When the dinner hour approached Rhianna wondered if she would be invited to his table. Or was she to do without nourishment because of her behavior?
She was shocked when Mildred came to her door.
“I have been instructed to tell you that Garrett wants you at table tonight.”
“Mildred, I’m sorry. I could say nothing to—”
“I do not want to talk about it,” she said.
Rhianna sighed and nodded. Mildred must have been told about the punishment she would receive for Rhianna’s efforts to return to Wales. Mayhap Rhianna should again try to convince Garrett he was planning to penalize the wrong person.
Rhianna changed her clothing, then left her chamber. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the two women seated beside Garrett. She had forgotten all about Margot and Garrett’s betrothed.
She slipped into a place at one of the lower tables hoping her presence would be ignored. It wasn’t to be.
“Rhianna,” Garrett announced from the dias. “Come here.”
She glanced around her and then back at him.
“Nay. Your table is full,” she said, raising her chin.
She heard a gasp echo through the hall. As a captive she probably should not have offered such a comment.
Garrett only smiled and leaned over to Nedda.
Rhianna was too far from the main table to hear what he said, but it was plain to all his betrothed did not like his words. She jerked to a standing position.
“Nay,” Nedda shouted. “I will not give up my place to her.” She pointed in Rhianna’s direction. “Not to her. Never to her. You fool! She has bewitched you. She has cast a spell upon you. She is the witch your servants say.”
Rhianna watched Nedda clasp a hand over her mouth. His betrothed had said more than she should and she knew it. When she started to sob, Margot also sprang from the table.
“Garrett,” Margot’s voice rang out over the gathered diners. “All right! It will be as you wish. We will leave in the morn. We have had our rest now. We can take our leave.”
Rhianna watched in horror when Margot led a sobbing Nedda from the hall. Now she would suffer the blame for Garrett’s guests leaving his castle. Once again the specter of witch had been raised against her. Rhianna shuddered. She had only wanted to go home, home to Lily.
“Rhianna,” Garrett said, ignoring his sister and her friend.
He pointed to the chair next to him.
She slipped from her place and marched to the dias.
“I pray you will also excuse me, Lord deShay. I also feel too ill to eat.”
“Come take the chair. You do not have to eat if you don’t feel up to it.” He glared at her and Rhianna decided she had been the cause of enough trouble in the hall this day. She took her place beside him.
Although the atmosphere was strained, Garrett offered her bits of meat and vegetables from his own trencher. Nothing more was said about his missing guests, or her escape for that matter. Rhianna waited, wondering when he would call down his wrath upon her.
The meal continued and what appetite she had when she entered the hall disappeared altogether. Not knowing what he planned for her or for Mildred was causing her anguish she thought never to suffer again.
When Garrett turned to her, she flinched. He said for her hearing alone, “Come and eat. Nothing more will happen this day.”
“But what of tomorrow?” she squeaked, her throat closing over her words.
“Have no fear. I think you have suffered enough. Mildred has also. So rest easy. I would be done with this matter.”
Rhianna looked at him, unable to understand his words. Yet, he looked sincere. Could she believe him? Did she have a choice?
When they finished eating, Garrett asked, “Do you know the game of chess? Lydon is not available this night.”
“Where is Lydon?”
Garrett smiled. “He watches your brother. One captive escaping this week is as much as I can abide.”
“Nay. Arthur did not plan to escape. You must not hold him responsible for what I have done.”
“Did I say I held him responsible? Nay, I did not. Now, do you know the game of chess?”
“I would prefer to go to bed now.”
“Nay.” Garrett started toward a table set up before the hearth. “Tonight you will play a game with me.”
She gritted her teeth. Arthur must have told him about her skills. But if she had to play, then she would play well enough to make him sorry he’d challenged her. Aye, she would play his game and she would beat him in half a dozen moves.
She took the seat opposite and gazed at the board, planning her moves.
“I will play one game,” she announced.
Garrett grinned, and Rhianna resolved he would not be smiling for long. She made the first move.
A short time later Rhianna sat back in her chair. “Checkmate!”
Garrett stared at her and then at the board.
She stood. “Good night, Lord deShay.”
“Wait! I want one more game.”
She sighed. “I said I would play one game. We played it, now it is time for me to retire.”
“Then we will play tomorrow night.”
“As you wish.” She strolled toward the stairs, trying hard to keep her expression blank but she wanted to laugh out loud.
For a strategist of war, he was not the best of chess players. Arthur could probably best him. And she could beat all her brothers at the game.
She began to climb, thinking on what he had told her. Was he not going to punish Mildred, or herself? Could she believe him? She had no idea. Time would tell.
Despite her fatigue, sleep did not come easily. She felt as though she had just drifted off when Garrett’s deep voice sliced into her mind. She jerked upright in the bed, the ropes protesting. Garrett was shouting at someone.
She crept to the door and eased the portal open enough so she could hear. Whoever Garrett was arguing with was next door in the solar.
“I will tell you once more. Get you to your bed.” That was Garrett.
“But, my Lord,” a female voice whined. “You must take a wife. As you know, there is much to recommend me.”
Rhianna froze. That voice belonged to Nedda. She was proposing a union with Garrett.
“I do not want you. I want no wife. When I decide I must produce an heir, I will do the choosing.”
“Margot says...”
Another roar. “Nay! I have already said whatever words my sister uttered do not count. I will choose my own wife. And it will not be you.”
Rhianna heard a muffled sob. Oh, Saint Dafydd, the woman was crying. Rhianna felt her own face warm in pity. Now Garrett would give in to the demand to wed Nedda, for what man could withstand a woman’s tears?
