for a model for all the cherubs in the chapel. I was eight. We were playing in the sand in the jousting field. Our brother Edmund was already grown then, twenty-one years old.”
Brian paused a moment. “I don’t remember everything. Later, they said Edmund was drunk. He didn’t see Elizabeth and me as he charged onto the field.”
Mary gasped in horror.
“We would have been killed if it weren’t for Roger. He was fourteen and big and strong. He ran right in front of Edmund’s horse and grabbed both of us. But the horse’s hoof hit his left arm and he dropped me.” Brian looked away for a moment. “The horse crushed my leg from the knee down.” He gave a weak smile. “I’m lucky I didn’t lose it. Elizabeth said it was Roger’s care that saved the leg. He stayed beside me for months afterward.”
“You love him very much, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Brian answered simply. “He…protected both Elizabeth and me all our childhoods. He put Elizabeth in a convent when she was six.”
“And she’s there now.”
Brian smiled. “Roger says he’s looking for a man fit for her but he’s not found one yet. How can you find a husband for an angel?” He laughed in memory at something Elizabeth had said. She’d suggested Roger find her a devil. Roger had not found Elizabeth’s statement humorous. Too often, Roger didn’t laugh at Elizabeth’s sharp remarks. Sometimes her tongue was at odds with her sweet looks.
“We can’t let our families fight,” Mary was saying. “You’ve shown me that your brother is a kind, loving man. He’s just angry at Stephen. And no doubt your sister-in-law is angry too.”
Brian almost laughed at that. Alice’s half-crazy rages were more than anger. Sometimes she was totally insane and sleeping herbs had to be given her. She screamed about Judith and Gavin Montgomery constantly.
“You’ve said so little about yourself,” Brian said quietly. “Here you are held prisoner, you’ve been crying for days, yet you ask about me. Tell me, why have you been crying? For yourself or for your brothers?”
Mary looked at her hands. “I am a weak, cowardly thing. I wish I could pray as I should, but my brothers have taught me realism. When they find I am gone, they will be so angry. Gavin and Stephen will calmly prepare for war, but there will be nothing calm about either Raine or Miles.”
“What will they do?”
“No one can tell. They do whatever seems good at the moment. Raine is usually so gentle, a great bear of a man, but he can stand no injustice. And Miles has a horrible temper! No one can guess what he will do.”
“This must be stopped,” Brian said, rising. “I will go to Roger and demand that he release you.”
