“Oh, Jocelyn...”
“I was so sick with fear and rage and worry, so caught up in my own life and Odo’s illness, that I let our father go out and die for that woman. But I swear to you, Briar, I swear upon all I hold dear, that it was only after our father was dead that I discovered the whole truth. Odo spoke in his sickness, the last time he spoke until today, and what he said chilled me to my soul. He was in the darkness, in the rain, waiting. He was waiting for Anna. She rode by him, and he followed her and stopped her. He begged her not to leave him. But she laughed and said he wasn’t man enough for her.
“And he killed her.”
Jocelyn sat quiet and still, pale but composed, her thoughts far away. After a time she went on, staring down at her hands as if she could not bear to read what was in Briar’s eyes.
“It was too late to tell our father. He was already dead. I sat all night, thinking and thinking, and I decided there was no point in giving up Odo. He was ill and may even die, I told myself. And despite everything he had done, I loved him still. I had lost so much, suffered so much, it did not seem fair that I should have to give up my husband as well.”
Briar sat, bewildered and numb. All this time it had been Odo, not Radulf. All her hatred, all her cries for vengeance, misdirected. Odo had killed Anna, and Jocelyn had known and said nothing.
“I hoped you’d forget,” Jocelyn said again, as if she had read Briar’s mind. “I just hoped you’d forget.”
Briar turned to look again at Odo, where he lay so peaceful and still. He had just saved her life, saved it as surely as Ivo had done. What had such an action cost him? What amazing feat of strength had that been for him? And was that enough to make up for all the bad things that he had started when he killed Anna?
Only God could answer that, thought Briar. She would not even try. It was over. At last, the past was behind them, laid bare as the moors around Castle Kenton, but behind them. They could walk away.
Briar slid to her knees before Jocelyn, and gently took her sister into her arms.
The River House caught the dying rays of the sim, like molten gold between its muddy banks. Ivo tightened his grip about Briar as if he would never let her go, and she settled in against his side, molding her smaller body to his larger one. Smoke from the dwellings of York settled low over the city, broken by roofs and church spires and the grim Norman castles.
The day was ending. Odo’s body had been taken to Lord Radulf’s, as had Miles. Jocelyn and Mary were also there, being comforted by Lady Lily.
“Can you forgive her?”
Briar glanced up at her husband, and found a smile. “Jocelyn? Aye, I think so. I would not have done so once, but now I understand better what she must have felt. Jocelyn has loved Odo all her life, and she will continue to do so. I would not deny her that. In a way... ‘tis strange, but I think his death is a relief to her. I always believed she would be unable to cope, but she is strong, Ivo. We are all of us, Kenton sisters, strong.”
He squeezed her gently, bending to kiss the top of her head.
“And we are safe,” he said.
“Aye, we are safe.”
“The past is done with, and we can start anew. Make a beginning, you and me.”
“You and me,” she murmured, and together they watched the sun go down.
Epilogue
“Lady Briar?”
Lady Briar stepped forward at the speaking of her name, curtsying before Radulf and Lily as low as the babe in her belly would allow. Her heart was thumping with fear and hope. This day was as special as her wedding day. The wheel had come full circle.
Radulf held a single sheet of paper in his hand, much creased and stained from its journey, and there was a seal dangling from it. A very official-looking seal.
“Lord Henry has brought this to me from London,” Radulf went on. “Do you know what it is?”
Briar glanced sideways at Ivo, trying to keep a straight face when she was longing to smile. “No, my lord. At least, I dare not hope it is what I have longed for these many months ...”
“Well, perhaps your wishes have come true, lady. This is a decree from the king to say he has removed the taint of traitor from your father’s name. You and your sisters are no longer outcasts. The Castle Kenton estate will be returned to you. You have your name back, Lady Briar, and you can go home.”
Briar was trying not to cry.
Home. She could go home to her beloved Castle Kenton... As if it felt her joy, the babe moved inside her, kicking strongly. She would be able to have her child at home!
“Ivo.”
Ivo stepped forward beside her, making his bow and awaiting Radulf’s instructions.