“Dry your eyes. Your tears will not sway me. I will not have you. Find another to wed.”
“Oh, you are heartless.”
Rhianna heard footsteps running away from the solar. Had Nedda given up? It sounded like it.
She closed the portal with great care. It would not do for either Nedda or Garrett to know she had overheard their conversation.
She crawled back into her bed, easing her body onto the mattress. The groaning ropes sang in the quiet room. Mayhap the noise only seemed loud to her. She stretched out between the furs and waited, fearing someone would come to see about the sounds coming from her room.
For several minutes she lay still but when no knock came, she began to relax. She thought about the conversation she had just overheard. Garrett wanted nothing to do with a marriage, not for some time. Or was it only Nedda to whom he objected?
The thought that Garrett had no desire to take a wife sent a shaft of pain through her. Startled, she jerked into a sitting position. Wait! Why should that cause her any kind of pain?
She didn’t want to wed an Englishman, especially not Garrett deShay. Her place was at home with Lily.
The cause of her pain had to be something she ate. Or mayhap it was still exhaustion from her unsuccessful adventure, her struggle to escape the clutches of an Englishman. Whatever, it had nothing to do with marriage. Long ago, she had vowed never to wed.
Thoughts of such a union brought back her memories and once again Rhianna relived her delight with the proposal her father had arranged for her. Dafydd ab Madoc Carne had been twenty summers to her fifteen. He was tall, with black hair and a voice like an angel. Together they sang their country songs and everyone exclaimed on the sound. He’d been kind and interested in her. They talked about their future, the battles with the English, the divisions of Wales. During their long walks together, they even planned their keep once they were wed.
They’d gone hunting with her brothers and Dafydd had praised her skills, not teased like her brothers. At night, wrapped in her lonely furs, she had dreamed of their future together.
Then her father brought the news. About an English raid and the fight that followed. The death of her intended. She mourned for weeks. Finally, she talked to her anguished father. Another man would never take the place of Dafydd. She didn’t want to think about marriage to another.
After that talk, her father and Rhianna agreed. She would stay at his side and care for the keep as her mother would have done if she had lived. Rhianna would forever have a place at Brynn Ffrydd. No husband would she have to take.
Several years later, her father had given Lily into her care. The tiny girl child had been born to one of the servants with whom her father had shared a fur. When the mother died, no other relative would take the sickly infant. Rhianna had opened her arms and her heart.
She named the babe Lilybet and nursed her to back to health. Her half sister had now reached five summers and Rhianna had to return to the keep to care for her. No one else wanted Lily.
As tears streamed down her face, Rhianna remembered where she was and why. She cleared her mind of her thoughts. Nay, she would not waste another thought on Garrett deShay or marriage. All she would feel was sympathy for Margot’s friend.
Rhianna curled into a ball and closed her wet eyes.
Nor would she cry again. Her tears were for her pain, all she had suffered because of the English. She would credit them with nothing more. Nor would she ever forget how they had changed her life. Somehow, someway, she would leave this place and return to her home.
Nine
The next morning, Garrett stood beside Margot in the bailey. He had arisen early to see them on their way.
“Take care, Sister.”
Margot reached up and patted his cheek. “Nedda told me of your encounter last eventide. You are sure you do not want her?”
“Aye, I am certain. When I take a wife, it will be one of my choosing.”
She smiled. “Nay, Brother. You have no knowledge of what it takes to care for a keep like this. When the time comes, I insist I look for this wife of yours.”
“Margot!” Even he heard the frustration in his voice.
“I’ll find several women and you can then choose.”
Garrett sighed. The woman did not speak his language. “Sister, I do not want to marry any time soon. When I am ready, I will tell you. Only then can you make a list of those who might be successful candidates and I will choose. But, not until I’m ready.”
She frowned and wrapped her hands in her robe. “Do you mean that?”
“I do not say what I do not mean, as well you know. The right word is when. I will tell you when. You are to do nothing until I give you that word.”
She imitated his sigh. “I do not think you should wait much longer.”
“But I intend to do just that. When, Margot. That is what I want. I will tell you when.”
He helped her mount her horse. “Do you agree?” he asked.
“Do I have a choice?” She pulled her gown around her knees and straightened her skirt.
“Nay, you do not. Be safe and give your husband my regard.”
She gave him a smile, and the caravan walked through the gate and over the lowered drawbridge. Garrett watched her go. He couldn’t help himself; he chuckled. She meant well, but she had to learn that she couldn’t run everyone’s life, especially his.
He turned back to the castle doors. Rhianna stood framed in the opening. In that moment, the breath in Garrett’s lungs froze. She was a beautiful woman. Her brown hair, what he could see, glinted red-gold in the early morning light. Her dark blue eyes focused on the caravan moving away from the keep. He knew from experience, that close to her he would get a whiff of spring flowers. How she managed to smell of blossoms puzzled him, but the fragrance was hers.
For a moment, he forgot what he wanted to discuss with her this day. He stood staring as if he had never seen her before. Then, he swore. Any one of his servants viewing his action would indeed credit her a witch, say he was under her spell. That would not do. He shook himself and moved toward the doorway.
Once the hall had been cleared of the morning repast, he turned to Rhianna.
“Your brother told me that at Brynn Ffrydd you hunted.”
For a moment she looked stricken. He could see that his comment upset her.
“Mayhap he wasn’t telling me true,” he added.
“Aye, I did hunt.”
“With what? A knife?”
She bristled. Up went her chin and Garrett chuckled at the action. She was a stubborn wench and much more independent than the ladies he knew.
“Bow,” she said.
Her answer startled him.
“Bow and arrows?”
“Aye,” she responded.