Honor & Roses (24 page)

* * * *

Following the meal, Cecily left the hall as soon as she could reasonably find an excuse. Pierce scarcely seemed to notice her going. She fled to her chambers and paced back and forth, trying to see a way clear from this arrangement.

Agnes came in. She was slightly tipsy, and Cecily told her that she should go to bed directly. She added, “I want to sit and think for a while.”

“Best not to think at night,” Agnes advised. “Nightmares come in through the cracks in the shutters.”

Cecily laughed, but felt no mirth. Her mind was already full of dark thoughts. A nightmare wouldn’t even be noticed.

She sat by the fire for an hour or more. It was past midnight, yet she could not sleep. She slipped out of her guest chamber, leaving Agnes dreaming in contented luxury unmatched even at Cleobury.

The halls were quiet and dim. A torch still burned here and there, while the fuel lasted. Soon, one would need a candle to move. Cecily had no candle, and didn’t want one. Staying in the shadows appealed to her now. She saw how the servants all reacted to Pierce, hoping to be ignored by him. Would she be the same after the marriage? A timid, cowed wife afraid to be seen or to speak up? For all his outward charm and manners—when he chose to employ them—Pierce was terrifying.

She walked to the courtyard. The rosebush had been unloaded from its cart and placed in a sheltered corner near the stables. Cecily found a bucket near the well and watered the rose, her mind so far from her task that she had nearly drowned the roots when Alric found her there.

“Cecily?”

She jumped in surprise. “Oh, Alric,” she gasped. “Where did you come from?”

“I wanted to check on the horses. Not everyone knows how to care for them, though I have no complaints here. Pierce treats horses well.”

“Better than he treats people,” she murmured. “All the servants are afraid of him.”

Alric looked uncomfortable for a moment, then said, “Everyone around here is well clothed and well fed. There are worse circumstances than serving a mercurial lord. Perhaps he’s not always like this.”

“You suggest his wretched behavior is for my benefit?” she asked.

“Not precisely. He may think he has to make an impression, though he chose the wrong way to go about it.”

“Indeed.” Cecily emptied the rest of water onto the plant.

Alric noticed. “Are you trying to kill it? Or is there a secret to growing things I don’t know?” he asked. His manner was teasing until he saw her face. “Cecily?”

“I should kill it,” she said listlessly. “It has as much chance to thrive here as I do. It would be a mercy to kill it before the soil around here can.”

He looked at her intently. “This is about more than his behavior in the hall. Say what happened.”

“He kissed me,” she whispered.

“Who did?”

“Pierce. In his room. Before supper.”

Alric looked away. “He’s to be your husband, Cecily. That’s expected.”

“I well know that! It was
how
he did it. He scared me.”

“Did he hurt you?” Alric asked, his tone much fiercer.

“No, but I felt as if he might do anything. He spoke of me being a mother of kings, and he kept touching me and he didn’t let me go…”

“You’re to marry him in a few days,” Alric said in a low voice. “This is what your guardian has decided is best, Cecily. Neither you nor I have any standing to go against that. And certainly not if our only reason is that you don’t yet feel comfortable here. Soon enough, you’ll think of this place as your home and you’ll scarcely think of Cleobury.”

“That’s not true,” she insisted. “I’ll never forget you, or resign myself to being the wife of that…man. Why must you leave me here?”

“Because I have no right to you, though I wish I did.”

But she wasn’t listening—her mind was too frantic, too distraught. She held one bud in her hand, just between the fingers. She could snap it off, right now. It would never have the chance to bloom. Why should she let it?  Who here would appreciate the petals?

Not Myfanwy, the leman. Not Pierce, the ambitious lord. Not Alric, who would be gone after the wedding, along with everyone she knew. No, the only one who would even want to see the rose was Cecily. And she was no longer sure anything could bring her comfort after her marriage to Pierce.

“Come back to the keep, my lady,” Alric said, more calmly. “I’ll see you safely there.”

“What could threaten me here?” she said. “I’ll soon be the lady of the whole castle.”

“But not tonight,” he insisted. “You’re still my responsibility.”

Cecily sighed and allowed him to escort her back.

She was glad of it, for in one passageway they were confronted by a guard who was both drunk and belligerent.

“What’s this woman doing in the halls at night?” he asked. His words were slightly slurred, but he eyed them narrowly.

“I’m escorting the lady to her chamber,” Alric said. “Stand aside, and the task will be completed all the quicker.”

“You can’t order me around,” the guard said. “You’ve no authority here.”

“I’m not ordering you anywhere. I merely suggested you could move your giant feet out of the way so the lady can pass.”

The guard looked Cecily up and down, then looked slyly at Alric. “Planning to follow her through her door, are you? Or have you already finished? Leave her with me. I could use a woman now.”

Cecily gasped in outrage, instinctively stepping back so Alric was between her and the offensive guard.

Alric lost whatever patience he had left. He walked forward, edging the drunk guard toward the wall. “Are you blind? That’s not a very wise thing to suggest about the woman who is about to marry the lord here.”

“So? I serve Lord Pierce, not some meek little lady.”

Just then, Rafe turned a corner of the hallway and looked at the scene with interest.

“Am I missing out on some new game?” Rafe asked.

“No,” said Cecily, from where she stood next to the wall. “Only a very rude guard who Alric is about to give a lesson in manners.”

“One he won’t forget,” Alric added.

“That sounds messy. Why not escort our lady to her chambers, Alric? I’ll deal with this idiot.”

“It’s not your fight,” Alric said to Rafe.

The other knight shrugged. “I seem to have a gift for stepping into fights that aren’t mine. Go.”

Cecily glanced back at the pair while Alric escorted her away. Rafe had a dagger out, and the other man was suddenly sober and quiet.

