By Possession (25 page)

He knew instinctively that she was at the end, as far from him as possible. The choice of a woman afraid, but of what? That the lord might claim her service in the ancient way? If so, that night in the kitchen probably had not reassured her much. Nor him. The son of Barrowburgh was sometimes still tempted. With a different woman it might resolve things, but this one would only be embittered, even if he cajoled her to pleasure and passion. He wanted her willing, which she might never be.

He pushed open the low door to the tiny chamber. Her chests and stools cramped the walls, and her pallet lay in the position her bed had at Darwendon, with its foot near the door. An empty bit of floor stretched near her head, where Brian would have slept. She lay serenely, naked beneath the old sheet that made shadowed valleys between her breasts and legs in the dim light.

She slept deeply, not stirring at all. Did she dream of that mason? Intelligent and skilled and on his way to becoming a master builder. Just the man she had described as her ideal. He was proving smooth and skilled in other ways too, timing his work to end after the household had eaten so he could have her attention in the privacy of the kitchen where Addis could find no excuse to be. He had resisted the urge to warn the man off, but every time he saw that dark hair emerge from the garden to wash at the
well he had wanted to. Rhys courted her for marriage, of that Addis had no doubt.

The silk surcotte was folded neatly on top of one chest. She had looked stunning in it and he hoped she would keep it. His footsteps did not disturb her as he walked around her pallet to look at her face. Sliding his back down the plaster wall, he sat on the floor in Brian's spot and calmed within the serenity that she gave unknowingly and he accepted without questions.

The page led him through stone passages and chambers to a door giving out on an enclosed garden. Courtiers dined from plates of fruits and pheasant beneath neatly pruned trees and beside tidy hedges. A few women enjoyed the meal, but only men hovered around the king, who sat on a low bench topped with turf.

Edward glanced up with his approach, at first with confusion and then disappointment when he noticed that Addis did not wear the barbarian garments. He had attended this meeting as Patrick de Valence's son, and his surcotte bore his coat of arms.

Hugh Despenser had been speaking with a man near the wall, but he eased over to arrive near the king when Addis did. Edward accepted Addis's greeting and raked his appearance with his eyes.

“Your face. It is a cruel scar. Did you get that with the Knights?”

“Nay. I have marks enough from those years, but I brought this one with me.”

“It is a badge of honor if won in battle, but I expect the women do not like it much.”

“Like children, most women find it frightening, but a few have not minded overmuch.”

“Aye, but then some women like to be frightened.” A
few courtiers laughed obligingly when Edward grinned as if he had made a joke. “Sit and tell us about it. How goes the crusade against the pagans? Hugh here speaks of going next year but I have explained that the realm cannot afford his absence.”

“The Knights would be grateful for Sir Hugh's valor,” Addis said. Men like Hugh Despenser never went on crusades, especially ones in the Baltic where the Teutonic Knights took all the spoils and land. He settled himself in the grass in front of Edward and spun a half hour of adventures, ending with the fatal bravery of the crusaders in the
reise
that led to his capture.

“You were held by them? The pagans?” The notion fascinated Edward. He lowered his lids suspiciously. “Did you recant your faith to be spared martyrdom?”

“They never asked me to. It is the Christians who seek to convert the conquered.”

“Still, you must have seen things. Witnessed rites that no Christian should.” The idea of forbidden rituals titillated him.

“A few simple rites. No one required that I attend any rituals or offerings.”

“It is said that they burn men. Knights whom they capture.”

“I saw one such sacrifice. The knight was in his armor and on his horse. He had been drugged and did not know his own end.”

“But they did not burn you.”

“Nay. Their gods do not like scarred faces any more than women and children do.”

Edward looked around at his entourage. “We must find a way to honor Sir Addis. He has suffered much for God's war.”

“I seek no new honor, but only that which is mine by my blood and my birth,” Addis said carefully.

Edward appeared confused. Hugh Despenser bent and whispered in his ear. His words only made the king ill at ease.

