Lady Knight (34 page)

Riannon put her hands on Eleanor’s shoulders. She felt her tremble. Riannon
wished she had twisted her sword before she pulled it out of him. Whatever he
suffered was not nearly enough.

“Gast is within four hours ride,” Riannon said. “Let me take you there.”

“It’s raining. You must be soaked.” Eleanor turned and put a hand on Riannon’s
chest. “You are.”

“It matters nought.” Riannon covered Eleanor’s hand with one of her own. “I can
borrow a litter from Joan, so you need not ride if it would be uncomfortable.”

Eleanor stared at the back of Riannon’s hand. Riannon wanted to pull her hard
against her chest and never let her go. She wondered if it would hurt Eleanor if
she held her. What other bruises had he beaten on her that her clothes
concealed?

“Until the day he dies,” Eleanor said, “I’m married. I have no right to ask you
to sin.”

“What is there of right in any of this?”

Eleanor shook her head. “My world has ripped asunder. That does not mean yours
must.”

“I love you.”

“You have your reputation to think of now, Vahldomne. You’d not fare well in
company with a runaway wife.”

“You will not always be his wife. My reputation is with a sword, love. No one
will refuse my service because of my domestic arrangements. Most would be
hypocritical if they did.” Riannon gently touched Eleanor’s undamaged cheek.
“Mayhap, too, it’s time the Vahldomne gave the bards a verse or two of love for
their songs.”

“This is no matter for jest. What of your cousin Aveline? And your service to
the Goddess?”

Riannon nodded. “We’ll winter here, then I must return west to the crusade come
spring. I’d like you to accompany me. We can rent somewhere for you to live
whilst I’m away with the army. It would be to our benefit if you took the
management of our estates in hand yourself, but I’d rather you not be so far
from me. Or close to him. Rich men can have long reaches. As for our Wise
Mother, I cannot believe she would condone any woman being treated as you have
been, love.”

Eleanor put her other hand on Riannon’s chest. Riannon held that one in place,
too.

“You sound as though you’ve planned this all,” Eleanor said.

“No. I’ve not allowed myself to spin fancies about you this last year and a
half, for fear of preferring to live in my daydreams. I speak what is in my
heart, and it is the same as what my head tells me makes sense.”

Eleanor sighed and slipped both hands free. “If there is one thing I know about
you, it’s how integrity and rectitude run deeper in you than the marrow of your
bones. My perfect knight. Could you live with yourself if you fled with me?”

“I could not live with myself if I left you in danger.” Riannon reclaimed one of
Eleanor’s hands. “There will be those who will look on us askance. Your husband
might take a complaint to the queen. Some will find fault with us because we are
not a man and a woman. We will face troubles. I am aware of that, love. There is
no course of action that does not require our consciences to bend.”

Riannon stroked the back of Eleanor’s hand. “You once told me things can still
function though flawed. Imperfections need not render a thing valueless. The
choices we face are all flawed, are they not? But that does not mean whatever we
do is wholly wrong.”

“You could ride away and leave me in a grove.”

“No. You would be vulnerable to him. He could take you away and hold you
somewhere and mistreat you, and be within his rights. That I cannot allow. I
have served weak and unworthy men, and it did not kill me. I must use a sword
that inflicts terrible wounds, yet I wield it in the name of the Lady of Mercy
and Healing. I have sworn to protect the weak and defenceless. How could I
ensure the safety of some woman whose name I would never learn, yet allow the
woman I love to come to harm?”

The expression on Eleanor’s ruined face was hard to read, but she offered no
more objections.

Riannon kissed Eleanor’s fingers. “Will you let me protect you?”

Eleanor lifted her free hand, but a strong rapping on the door arrested her.

“Eleanor? It’s Guy. Is Nonnie with you?”

Riannon shared a look with Eleanor.

“Let him in,” Eleanor said.

Agnes opened the door. Guy entered and stopped abruptly with a shocked
expression. Eleanor belatedly moved behind Riannon.

“Atuan’s balls,” Guy said. “So that’s what the dog turd did. What he said to you
when you fought, that wasn’t just empty wind and taunts, was it? He –”

“Hold your tongue,” Riannon said.

