Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) (32 page)

“Perhaps we should talk alone,” Luc said. “I’ll show Drugo to the solar.”

“Excellent,” Mina said. “I’ll see that refreshment is brought to you.”

Luc watched her go, dreading the return. Then he said, “This way,” to Drugo. In the solar, he turned and said, “
Why
did you call yourself a falconer?”

“It’s a useful lie,” Drugo said. “Falconers travel many places and serve many masters.”

“Well, if you use the lie so often, you might learn a little of the profession to flesh out the story!” Luc gritted his teeth. “She saw right through you.”

“Bad luck on my part. Most people know nothing of falconry.” Drugo shrugged. “It matters little. She’s only a woman, and may soon be silenced.”

“I have written, and told you your suspicions are wrong.”

“And I told you not to be seduced by a pretty face.”

“She did not seduce me. Everything I’ve done has been by my own choice and for my own reasons.”

“What are your reasons for actually marrying the lady? We were agreed that the contract was only meant to persuade Godfrey to act like a reasonable man.”

“Godfrey is ill and has been ill for quite some time,” Luc said. “He’s unable to act in any way at all.”

“So you married her to get control of the castle?” Drugo asked. “I suppose that is not without wisdom.”

Luc bit his tongue to prevent himself from snapping at the spymaster. He’d married Domina because she needed a champion, and because he’d rapidly grown attracted to her, and then to respect and adore her. But those words would mean nothing to Drugo, who appeared to have no emotions at all.

“Well,” Drugo went on. “Now that you hold Trumwell, what do you wish to do with the lady?”

“Do with?”

“The reward for your success was an earldom by way of marriage. Or are you content with a castle and the daughter of a lesser lord? It seems a shift from your earlier stance.”

“What stance was that?” The voice came from the doorway. Domina stood there, bearing a tray with a wine bottle and horn cups.

Luc looked over in dismay. How long had she been standing there, listening? He quickly reviewed what Drugo and he had discussed—completely damning to anyone overhearing the conversation.

From the expression on Domina’s face, he was already damned. Still, he took a step toward her.

“Domina,” he began.

She glared at him from narrowed eyes. “I came to offer refreshment,” she said. Her tone was icy, correct, and as distant as the moon. “I apologize for interrupting your conversion with this very curious falconer.”

“He’s not—”

“Of course he’s not,” she snapped. Then she turned her attention to Drugo, who actually looked slightly uncomfortable. “Which makes me wonder exactly what you do for our king, my lord Drugo.”

The spymaster recovered quickly. “I protect the king from those who mean him harm.”

“Then why, sir, did you come here?” Domina spoke each word cleanly, little stitches with  a needle directly into Luc’s flesh.

“I have reason to believe that Godfrey de Warewic is working with agents of the empress.”

Domina’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Luc was sent to discover the truth of it…yet he failed to offer a full report.”

She turned her gaze back to Luc, and now he saw the pain beneath the outrage, and that hurt a hundred times more. “I don’t understand,” she whispered.

“There was…tenuous…evidence pointing at Godfrey,” Luc began to explain.

“Not that tenuous,” Drugo said.

But Domina asked, “What could my father possibly have done from his sickbed?”

“No one
knew
he was sick, Mina,” Luc said. “You hid it very well! Too well!”

“If Godfrey was not the instigator,” Drugo said, “we must look elsewhere.” He leveled his own gaze pointedly at Domina.

Luc said, “No. Domina is as loyal to the king as any knight.”

“So quick to defend your new wife, the one who it was never in your plans to marry. Is your union so satisfying then?”

Domina gasped indignantly, but Luc only said, staring coldly at Drugo, “I’ve told you that neither Domina nor Godfrey can possibly have anything to do with a conspiracy against the crown.”

“Then what of the money?”

“What money?” Domina echoed.

“The de Warewic wealth appearing in the coffers of the empress’s agents,” Drugo said. “Coin and even ingots stamped with the swan.”

“That’s why you wanted to see the treasury,” Domina breathed, staring at Luc in growing horror.

Luc shook his head, saying to Drugo, “The treasury is empty, and has been empty for over two years. I’ve seen it.”

“She could have moved the money.”

“Why move it from a secure location?” he protested, trying to employ logic in the face of Drugo’s prejudice. “Why pretend near poverty for two years? Why manage accounts like a miser for so long? The coins we’ve seen show up among the empress’s agents hardly match the total wealth of the de Warewic gold.”

“You are credulous,” the spymaster told him.

Mina gave a laugh at that, and turned on her heel. Luc threw a dark look at Drugo and followed Mina out the door.

“Wait,” he said, catching her by the arm.

She pulled herself free of his hand. “Were you laughing the whole time? Or just when you tricked me into thinking you cared about me?”

“Never. It was never a joke.”

“It started as a joke, by the king himself. Lord, he must have been laughing when he suggested a marriage. I swore my fealty to him, and this is what happened! How could anyone even think such a thing is possible?”

He shook his head. “I should have told you long before.”

“What? Told me what?” she asked desperately.

“When the King summoned Godfrey to his court, it was because he’d heard rumors about your family—specifically, that your father was lending secret support to Maud. But you arrived instead. The marriage contract...was an impulse.”

“An impulse?”

“He directed me to come here to Trumwell Castle in order to find out if the rumors were true. The contract was to be used as…”

“Coercion?”

“Persuasion.”

She began to back away. “So he did send you as a spy. You married me to find out if I was a traitor. I’m going to be sick.”

She stumbled away from Luc, her face deathly pale.

“Mina,” he said. “I know now that you are incapable of such an act.”

“How do you know that? I lied to you, to the king about my father’s condition. I could be the traitor you seek.”

“You’re not.”