“What will Rafe do with him?” she asked Alric nervously. She knew Alric wouldn’t actually hurt the drunk guard, but Rafe…she wasn’t so sure.

“Scare some sense into him, I hope. The man never should have spoken to you like that. Not all Pierce’s servants show proper deference to their betters.”

“He’s a guard, not a servant. I saw him earlier at dinner. He gave a report to Pierce.”

“Well, I’ll give a report to Pierce tomorrow. If the guard doesn’t apologize to you by noon, I’ll challenge him.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It’s necessary. Everyone should respect you here.”

Cecily said nothing to that. She’d seen how much Pierce respected her. No doubt all the people of the castle would take their cue from the master.

At the door to her chamber, Alric halted. He said, “Listen to me. You’ll be lady in name, but you must assert yourself, Cecily. Politics matter here, in a way they never did at Cleobury, where you were sheltered from such things. The sooner you learn that, the better you’ll survive.”

“How do you know so much about it?”

“I left my home at age eleven,” he said. “I’ve been learning that lesson ever since then.”

Cecily blinked, seeing Alric in a completely new way. She always saw him as a steadfast, straightforward person. But he clearly knew something of how to negotiate the more subtle quicksands of courts and battlefields.

“If only I’d paid more attention when I was younger. Like you did,” she said sadly.

“You’ll learn quickly enough. With luck, Pierce will protect you and support you. But if he finds a political advantage in ignoring you, or even putting you away, then you have to fight for yourself.”

“I don’t know how.”

“The first lesson is not to be caught in a position someone else can exploit. Like being seen with me.”

“We did nothing wrong.”

“Even the most innocent scenes can be twisted. We won’t be alone again, Cecily.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

As Alric walked away from her, Cecily finally knew what it felt like to be truly alone.

Alric woke early the next
morning. He dressed in the chilly air—it was colder here, the mornings already hinting at frost. Though he should break his fast, he chose instead to climb the tower by the castle gate. Whenever he wanted to think, he found himself in need of a view.

He exchanged a few words with one of the guards, a lad of fifteen. He made no objection to Alric’s presence, and actually excused himself so the guest could have the parapet. Alric watched the boy retreat, wondering if Pierce had given instruction that his guests’ whims were to be indulged. Then again, perhaps they assumed that all gentry were as unpredictable as their own lord, and thus sought to appease.

Regardless of the reason, Alric cherished the privacy. He looked out over the valley below the castle. The small village, also called Malvern, nestled near a river at one side. Smoke curled up from the chimneys of the buildings as the residents began their work. It seemed peaceful. It
was
peaceful, he corrected himself. Though Pierce had many faults, he kept a close watch on his lands.

Alric shifted his gaze to the west, where the pass to Wales lay. At the southwest corner of the castle another tower rose, taller and thinner, undoubtedly built for the sole purpose of watching that pass. Some ancestor of Pierce had built the keep and the towers with that goal. And Pierce was following the same idea, always watching for enemies, always ready for war.

Alric sighed. It was his role to fight, but it seemed that the fighting would never end. Could he face decades of warfare and constant political maneuverings as false barons switched sides or gathered power for themselves as the royal cousins fought each other?

He thought of Hawksmere, which his own parents strived to protect so they could leave it to him. The estate existed to provide him with the means to fight. The harvest and rents paid for the expense of being a knight.

Even if he could one day
live
at Hawksmere, what was the point of holding land if there was no one to pass it on to? He wanted a wife and children. He needed something to fight for, something more than an oath to a distant king.

It was ridiculous to imagine Cecily as mistress at Hawksmere. She was the daughter of a baron. She dressed in silks and fur. Yet every time he tried to envision his future wife, it was Cecily’s face he saw.

In two days, though, Cecily would marry a great lord, and once Alric rode out of Malvern, he would never see her again. He had been foolish to tell her he loved her. He should have never said anything, so that she wouldn’t have been confused about her duty.

But when he had the chance to taste her, he seized it. He could not honestly say he regretted it. A quarter hour with Cecily was more than he deserved. It was far more than he had a right to.

The sun climbed higher while he leaned against the wall, lost in thought. Time and distance, he decided, were the only remedies. He was upset now because he was still trying to convince himself that his dream was possible, when in fact the moment Theobald and Pierce agreed to their contract, Cecily was as good as married.

After some time, his stomach reminded him of more basic needs, and he went back down to the main hall to find some food.

He’d just finished some bread and cold meat, along with some rather good ale, when a servant boy came up to him.

“Sir? My lord Pierce wishes a word with you.”

Alric nodded. “Take me there.”

As they negotiated the now busy rooms and corridors of the castle, Alric wondered if the drunk guard of last night gave his report to Pierce, one that would undoubtedly paint both him and Cecily in an unflattering light. Alric hoped he wouldn’t have to defend his honor. Or Cecily’s.

Then he revised his opinion. He’d like nothing better than to do that, preferably in combat, in full view of everyone, so there would be no question of the moral rightness of the outcome.

Pierce gave no hint as to his mood when Alric was brought to the lord’s chambers. He invited Alric inside with a sweeping gesture. “Come in, come in.”

Alric looked around the expansive room, equal parts public audience chamber and private bedroom. Like most nobles, Pierce didn’t see much distinction between the two spheres.

Myfanwy was there as well, rather obviously having spent the night, though she was now dressed and coiffed. She sat near a small table by the bed, eating a sliced apple.

Alric chose not to notice her, instead focusing on Pierce. “You asked to see me, my lord."

“Yes, indeed. You were in charge of the whole entourage, is that not so?”

“Lord Theobald assigned me the duty,” Alric said. “I have served the de Vere family since I entered training as a squire.”