Page 126 of The Champion

“I have guards,” Rowena said.

Swan gave her a droll stare. “As did Henry and yet Sin MacAllister was able to crawl, unseen, into Henry’s tent when Sin was only a boy and lay a knife to the king’s throat. We are not dealing with incompetent fools here. Our enemies are highly trained and cannot be seen until ‘tis too late.”

“Is something wrong, Father?” Alexander looked back and forth between Stryder and Swan.

“Nay, child.” Stryder sighed before he spoke to Swan. “Take the boy and his nurse. See them fed fully while I think this over.”

“Yea, Stryder. You think about this carefully. We are not men as others. How many times have you warned all of us that we aren’t able to have families because of the burden we carry?”

Swan gentled his face as he looked at the boy. “Alexander?”

The boy looked at him suspiciously.

Swan held his hand out to him. “I am one of Lord Stryder’s men, and you may call me Swan. Come and I will see that you and your nurse have food to eat.”

The joy leapt back into Alexander’s eyes. Taking Swan’s hand, he let the knight lead him from the tent with Fatima following after them.

As soon as they were gone, Stryder raked his hands through his hair. His face tired, he looked at her and offered her a half-hearted smile. “Good morning, my lady. I never even got the chance to say that to you.”

She walked into his arms and laid a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Good morning.”

Stryder wrapped Rowena in his arms and let her presence soothe him for a few seconds while he thought over what he should do.

“Why does life have to be so difficult?” he asked. “I look at other men, such as your uncle, and they seem to be able to live their lives at ease, without such conflicts.”

“All is not as it appears, Stryder. You don’t see the inside of my uncle’s heart to know how hard his life has been. Unlike you, he is the youngest son of my mother’s family. ‘Tis why he was chosen to be my guardian. He will never inherit his own land, nor mine, even though he has been a good lord to my people and vassal to Henry. ‘Tis why he has never married. Instead, he has had to stand aside and watch the woman he loves marry a lord, because that man was landed, while he could offer her nothing. I am sure he must resent me at times for having been born an heiress, yet he never shows it.”

“How could anyone resent you?”

She squeezed him at the kind question.

He sighed and released her. “What should I do, Rowena?”

It amazed her that he even asked her opinion. How unlike any man to care what a woman thought about anything. It was why she loved him so much.

Marry me, the voice in her head whispered.

But that was something she wouldn’t say out loud, especially since she had been the one who refused his suit.

“I know not, Stryder. However, I am quite certain that you will do whatever is right for everyone involved.”

“You say that with much more conviction that I feel. I have been wrong so many times...”

“But you have been right more times than not.”

He shook his head. “I wish I shared your faith in me.”

She placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed his biceps. “Have no fear, Stryder. Things will turn out as God intends them.”

Rowena released him and stepped back. “I shall leave you alone to think. Should you need me, I shall be in the kitchen making sure Swan is feeding Alexander... and I don’t mean to a wild boar.”

Stryder gave a half laugh at her jest. Of course, with Swan, one was never certain if he would actually do the outrageous or not.

He watched Rowena leave his tent while his mind whirled.

“What should I do?” he breathed.

Stryder’s quest for an answer to that question led him straight to Damien’s door. He strode toward it with raw determination.