He tried to approach her, but Domina moved quickly. “Don’t come near me! You married me under false pretense. You are no true husband.”

“The marriage is legitimate. We are bound.”

“Legitimate!” she echoed. Then she sneered. “The only thing we are bound by is lies.”

“Mina—” He reached for her hand, clutching it.

She snatched it back. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again.”

“Let me explain.”

“Your friend has already explained! You turn over someone to the king, and you are granted lands and wealth and title and a better wife. Did you plan on repudiating me? Having our marriage annulled? On what grounds?”

Luc didn’t know what to say, and by her expression, she assumed the worst. “Oh, mercy. I’m to be killed, aren’t I? I’m to be declared a traitor and killed. My father too? And Joscelin? Will you spare the garrison and the servants, or are they to be executed too?”

“Mina, no one will be executed.”

She kept shaking her head, clearly not hearing anything he said any more. “I’m going to be sick,” she repeated in a low voice. “I must find Constance.”

She turned and walked away, not even looking back. He let her go. He would explain it all, ask amends. But first he had to deal with Drugo, who so quickly destroyed the balance of power with a few choice words.

Luc, his mood utterly black, returned to the room where Drugo waited. “You could have sent a letter,” he muttered.

“I needed to see this situation for myself.” Drugo sighed. “You’re obviously besotted with this woman, blinding you to her true designs. You’ve already admitted that she’s lied to the king, and concealed much that she’s had no right to keep hidden. You tell me she tried to take control of this castle by herself, as castellan in all but name. If Godfrey died, would she have continued the farce? Or would she then have entered directly into an alliance with the empress, offering the castle as a gift?”

“Domina keeps the castle in the name of the king.”

“So she says. We have no proof she would have kept her word.”

“Our word is all any of us have!” Luc snapped. “I’ve bled for the king more than once, yet I could switch sides tomorrow. Many barons did switch sides when Stephen claimed the throne for himself! Those who promised to recognize Maud pulled their support the moment Stephen asked for their fealty.”

“Stephen is a man, and therefore a better leader.”

“Maud is the granddaughter of the Conqueror, and whether you believe she would be a good leader or not, you cannot deny that barons swore oaths to her…which they then broke. Yet Stephen now trusts them.”

“You say he should not trust them?”

“No! I’m saying that Domina has never broken her word, and you must let her defend herself before you pronounce judgement.”

“She may have a trial, if the king desires it.”

“I don’t intend to let her go to a trial,” Luc said. “I know who’s behind much of the mischief laid at the de Warewics’ door. It’s the false knight Haldan. He’s the one who should stand trial.”

Drugo’s nostrils flared as he huffed out a breath. “You have him in custody?”

“No, but I know where he is. I had several men put to the task of watching for him, and one of them reported back only two days ago. I hadn’t time yet to muster a force to go after him. But yes, I do know where he is. Allow me four days to ride there, capture him, and bring him back here. You may question him, and you’ll be convinced.”

“And if I am not?”

“Then you’ll proceed as you wish,” said Luc. “But know that I will defend Domina’s honor for as long as I have breath, and I’ll use the Braecon name and standing to do so.”

“If you wish to risk pulling your own family’s name down into the mud along with the de Warewics, then so be it,” Drugo said. “But I’ll give you four days to produce a miracle.”

“You will join me,” Luc said. He was not going to ride off, leaving Domina and Trumwell at the whim of Drugo. “We ride out tomorrow.”

“Very well.”

A knock sounded at the door.

“What now?” Luc called irritably.

Octavian walked in. “You might want to look to the lawn outside the gates,” he told Luc.

Luc didn’t understand what Tav was talking about, but he crossed the room to the window that overlooked the courtyard in front of the keep.

Mina was standing in the very middle of the paved area, the peregrine Guinevere on her arm.

He leaned against the edge of the frame, staring at the scene below. Mina was surely not going hunting at this point. What was she doing?

She bore the peregrine on her forearm as she rode her horse, with a hound trailing behind. She looked, in fact, like the very image of a high-born lady, like the ideal woman he’d always assumed he’d marry as he climbed the rungs of the social ladder.

Domina stopped in the middle of the park, which was still somewhat green despite the winter. She turned her horse around to face the castle. She lifted her face toward the keep itself. Though Luc knew she couldn’t see him in the window at that distance, he was certain she knew he was watching.

She extended her arm, called a command, and let Guinevere fly free. The bird shot upward, the powerful wings beating until they caught an unseen breeze. She circled once, high above her mistress. Then Guinevere flew toward the distant woods, growing smaller and smaller until she disappeared against the blue of the sky.

She wouldn’t fly back.

Mina had done it deliberately. She understood how her birds thought, and she would know that the peregrine would seize its chance for freedom if she allowed it to. Luc swallowed, his throat gone dry. All the stinging remarks Domina flung at him couldn’t match the harshness of her releasing Guinevere. It wasn’t the cost. It was the fact that he’d given the falcon to her.

Now she’d flung the gift away, along with any hope he had of convincing her they still had a future together.

Domina watched as Guinevere’s silhouette
shrank to a speck. The urge to let the falcon fly had come to her as soon as she entered her bedchamber. She didn’t think of the cost, or the months spent training, or even of the joy she felt every time she’d looked at the peregrine before.

Now it had become an instrument, part of a divine test. If she released the bird and it returned to her, it was a sign she had hope. If it flew off, then that too was a sign from above—a warning that she placed too much trust in something beyond her control. She’d trusted Luc, and all his words, and all his promises. She was foolish to do so.

So she rode out with the gorgeous bird on her arm, Luc’s incredibly lavish gift that may well have been a bribe.

Guinevere was out of sorts, cawing and ruffling her feathers. Hunting commenced in the morning. Now it was nearly twilight.