Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) (39 page)

Stunned by Joscelin's cruel words
, Mina was barely listening when Luc started discussing his plans for her cousin.

“You’ll stand before the king and tell him all you know,” Luc spat. “If you’ve knowledge of the enemy’s plans, he may allow you to live.”

“Then you’ll waste the king’s time. I assure you I’m not so high in the empress’s regard.”

“That’s for Stephen to decide. My duty is to take you to him.”

Joscelin shook his head. “As you wish. I am sick of all this talk. It dries me out.” Then Joscelin looked up at his cousin. “Give me something to drink, Mina.”

“After all this, you want me to serve you?”

“Even a prisoner can beg, can’t he?” Joscelin looked so young and so pitiful that Mina sighed.

“Very well.”

Luc kept a cold eye on Joscelin while Mina ordered a maid to fetch a jug of ale and some glasses. She was thirsty herself, and it would do no good to starve him.

She poured the ale into glasses, watching her cousin as she did. Joscelin was fiddling with his crucifix, turning the metal cross over and over on its black leather cord.

“You should be ashamed to wear that,” she told him, “and ashamed to pretend such piety.”

He took the glass she offered. “I’ll soon wear other accoutrements entirely,” he noted, with a dark laugh.

Drugo waved off her offer of a glass. She sighed and moved to Luc, handing him a glass as well. “Drink. You deserve it.”

“You should too,” Luc said. “You’ve been through a lot today, and you look pale.”

Mina got a glass for herself and took a long sip of clear ale. It did help, and she felt better after. She refilled Luc’s glass before he even asked.

“Joscelin? Would you like more?” The courtesy came naturally to her, even after all that happened.

“I have enough, cos,” he said from where he sat.

She put down the pitcher again, then turned back to Luc. She couldn’t bear to look upon Joscelin for more than a second or two.

“Luc, after you’ve taken him to the king—”

“He won’t,” Joscelin said.

Mina looked at her cousin. “Don’t try to convince us otherwise, Joscelin! You think your clever words will work now?”

“No. They don’t have to.” Joscelin put down the glass, and then pulled off his crucifix. He held it out to her. “Take it, cos. I’m done with it. As you say, I should not wear it.”

Mina took a step forward, but Luc stopped her. “I’ll take it.”

Joscelin laughed, coughing at the end of it. “So careful. I’m no threat to you now.”

He coughed again, and then doubled over, his body convulsing.

“What is this trick?” Luc asked.

But Mina understood immediately. “He’s taken something in his drink. Luc, he’s poisoned himself!”

Luc rushed over to Joscelin, pulling him upright. “Did you? Tell me how to stop it!”

“You can’t.” Joscelin held the crucifix out again, his arm shaking now. “Always kept it handy, just in case. I’ll not be dragged off to court like a whipped dog.”

“Joscelin, this is wrong.” Mina was at his feet a moment later, reaching for his hands. “I can save you. You can drink more to dilute the poison. Or throw it up. Something must—”

“Too late, Mina. It was too late when I took the first sip.”

“Joscelin, how could you?”

“It was easy. I only had to picture my sister. And my parents. Now I’ll see them agai—”

He coughed again, violently, and blood appeared on his lips.

“Oh, Lord. Luc, help me.”

Luc put an arm around Joscelin’s shoulders to keep him sitting, but nothing could be done to stop the progress of the poison. Joscelin coughed again and again, more weakly each time, but with more blood appearing.

He sagged, and Luc helped him lie on the floor.

Joscelin made a grabbing motion, and Mina caught his hand in her own.

He couldn’t speak, but his eyes locked on her face. Such pain. Not just the pain of dying, but pain that he carried for years as misguided hate and resentment. His breath grew fast, shallow.

“Joscelin,” she said. Perhaps she should tell him she forgave him, or that she loved him. But she couldn’t say those words. Not now.

“Joscelin, be at peace,” she whispered.

His mouth pulled into a grimace as a final convulsion ran through him. His hand tightened, then let go.

“Oh,” Mina said. “Oh, Joscelin. What have you done?”

Luc pulled her up from the floor. “Come on, Mina. You shouldn’t be near him.”

“He killed himself!”

“I know, Mina. He killed
himself
. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But what can we do now?”

“About him? He can be buried in a potter’s field. No church will have him.”

“You needed his testimony. What will you tell the king?”

“I will tell the king what I heard,” Drugo said. “He’ll take my word.”

“Good,” Luc said. “I trust that the de Warewic name is clear in your mind.”

Drugo nodded slowly, looking at Joscelin’s body. “His work was more subtle than most, because he was working against his family as much as the king. But he’s the only one to blame—he and his lackey Haldan, who is already disposed of.” Drugo looked over to Mina. “You’ve nothing to fear in regards to your name. Though you understand that I’ll tell the king of your deception around your father’s health.”

“I know,” Mina said, her head high. “You may also tell him that I regret doing so, and never intended to harm the king by concealing the truth.”

“He’ll likely be lenient, considering that Trumwell is still secure and there’s no lasting harm done.” Drugo shrugged. “I must go and write down all that’s happened, so I remember the details when I speak to the king. Excuse me.”

He walked out of the room, leaving Luc and Domina alone.

Mina swayed a bit on her feet, and Luc immediately announced he was taking her to the bedchamber. She led him there without another word, too tired and confused to argue.

The bedchamber was much smaller than the one they’d shared at Trumwell. Mina walked to the fireplace, putting her hand out to the flames.

“Did all that just happen?” she asked. “Or am I somehow having a nightmare?”

“It happened,” Luc said. “I found you here. Joscelin confessed to his crimes. And he died by his own hand.”