Guy nodded. “He should count himself fortunate you got to him before I did.”

“Did you seek me for a reason?” Riannon said.

“You see the family errand boy,” he said. “The healer has arrived. She would be
better employed in prayers to help the prick in the next life, for he will need
every one. Joan wished Eleanor to know. Our sister also said Geoffrey is in need
of calming. He rages with one breath and weeps with the next. Humphrey cannot
evict him, since his son cannot be moved, so our brother-in-law has asked me to
be my most charming to suggest that you make yourself scarce ere the Howes
depart. Oh, and he asked me to return this.”

Guy held up Riannon’s scabbarded sword. Riannon accepted the weapon and the
unspoken message it conveyed that neither Humphrey nor Henry had any intention
of supporting Geoffrey’s charges against her.

“I’ll leave within the hour.” Riannon turned to Eleanor. “Should I ask for a
litter?”

Riannon held her breath as Eleanor lifted her head. At that moment, there was
nothing Riannon would not do for this woman. She would face down every angry man
in the world, sword in hand. Or forgo every gift from every prince. Slay
dragons, even. Take every hurt from Eleanor’s body to feel it ten-fold with her
own. But Riannon also knew fear. She so desperately wanted to be able to take
Eleanor away to safety and look after her that she was afraid she might be
denied it.

“Are you sure?” Eleanor said.

“On the surety of my soul,” Riannon said.

Eleanor’s swollen and split lip made her attempt at a smile into a
heart-wrenching travesty. She put her fingers to Riannon’s lips. Riannon kissed
them.

“I loathe litters,” Eleanor said, “but I’m not sure I could ride.”

Riannon silently vowed that she would kill Geoffrey rather than let him lay a
finger on Eleanor again. “I’ll make my peace with my sister and return. Guy will
remain here with you in my absence if you’d rather not be alone. Or, mayhap, I
could send him to Joan in my stead.”

“I am at your disposal,” Guy said. “I am at everyone’s disposal.”

“You had best go,” Eleanor said to Riannon. “You must not leave with your sister
wroth with you. Change into dry clothes.”

“We’ll get wet soon enough on the ride.”

Riannon strode across the chamber. She wondered if Geoffrey was in possession of
sufficient of his wits to understand when she told him that she would be taking
his wife away. Not that she cared what he thought of her, her courtesy, or her
actions. Nothing he could say or do would change her mind.

Eleanor’s “no” halted Riannon just inside the door.

“As you are to take care of me,” Eleanor said, “I needs must concern myself with
your welfare. Don dry clothes. I have no relish to nurse you through a chill.”

Riannon’s surprise gave way to a grin. “As you wish, lady.”

Riannon escorted Eleanor outside with Guy trailing them. The rain had eased to a
drizzle. Congealed blood stained the mud where Ralph had fallen. Riannon helped
Eleanor into the litter. One day soon, she would lift Eleanor into a saddle and
follow Eleanor’s headlong gallop.

“This rain is like to have swollen the Brown River,” Guy said. “The ford at
Delling should still be passable.”

“We go west, not south,” Riannon said. “To Gast. I’ll not be joining you at
Merefield.”

Riannon took the reins from her groom and swung up onto her horse. “Come spring,
we’ll be travelling to Evriat. You’ll be welcome at our table.”

Guy flicked a frown from Riannon to the curtain of the litter. “We? Our? You
mean –? Atuan’s legs. What a dullard I’ve been.”

“Yes,” Riannon said.

“I’ll send word when Ralph dies,” Guy said. “What of Howe?”

“He knows Nell goes with me,” Riannon said. “He won’t follow us. But on the day
you hear he’s dead, you’d best set out to find us with all speed. I know how
laggard you are when it comes to weddings, but I’ll not forgive you if you miss
this one. I’ll need you as best man.”

Guy blinked, then threw his head back to laugh. “Ah, Nonnie! You have impeccable
taste in women. It’s the same as mine!”

Riannon refrained from pointing out that it was she, and not he, who rode away
with Eleanor.

The sound of Guy’s laughter followed them until drowned by their horses’ hooves
as they rode away in the drizzle to face whatever the future held, together.