“Your father, Patrick, was one of the contrarians who rebelled against us,” Edward said sympathetically, as if breaking bad news that Addis had never heard. “His lands were forfeit.”

“He unfurled no banners against his king.”

“There are witnesses who say that he did,” Hugh interrupted.

“For coin and land men often bear false witness. Did they swear to this before the peers?”

“Your father died. There was no need, not that such formalities are necessary with such blatant treason,” Hugh coolly instructed.

“The charters say they are always necessary,” Addis responded directly to the king, ignoring Hugh's usurpation of the conversation.

“Not if a man takes up arms against his liege lord,” Hugh tartly inserted.

“That is so,” Edward nodded. “The rebellion threatened our person and the realm. The barons received God's justice. My councillor says the lands were not broken apart, that they remain whole, and given to your brother. We have been more generous than warranted.”

“He is not my brother, but the son of my father's second wife, and not of our blood. I petition you to undo the injustice.”

Edward's eyes glared with sudden anger. “Injustice? Injustice? These barons presume to demand I relinquish royal prerogatives. They dare to instruct
me
in whom I choose as my councillors. They draw up charters and lists of rules for me, and seek to put men I neither like nor trust at my right hand. God's breath, they murder my dearest friends in the name of rights that derive
from me.

They ferment rebellions and raise armies against me, and then speak to me of
justice
? Lancaster and the others received their justice as ordained by God when I was anointed king!”

His own outburst seemed to surprise him. He calmed under Hugh's hand on his shoulder and continued whispers in his ear.

“ 'Tis a grave misfortune that your father forsook his oaths to his king while his son fought for God. A brave man should not suffer for the sins of his father, but it is always so. Darwendon is yours, however, secured by your marriage. And there is a manor in Wales that we will give you, to honor your valor and ordeal in God's holy war.”

Wales. Despenser territory. Addis doubted that he would ever be allowed to enter that manor's gates. He would refuse to do so if it meant swearing fealty to the self-satisfied man pulling the king's strings.

He rose, experiencing a new tranquillity about his course. He had learned what he needed to know and the king's decision liberated his conscience. “You are too generous, for a true crusader asks for no reward but what God might deliver when he dies.” He smiled. “I am grateful that you heard my petition. I must ask your leave now, with your permission. I should prepare for the tournament.”

His courtesy brought a warm smile back to Edward's face. “Fare you well, Sir Addis. I will watch for your performance today.”

He turned away and saw Simon standing near the garden portal, stretching to observe the conversation near the turf bench. “You have come for the tournament, Simon?” Addis greeted him when he neared.

“Aye, and who thought to see you here, Addis? In truth I come to visit my future bride, but the festivities drew me as well.”

“You do not compete, however. Nor does Owen.”

“Owen longed to, but I have other duties for him.”

“I am sure that you do.”

“Who was the beguiling woman who led your horse yesterday? A fetching piece.”

“Just a woman whom I know.”

Simon gestured toward the king and leered a grin. “He spoke of nothing else at the evening meal. You should have brought her today.”

“I do not think that Edward found her so beguiling as that, Simon. He may have got four children on his wife, but that ordeal is over.”

Simon's face fell. “It is treason to insinuate thus.”

“Then the whole realm is treasonous. I care not whom or what any man beds, but it should not affect his judgment.”

“You are displeased with his judgment?”

“As you knew I would be. Your friend Hugh will tell you all, I am sure.”

Simon held out his hands. “You seem becalmed all the same. Let us put this behind us, Addis, and join hands like brothers. It is not my doing or my fault that things happened thus.”

Addis gazed down at the outstretched palms that would as easily grasp a dagger as offer reconciliation. “Go and find your bride, Simon. The friendship of a man like Hugh Despenser needs constant vigilance.”

“That purse will help,” Richard said as they led the horses down the lanes toward the house. “Appropriate that a crusader won. Maybe God has finally decided to repay you a bit on this earth.”