“Oh, Lord.” She bent her head.

“I’m sorry you had to see him die, Mina,” Luc said. “Despite what he ended up being, I know you loved him.”

“I did. I still do, I think. He always acted like he should, even if that wasn’t what was in his heart.”

“If you like, we don’t have to speak of it back home.”

“Back home?” she echoed, still not entirely in command of herself.

“Trumwell. We must return to our home, Mina. You can’t stay here.”

“You call Trumwell our home.”

“So it is.”

“It’s your home. You took it from me.”

“It’s ours, Mina. Yours and mine.”

“But I heard what you told Drugo. You don’t intend to keep me. You’re going to have our marriage annulled. You want to become an earl. You are done with me.”

“I am never done with you, Mina. Not until I die.”

“Don’t lie to me,” she said. “I know why you married me.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

A tiny spark of hope kindled inside her. “Then perhaps it’s time you tell me.”

“May I hold you?”

“What?”

“Mina, more than anything, I need to hold you.”

She stood stock still. Luc stepped to her, and reached for her. He moved slowly, as if she might fly away or vanish into a mist. But Mina couldn’t move.

Then she was in Luc’s arms, sobbing. Her emotions were so unpredictable of late, so intense and erratic. But she’d ached for Luc’s embrace, and now that she was in it, she never wanted to be anywhere else.

After several minutes where neither spoke, Luc told her the whole story, in his own words. “The king heard of treachery, but not the specifics,” he concluded. “The coin with the swan pointed to the de Warewic family. But beyond that, he wasn’t sure. So he sent me to discover the truth.”

“Then why the marriage, if you suspected treachery?”

Luc looked at Domina ruefully as he explained. “The king saw the marriage as a way to ensure control. I could marry you for the purpose of keeping control of the castle, for I’d be master. But that was not why I had your father sign the papers.”

“Why, then?”

“After I saw the state your father was in, and I heard the story of how you acted as both lord and lady in an effort to maintain Trumwell in your family, I wanted to help you.”

“By taking it all away from me,” she said, though the words had no force behind them.

“By giving your rule my support. You’re the lady of Trumwell, Mina. You always will be. I’ll do everything to make sure that’s true.”

“You aimed to be an earl by marriage, and on the king’s council before you died.”

“I had many plans for my life and my family’s future. Once I got to know you, those plans meant less and less, until I couldn’t even remember why I dreamed them. I have married well, because I married you.”

“Then why did you not
tell
me so?”

“I was afraid to reveal the truth, because if you knew how I came to Trumwell, you’d hate me for it, and I couldn’t bear for you to hate me,” he confessed. “You told me once how you trained your falcons, Mina. You said that if you kept your bird hungry, if you didn’t show her love, you lose her. You said she would choose the sky. She’d fly from you and never return because you treated her ill.

“I’ve treated you ill, my Mina, and there’s no excuse for it other than that I was afraid to lose you. If you had a chance to fly, you would. And you did…as soon as you learned the truth.”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of pretending all was well, especially when…” She broke off.

“When what?” he asked.

She couldn’t tell him of the child, not yet. It was all too much, and one more revelation would drown her in tears. Having Luc so close also summoned another need.

“Enough talk,” Mina said. She put her hands on him, drawing him down to her. He required no convincing, and seconds later he tumbled her to the bed.

Mina was gratified by his enthusiasm, but she gasped in shock when he merely grazed her breasts. “Gently,” she hissed.

“That was too much?”

“I’m rather…tender.” She was sure he’d notice how much her breasts had swelled already, or that she was as skittish as a cat.

But if he noticed anything, it was her hesitation. “Would you have me stop, love?”

“No! Just mind me.”

“You’ve been through too much,” he said, frowning. His touch gentled, becoming soothing rather than demanding.

Mina sighed. “I like that. Touch me like that.”

He did, showering her with attention, until both of them were satisfied. Then they drifted off to sleep together almost in the same moment, Mina tucked in Luc’s arms.

In the morning, Mina made it all the way to the breakfast tray brought up by Constance before the nausea seized her.

She lost the little breakfast she consumed in a chamber pot. “Dear Lord,” she moaned. At some point this symptom had to end.

Luc, who she’d left slumbering in the bed, now heard her and rose.

“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently. “Did you eat something? Drink something?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing! When you watched your cursed cousin die from his favorite weapon? He might have arranged something before he was caught.”

As he spoke, Luc was pulling her up from the floor, despite her moans.

“Stop it!” she cried. “I’ll be sick again.”

“We need a doctor.”

“Luc.”

“I’ll send for—”

“Luc,” she shouted. “Will you calm down! I’m not dying. The sickness will pass. It’s quite common for women in my condition.”

He stopped at last, as comprehension dawned. “Your…condition.”

“I am with child,” she confessed. “I only found out just before that irritating Drugo arrived…and we fought…”

Luc wrapped strong arms around her as if he intended to keep the whole world out. “Mina, Mina,” he said, stunned. “Are you certain?”

“I am. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, for I’ve no experience of it, but I know it’s true. Every day, I feel my body change a little, and I know it’s because of our child.”

Luc took a breath, then another. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just promise me that you’ll look after us,” she begged.

“Always.” He kissed her once, then again and again. “I love you, my Mina.”

“I love you. I’ve loved you for a while,” she admitted. “Though I’m terrible at expressing it.”

“I disagree. Many times you’re wonderful at expressing it. But from this point, no more secrets. For both of us. You trust me, and I trust you.”

“To provide a good example for our child?” she asked.

“To be able to live together,” he said. “For you’re stuck with me, Mina. Forever.”

“Oh,” she said, with a little laugh. “I like that.”