“Stealing is wrong no matter what,” Gavin said firmly.
“Would you sit by quietly and let Judith and your new son starve to death? If they were hungry and a man pushing a cart of bread walked by, would you sit on your high morals and let it go?”
“I don’t want to argue with you. Does Alyx know you plan to return?”
“No, not yet. I’m not sure I’ll tell her, but just slip away. If I don’t I’m sure she’ll try to go with me. I want her here with you and Judith. I want her to live the way she never has before.”
With one sweep he picked up his old clothes, flung them into a corner and reached for the silver embroidered, black velvet gown on the bed.
“What’s this?” Gavin asked, moving to lift something from Raine’s dirty clothes. He held up a gold belt.
“It’s Alyx’s Lyon belt, as she calls it, but for the life of me I can’t make out anything like a lion on it. One of the guards at the trial took it from her, and I had a devil of a time getting it from him.”
With a frown on his face, Gavin took the belt to the window and studied it in the sunlight. “It looks very old. Is it?”
“I guess. Alyx says it’s been handed down from mother to daughter in her family for as long as anyone can remember.”
“Lions,” Gavin muttered. “There’s something familiar about this belt. Come downstairs with me to the winter parlor.”
When Raine was dressed, he followed his brother to the paneled room. On one wall hung an old and faded tapestry. It had been there for ages and was so familiar to Raine it was nearly invisible.
“Did Father ever tell you about this tapestry?” Gavin asked. When Raine shook his head, Gavin continued. “It was woven in the time of Edward the First, and the subject was a celebration of the greatest knight of the century, a man called the Black Lion. See, here he is atop the horse and this lovely lady was his wife. Look at her waist.”
Raine looked, somewhat bored by Gavin’s recitation of the family history, but saw nothing special. He was always a man concerned with today and now, not centuries ago.
Gavin gave his brother a look of exasperation. “I saw a drawing of this belt—” he pointed to the tapestry—“long ago. The Black Lion’s wife’s name was something to do with a lion, and for a wedding gift the Lion gave his wife a belt of a lion and his lioness.”
“You don’t think Alyx’s belt could be that one. It would have to be a couple of hundred years old.”
“Look at the way this thing is worn down,” Gavin said, holding Alyx’s belt aloft. “The links have been wired together with iron and the design is almost gone, but from what I can see of the clasp it could be lions.”
“How would Alyx have gotten the belt?”
Gavin didn’t need to be reminded of his new sister-in-law’s origins. “The Black Lion was a fabulously wealthy man, but he had one son and eight daughters. He gave all his daughters enormous dowries, and to his eldest daughter went the lion belt to pass on to her eldest daughter.”
“You don’t think Alyx—” Raine began.
“The Black Lion’s eldest son was named Montgomery, and it’s through him that all our family has descended. Don’t you remember Father saying you were like the Black Lion? The four of us were tall, slim and fair while you were always shorter, sturdier.”
Raine remembered all the teasing he’d taken as a child and sometimes wondered if he was a full brother to his sister and three brothers. But he’d been twelve when his father had died, and there were many things he didn’t remember.
“Father said you were like him.” He pointed to the massive black-haired man atop the rearing stallion in the tapestry.
“And you think this belt Alyx has could have belonged to the man’s wife?” Raine took the belt from his brother. “She cherishes it, never lets it out of her sight. I knew it would be taken from her at the trial. She hasn’t mentioned it to me, but last night she must have been dreaming and she cried out about this bit of gold.”
“Did you know the Black Lion married a woman well beneath him? Not quite Alyx’s status, but compared to him, the Montgomerys are as poor as gamekeepers.”
Raine rubbed the worn belt between his fingers. “It’s too farfetched to believe. But sometimes I feel as if I’ve known Alyx longer than just a few months. I’ve been with women more beautiful than her, and certainly women who treated me with more respect, but when I first looked at her—” He stopped and laughed. “When I first saw her I thought she was a boy and I thought that if I had a son he would look like Alyx. There was something about her... I don’t know how to explain it. Was it the same with you and Judith?”
“No,” Gavin said flatly, looking away. He hated any reminder of how he’d treated Judith when they were first married.
“Speaking of your wife,” Raine said. “She gave me a tongue-lashing when I arrived.”
Gavin laughed at that. “And what had you done? If I remember correctly, she usually fawns over you to no end.”
“She said I was mistreating my wife by bringing her here.”
“Because of the King?” Gavin asked. “We discussed it and she agreed that you would be safe for a few days. It will take that long for someone to recognize you and get word to the King.”