“They arranged for me to do so, and you know it.”

“Now, I'm not so sure about that.…”

“They permitted the king's champion to advance to the
final round even though three knights could have defeated him earlier. He was still half-drunk from a night of debauchery, and my guess is that they arranged that too. They wanted the king's man to fall to the son of a family whom Edward had broken. The message may have been lost on the king, but not on Hugh Despenser.”

“If they chose to do so, just as well it was you. Like I said, that purse will help, and paying the forfeit of horse and armor certainly would not.”

“Exactly. Another message. One of friendship and this time to me.”

Old Henry hurried over to take the horses when they entered the courtyard. Both Addis and Richard joined him in unpacking and grooming the animals. Twilight was dimming when Addis finally emerged from the stable. He and Richard had supped at a banquet on the field, and the household would have eaten by now. “See if the mason is in the kitchen,” he instructed Henry. “Tell him I would speak with him.”

While he waited he strolled over to the garden. Someone had begun trying to clean out the growth. A bed near the front had been weeded so that the summer flowers could spread and the surrounding hedge had been cleaned of grasses. Moira, trying to impose some order on the wildness, just as she kept the least tame of his own inclinations in check.

Rhys took his time coming. Deliberate, that. A wordless reminder that as a citizen of London he need answer no lord's call. He finally emerged from the hall and sauntered over to the garden's edge.

“You know how to find Michael, Stratford's man?” Addis asked.

“He is in the city. I know where to go.”

“Tell him that I have agreed.”

Rhys turned to leave.

“Why do you do this?” Addis asked.

“Do what? Help these men or woo the woman you want?”

Now that was blunt, and either very brave or very stupid. “Help these men. The city cannot protect you if things go wrong.”

“Nor you. Before they come for me half the barons in the realm will be drawn and quartered.”

“Our grievances are heavy ones.”

“And ours are not? I may not have lost a great estate to these men, but I have my reasons for wanting them brought down. We all do.”

They stood facing each other, the growing darkness dissolving their forms. Rhys did not move, as if he waited for the rest of it. For some reason he had invited the confrontation and Addis could not hold his tongue.

“You know that she is bonded,” he said.

A smile flashed in the night. “So she says. An accident of birth, just like yours and mine. She is a proud woman with a strong heart. A man could do worse.”

Much worse
. “When I leave here, she will return with me.”

“Perhaps.”

“I will not release her.”

“I did not think so. Still, there's things you can control and things you cannot, even as a noble and a baron. Her birth and yours are two of the latter, and so is her character. 'Tis her body and eyes that catch a man's attention but her pride and honesty that keep him coming back. Those are what will form her decision, and it does not bode well for you, does it? Your birth means that you cannot offer her the dignity that she counts more valuable than pearls. I do not think that you have bought her yet, nor will you when this is over. Such a woman would not be swayed by half of Barrowburgh as a price.”

She already has half my soul. Half of Barrowburgh would be an easy gift.

“A part of me hopes that you force her,” Rhys said, turning to leave. “It will end whatever hold you have on her more surely than death.”

He disappeared into the night. Addis circled the garden and entered the kitchen through the open well-door.

Moira sat with her back against the hearth wall, lost in thought. She wore a weary expression, as if she contemplated something that saddened her. Dark hair fell around her body and he wondered if she always displayed her glory while the mason ate here. Jane was nowhere to be seen.

She heard his step and looked over with a resentful glare. Suddenly Addis understood. The man had touched her, kissed her.
It will end whatever hold you have on her.
Rhys had sensed what existed between them.

He dropped the king's purse on the table. A smile lightened her expression. “You won? You were the champion?”

There had been little satisfaction in the competition, but he took pleasure in the sparkle that the news brought to her eyes. “Aye. Take what is needed to pay the mason.”

“You will need the coin, and he said …”

“I know what he said, but I will not be indebted to him. Use some of it to buy what is needed to make this a proper house for the Barrowburgh honor. We may have visitors in the future. And hire another servant.”