Rowena paused as the implications of what Mildred had said occurred to her. Warrick had put her in his dungeon not to suffer, then—other than with her own imaginings? Those imaginings had been terrible, true, but her cell had been like a palace compared to what it would have been like without John as her keeper. Could Warrick not know how kindhearted John was? Nay, John’s goodness was writ all over him, sensed at a glance. To know him was to know he would never hurt a soul.
Suddenly she cried out almost painfully, “I do not understand! Why would he assure I was well cared forbeforehe knew I carried his child?”
Mildred’s brown eyes flared wide. “So it happened, and in only those few days of trying? Are you ailing with it? I have some fine remedies for that, and for the swelling that might come later.”
Rowena dismissed Mildred’s offer impatiently. “Nay, no symptoms other than the most obvious of missing my monthly time.”
“Aye, so it was with your mother, going blithely about her duties as if she were not—”
“Mildred, I do not want to discuss babies when Warrick means to take mine from me.”
Mildred frowned thoughtfully before asking, “Did he say he would?”
“Would I say it had he not? He claims he will take the babe from me when it is born, as I—as I took it from him. Like for like.”
“Do you want it?”
“OfcourseI want it. ’Tis mine!”
“And his,” Mildred pointed out calmly.
“But he did not want the making of it.”
“Neither did you.”
“But he wants it now only to hurt me. That is no reason to keep a child.”
“Aye, and mayhap he will realize that ere long. ’Tis much too soon to worry about what he plans eight months from now. Like as not you will be gone from here before then. Or have you not thought of escape yet?”
Rowena snorted. “Certainly I have. Do you tell me how I might accomplish it when both baileys have gate guards on constant duty, then I will leave this very day.”
Mildred grinned. “’Twill not bethateasy. But mayhap Lord Gilbert will help when he learns where you are. Surely he must know by now that ’twas the Lord of Fulkhurst who destroyed Kirkburough keep. I am surprised he has not brought his army here already.”
Rowena gasped. “Do not even think it! I would rather stay here and suffer Warrick’s every little cruelty than be back in Gilbert’s control.”
“NowthatI find interesting. Your stepbrother would merely marry you off again, while—”
“One decrepit old husband was enough for me, Mildred. And Gilbert…before he left Kirkburough, he kissed me, and ’twas in no way brotherly.”
“Ah, so he finally showed his craving, did he? And there would be more of that if he had you back, for there is naught to stop him now from taking you to his bed, particularly while you carry the heir he wanted for Kirkburough. But then, he is a very handsome man. Mayhap you would not mind.”
“Mildred!”
“So you would mind? Well, then, ’tis fortunate that you find yourself unable to leave here for the while. ’Tis the safest place you could be to keep Lord Gilbert from getting you back again.”
That was possibly true, but Rowena wished Mildred did not make it sound as if she ought to thank Warrick for making her his prisonerandhis unwilling leman. Mildred was not giving this subject the gravity it deserved. In fact, she seemed not the least bit concerned over Rowena’s plight.
“Why do I sense you are not worried about any of this, Mildred? Think you Warrick is finished having his revenge against me? I assure you he is not. To him I am a thief, and although he did not cut off my hands for it, he means to inflict his little cruelties on me each day I am under his roof.”
“Ah, but I wonder how long his animosity would last did you develop a fondness for him and let him know it. Not long, I warrant.”
“Now I know he bashed your head, and so hard you do not even remember it.”
Mildred laughed. “Nay, my lamb. Merely have I had more opportunity to observe him unawares than you, and I do not think him so very cruel. A cruel man would have had you tortured to death and watched every minute of it. Lord Warrick has instead given you back like for like.”
“He denies my status, has declared me a serf.”
“He was thought one by us and treated just so,” Mildred reminded her. “But do you ask me, the man is obsessed with you, and for reasons other than revenge. He wants the revenge, surely. ’Tis his nature now to have it. But mayhap it does not sit well with him in this instance. You are a woman after all, and all of his enemies thus far have been men. Heknowshow to deal with them. With you he does not.”
