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To Daria’s utter dismay, she burst into tears. She covered her face with her hands, so humiliated she couldn’t bear it, yet the tears kept coming and she was gasping for breath as she tried to still them. She felt him then, standing before her for a moment, blocking out the warm sun; then his arms went around her and he drew her to him
. His arms were gentle and his hand was even more gentle as he pressed her head to his shoulder.
“It’s the babe that upsets you. You mustn’t be ashamed, Daria, it will pass, you will see. My sweet Kassia suffered bouts of very strange feelings, some of them making me want to weep, others making me hold my sides with laughter.”
“It’s not the babe.”
“Oh?”
“It is Roland, my husband—the man who scorns me, the man who feels nothing but contempt for me, the man who wedded me because the king commanded it.”
Graelam had not a word to say to that. He wished devoutly that he was on the ground at this moment and his wife was magically in his place. He felt awash with protective feelings that he had no business feeling. He could still think of nothing to say to her. Her sobs had quieted but her shoulders still quivered.
“I’m sorry,” he heard himself say. “Everything will be better soon.” By all the saints, his thinking continued, it was a stupid thing to say, meaningless all in all. When he was nearing despair, she sniffed, trying to gain control of herself.
“No, it’s I who am the sorry one,” she said, wiping her eyes with her fisted hands as would a child. But she wasn’t a child; she was a woman grown, who was married and carried a babe in her womb.
“Come,” he said, inspiration returned. “Let us go to the great hall. Kassia will give you a goblet of milk. Aye, that will make you feel better.”
When Kassia saw her husband’s anguished look, she immediately set aside her task of the moment and shooed him willingly away. She escorted Daria to her chamber, scolding her all the way. “Now, you will tell me what is the matter with you. I will fix it if I can, even though my husband is always telling me to keep still and away from others’ problems. Come, speak to me, Daria.”
But Daria couldn’t get the words out. Pride and misery stuck them in her throat. She remembered her unmeasured outburst to Lord Graelam and wished she’d sink into the stone floor. She simply shook her head. “It’s the babe,” she said, “nothing more, just the babe,” and Kassia knew with those few words that there would be no more forthcoming.
“Very well. You need to rest now. I will visit you later with some sweet white bread and some ale, or if you feel well enough, you can come to the great hall. We will see.”
Daria, alone again, retreated to her bed and dutifully lay down. She lay there unmoving for a very long time. She was, after all, quite used to being by herself. Odd, though, how all the hours she’d spent alone hadn’t taught her patience and serenity. When Daria finally rose, it was evening, and Kassia came for her with a smile. Daria managed one in return and followed her hostess to the great hall.
It was during the long night that followed that Daria came to a decision. Early the following morning, she approached Lord Graelam.
“My lord, I wish a favor from you. I ask that you lend me several of your men.”
This was a surprise. Graelam looked closely at the girl standing in front of him, stiff and straight-backed. She was thin, pale, and looked resolute as a mule. “You wish to go somewhere?”
“Aye. I wish to go to my husband’s keep. My place is with him, not here with you, a charge on your good nature. He will accept me; he must, for he is my husband. May I please borrow some men?”
What man could deny her such a request? But he shook his head; he’d promised Roland to keep his wife safe. Sending her off with some of his men, even though the area was secure to the best of his knowledge, wasn’t what Roland would expect of him. “I’m sorry, but I cannot. You must remain here at Wolffeton until Roland returns for you.”
If Roland returns, she thought, and turned away. His refusal was nothing more than she’d expected. He was a man of honor—and a man’s honor only extended to another man, never to a woman.
She kept a smile on her face throughout the morning. Early in the afternoon she approached Kassia. “I wish to exercise my mare, Henrietta. Should I take a groom with me?”
It was the perfect approach and she caught Kassia off-guard. For a dreadful moment Daria feared that Kassia, rallying quickly, would insist upon accompanying her, but just as the request was about to issue forth from her mouth, a nurse came into the great hall with a squalling Harry in her arms.
Daria, two young grooms in attendance, rode from Wolffeton within the hour. She was careful that Lord Graelam was well-occupied on Wolffeton’s vast training field and thus didn’t see her leave.
The afternoon was hot, with the sun beating down overhead, but Daria didn’t mind. She told her two grooms that she wished to ride northward along the rugged coast. Because they didn’t know what was in her mind, they willingly agreed.
Daria stared at the stunted trees that grew close to the sea. The continuous sharp-pounding gale winds bent them nearly double. They would veer eastward soon, she reckoned, near Perranporth. One of the grooms had obligingly told her of the location of her husband’s keep, Thispen-Ladock. They had answered her questions with prompt smiles and answers. She had fifteen miles to ride. She wasn’t certain how long a time that would take, but she would do it. Her immediate problem was how to rid herself of Graelam de Moreton’s two men now that she knew where to ride.
Two hours had passed when Daria, wanting to gnaw on her fingernails, finally called for a halt at the sight of the oak trees. A forest of them, thick and unpenetrable. It was her best chance at losing her protectors, and she intended to take it now. She lowered her eyes, resurrecting a modest blush as she told them she had to take her ease for a few minutes in the copse of twisted oak trees.
They looked at each other but said nothing. They could not very well accompany her whilst she relieved herself. Daria thanked them sweetly, then dismounted Henrietta. She looked over her shoulder as she entered the forest, to see the men walking their horses, speaking intently to each other. She smiled. They’d believed her.
She walked Henrietta a good fifty feet into the thick forest, then quietly mounted again. She would be well gone before they realized she’d escaped them.
They, after all, had no idea that she even wanted to rid herself of them. She nudged Henrietta’s fat sides and the mare quickened her pace, following the narrow trail through the forest.
Daria heard shouts, but they were far, far behind her. She saw the thinning of the oaks and knew that soon they would be through the forest, and Henrietta, if she hadn’t grown too fat and lazy, would easily outdistance the grooms, even if they decided to try to follow her.
