right to know who he was, what rightfully belongs to him. You find that amusing?”
His mouth softened into a smile. It was the first one she had seen in all these days. “Not amusing. I find it ironic.”
She noticed distant movement on the road ahead. A large wagon drawn by horses lumbered toward them, with a man and woman in front. They looked safe enough, and she could follow them most of the way back home. She raised her hand to hail them.
“Nay,” Addis said. “If I send you back, you will just run away again.”
“I would say that I have learned my lesson.”
“For a day or two, no more. You are a stubborn, willful woman. Soon you will convince yourself it would not happen again. I may be gone for several weeks, and if you go back one less villein will be there when I return. I have decided that you will come with me.”
“ You are a very stubborn man if you saddle yourself with the inconvenience of a woman.…”
“It will be very convenient. Finding you has proven fortuitous. You want to go to a free town? I will take you to one. London. My mother had a house there, and it occurs to me that it will have been vacant for some years. It will need attention, and I doubt that any servants remain. While you serve me there you can look for your freemason.”
“You go to London?” She tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. London, the biggest town of them all. London, with its royal charter of freedoms, beholden to no lord. London, with so many people and lanes that a woman could easily dodge anyone searching for her, for a year and a day if necessary. Claire's servant Alice had goneto London, and it was to London that she had been heading when those men assaulted her.
Her spirits renewed immediately and all thoughts of cowering at Darwendon disappeared. She smiled inwardly, and glanced at the man who claimed to be her lord. She would let Addis de Valence escort her to London, but once they got there she would not serve him.
“Aye, we go to London,” he said. “But first we go to Barrowburgh.”
CHAPTER 4
P EACE. THAT WAS WHAT he felt in her presence. He could not account for it. She did not have to speak, she did not even have to know he was there for the comfort to flow like warm water. He had experienced a peculiar strangeness since returning, as if he walked foreign ground during a distant time. Only when she was near did he feel properly centered inside his own body and existing in the world in the normal way.
He had almost turned back to Darwendon because of her. He had stopped where the road from Salisbury met this one and debated it. The peace waiting in one direction held much more appeal than the conflict promised in the other. She would not welcome his return or his demands for her presence, but the peace would still be his while she moved through the manor and sat aside at the table. He doubted that he could flatter or bribe her into more than that. She resented his claims, and the deformed Addis de Valence would hardly succeed where the handsome Raymond Orrick had failed.
He drove the cart until twilight began falling even though his hip pained him and Moira grew weary and uncomfortable. She was not an inconvenience, but the cart and donkey were. It would take much longer to make this journey now. But he also pushed on because he wanted them both exhausted before he made camp for the night. She would sleep then despite what had happened this day, and he would sleep too, despite the temptation of ultimate peace lying a few paces away.
It did not work that way. Sleep did not come quickly at all. He lay by the fire listening to her soft breaths carried to him on the night from the place he had made for her in the cart. He imagined that breath in his ear and on his body and felt himself sinking into her softness and warmth. He rose and walked into the trees, away from her, and forced himself to reconsider the decisions he had taken regarding Simon.
The man would not move against
His mouth softened into a smile. It was the first one she had seen in all these days. “Not amusing. I find it ironic.”
She noticed distant movement on the road ahead. A large wagon drawn by horses lumbered toward them, with a man and woman in front. They looked safe enough, and she could follow them most of the way back home. She raised her hand to hail them.
“Nay,” Addis said. “If I send you back, you will just run away again.”
“I would say that I have learned my lesson.”
“For a day or two, no more. You are a stubborn, willful woman. Soon you will convince yourself it would not happen again. I may be gone for several weeks, and if you go back one less villein will be there when I return. I have decided that you will come with me.”
“ You are a very stubborn man if you saddle yourself with the inconvenience of a woman.…”
“It will be very convenient. Finding you has proven fortuitous. You want to go to a free town? I will take you to one. London. My mother had a house there, and it occurs to me that it will have been vacant for some years. It will need attention, and I doubt that any servants remain. While you serve me there you can look for your freemason.”
“You go to London?” She tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. London, the biggest town of them all. London, with its royal charter of freedoms, beholden to no lord. London, with so many people and lanes that a woman could easily dodge anyone searching for her, for a year and a day if necessary. Claire's servant Alice had goneto London, and it was to London that she had been heading when those men assaulted her.
Her spirits renewed immediately and all thoughts of cowering at Darwendon disappeared. She smiled inwardly, and glanced at the man who claimed to be her lord. She would let Addis de Valence escort her to London, but once they got there she would not serve him.
“Aye, we go to London,” he said. “But first we go to Barrowburgh.”
CHAPTER 4
P EACE. THAT WAS WHAT he felt in her presence. He could not account for it. She did not have to speak, she did not even have to know he was there for the comfort to flow like warm water. He had experienced a peculiar strangeness since returning, as if he walked foreign ground during a distant time. Only when she was near did he feel properly centered inside his own body and existing in the world in the normal way.
He had almost turned back to Darwendon because of her. He had stopped where the road from Salisbury met this one and debated it. The peace waiting in one direction held much more appeal than the conflict promised in the other. She would not welcome his return or his demands for her presence, but the peace would still be his while she moved through the manor and sat aside at the table. He doubted that he could flatter or bribe her into more than that. She resented his claims, and the deformed Addis de Valence would hardly succeed where the handsome Raymond Orrick had failed.
He drove the cart until twilight began falling even though his hip pained him and Moira grew weary and uncomfortable. She was not an inconvenience, but the cart and donkey were. It would take much longer to make this journey now. But he also pushed on because he wanted them both exhausted before he made camp for the night. She would sleep then despite what had happened this day, and he would sleep too, despite the temptation of ultimate peace lying a few paces away.
It did not work that way. Sleep did not come quickly at all. He lay by the fire listening to her soft breaths carried to him on the night from the place he had made for her in the cart. He imagined that breath in his ear and on his body and felt himself sinking into her softness and warmth. He rose and walked into the trees, away from her, and forced himself to reconsider the decisions he had taken regarding Simon.
The man would not move against
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