Page 52 of May Queen: May Day

“There is nothing to know.”

“I don’t believe that. I also think you are sneaking away into the forest to meet with the Druids. How do you plea?”

“How do I plea?” Flora gasped. “Am I on trial?”

“Nay, of course not. I am only trying to understand you, sweetheart.” He took her hands in his. “I want to know what goes on inside that pretty little head of yours. Tell me, why do you keep sneaking off into the woods alone?”

Flora realized she was going to have to tell him something. She wanted more than anything to reveal the information to him about her father, but part of her couldn’t do it. If he knew, he would force her to tell him the Druids’ hiding spot and then he would kill her father and the rest of the Druids. She would be to blame. Nay, she wouldn’t tell him the truth, but she would make up a story that satisfied his curiosity and kept him from asking about it again.

“I’ll tell you, but I want you to promise me you’ll set my handmaid free.”

“She openly admitted that she lied to me. That kind of behavior needs to be punished. Besides, I’m not sure she’s not a pagan.”

“She lied, but it was only because she was trying to protect me from you.”

“Why would she think you needed to be protected from your own betrothed?”

“I did sneak away into the woods on several occasions,” she admitted. “The last time was when I was with your brothers when they went to cut down a tree for the Maypole.”

“I’m aware of that. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“What you don’t know is that . . . I was searching for the Druids.”

“Go on.” His voice remained stern and steady.

“I wanted to find the Druids because I was curious by nature as to who they are.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I kept it a secret because you said you wanted to kill them. I don’t want to see anyone die.”

“Flora, they are pagans and very dangerous.”

“I don’t believe that’s true.”

“The Druids killed my parents!”

“Can you prove it was them?”

“My brothers found my parents in the woods. My mother was dead but my father was still alive. I joined them at the castle and we were with my father right before he died. He told us it was the Druids who attacked them for no reason at all. Father tried to protect Mother, but he was ambushed.”

“Ambushed? I hardly call one man an ambush!”

He looked at her oddly. “Why would you say only one man attacked them?”

Flora could have kicked herself for saying this. Now he would know that someone told her about the day of the attack. “I heard stories. Back at my uncle’s castle. The talk is that it was only one Druid who killed your parents. That doesn’t make them all bad.”

“Gossip isn’t to be believed,” he told her. “I thought we went through all this before.”

“Mayhap your father was mistaken. After all, you said he was near death. Or mayhap you misunderstood him.”

Ricard felt veryuncomfortable talking about his parents. Memories of his dead mother’s body as well as his dying father’s wounds lodged in his mind. It still haunted him to this day. Emotions welled within him. As much as he wanted to find out more about Flora, he didn’t feel as if she were going to tell him anything of her own free will.

“I don’t wish to speak of this anymore.” He stood up and stared out at the lake. He needed to do something to keep her closer to him and to make her obedient and there was only one way to do it. “Come with me, Flora,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her along with him as he left the garden.

“Slow down,” she said, almost tripping on her gown. “Where are we going?”

“We are going to the village.”