The Bride's Portion. Susan Paul

has planned.” He moved closer. “That man will be me.”

      * * *

      Alexander knew he shouldn’t be seeing her now. He was angry, upset and very, very tired. His emotions had frozen like ice, leaving him with nothing but raw anger. Enraged as he was, he couldn’t be anything but unpleasant to her. But he’d ridden all the way to Castle Gyer, after spending the whole night and some of that morning fighting a fire that wouldn’t stop until it had done its damage, thinking of naught but the decision he’d come to.

      They would marry. He and Lillis of Wellewyn. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. It was the perfect solution. They would marry and he would gain control of the lands that came to her through her marriage. He would tear the dam down, settle matters with Jaward and de Burgh, and then let her go. She could go back to Wellewyn, afterward, if she wished. She could go wherever she pleased.

      He’d frightened her that morning, though he hadn’t meant to. He had seen immediately when she’d walked into the room that she was anxious, her face pale and drawn, her eyes circled with the exhaustion of a sleepless night.

      It had been wrong to see her after having told Barbara of his decision—a task that had been most unpleasant—so that he’d greeted Lillis of Wellewyn with doubled anger. Now, watching her lovely face contort with shock, he was deeply sorry for it.

      “You cannot mean that!” she whispered in disbelief.

      “I do. We are going to be married. Tomorrow. There is no other way.”

      “No,” she said, shaking her head, staring at him from wide, panicked eyes, “I will not do it.”

      “You will,” he assured her without malice, turning and walking toward his working table.

      “I’ll not!” she cried from behind him.

      He turned, leaned against the table and folded his arms across his chest. “You will. If you do not, I will ride against Wellewyn with my entire army and utterly destroy it. I will kill every man, woman and child who crosses my path and I will let my men do whatever they wish with whoever survives. Do you understand what it is that I say?”

      She did, he saw. Her eyes widened with horror.

      “I don’t believe you,” she murmured. “You are a man of peace. You could not do such a thing!”

      Alexander was amazed at how cold he was. It was as though he’d died and someone else now lived in his body, someone filled with anger and weariness. “Yesterday I would have agreed with you, my lady, but today I can think of nothing I would enjoy doing more. You may believe what you will about me, but if you do not believe that I shall do as I’ve said then you condemn the people of Wellewyn to their deaths. This I vow before God.”

      “But it—it will not be legal,” she said. He didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice. She looked at him again, a light in her eyes. “It will not be legal!” she repeated triumphantly. “There is no marriage contract. Without a marriage contract approved by both my father and the king, it will not be legal. The land will not be yours.”

      “I have arranged with Father Bartholomew at the monastery for the writing of the marriage contract,” he said. “It will be completed this afternoon, and both you and I shall sign it before witnesses. Tomorrow morn we will have a large wedding and mass, attended by the entire village. You will behave like any other happy bride. You will walk to the altar with me willingly. You will repeat your vows willingly. There will be a celebration feast afterward with music and dancing, and you and I will attend and enjoy ourselves for all to see. The marriage will be consummated on our wedding night. The following day your Edyth will take the evidence of the sheet to Wellewyn, along with the marriage contract, to show Jaward. I should like to see him refuse to recognize the legality of our marriage then.”

      He stopped and smiled at the thought of Jaward’s reaction. How he would love to be there to see the old man’s face when he saw the sheet and read the letter that Alexander would send with it. His beloved daughter ruined and forced into a loveless marriage, his plans for destroying Gyer turned back on him. All in one master stroke. It would be worth any price to be able to see it.

      “I will also send a copy of the marriage contract to the king requesting his approval,” Alexander continued. “I shall have to supply an appropriate excuse for our breach of the law, of course. Perhaps I will tell him that we had to rush the marriage along so that our future child would not be born less than nine months from the wedding date. Would that suit, do you think?”

      If it was possible, Lillis of Wellewyn’s face grew even paler. Her hands trembled noticeably and she stumbled to the nearest chair and dropped into it.

      “You are very angry now,” she whispered. “You’re not thinking clearly. In a day or two you will be able to consider what you’re doing, and see how wrong it is. I beg you, Alexander of Gyer, do not do this thing.”

      He hoped she was right. He hoped he would be able to feel again soon, to think clearly, to regret what he was doing. She was a beautiful, admirable woman. The very least he owed her was sincere remorse.

      “I’m sorry,” he muttered, looking away. “I know the situation is—unpleasant.”

      “Unpleasant?” she repeated shakily, rising from the chair. “Unpleasant! I’ve spent most of my life in a convent, dreaming of the day when I would be free to marry, to have children and a home of my own. Now you say you will force me into an alliance of convenience for the sake of tearing down a dam that I have already sworn I would tear down myself if you would only trust me!” Her voice broke, causing Alexander’s heart to lurch painfully. He could not bring his eyes up to face her. “I know that you love your Barbara,” she continued when she could. “How could you do this to her, as well as to me?”

      “You know nothing of my feelings for my cousin,” he returned coldly. “Barbara is young, I will make certain that she is suitably married. It is you and I who will pay the price for our parents’ misdeeds. I will give up the woman I intended to wed and you will give up your dreams. But you need not fear suffering my advances. I’ll not demand my rights as your husband, and I’ll not force you to remain at Gyer and live a lie. Once the land is legally in my hands you will be free to leave, to return to Wellewyn if you wish, though you must remain my wife. You may live as you please, where you please. You will be made an allowance so that you will never lack for money.”

      “You are generous, Alexander of Gyer!” she informed him heatedly. “But if you do this thing, you will be making me your lifelong prisoner, complete, will you not? I may be free to live where I please, but I will still be your prisoner as surely as if I were locked away in that filthy room above stairs. I might as well have stayed at the convent! At least it would have been my choice.”

      Alexander made an impatient, irate gesture with his hand. “It is too late to speak of what might have been. We have little choice, either of us, but to accept what is going to be and try to make the best of it. You should be grateful that I’m willing to allow you such freedoms. By all rights, once we are wed, you should be made to live at Gyer, or wherever I please to put you.”

      She threw him an angry glare and walked to one of the open windows. “Your kindness overwhelms me, my lord. It is easy for you to speak of what will be. Your life will not change overmuch. You will still have your family, your people. You’ve had a whole lifetime of freedom, already. All I have ever done is dream of it.” Her voice filled with longing. “Now I shall never know it.”

      Alexander began to thaw. The sadness in her voice called forth an unwilling response of sympathy in him. He wanted to take her in his arms, comfort her, reassure her that it would not be so bad. He wanted to tell her that he understood how she felt, that he was sorry, that he would take care of her and be gentle with her in every way until she left Gyer. He didn’t seem to be able to find a voice to express these thoughts, however, so he watched in silence as she dropped her head and again fought back tears.

      It was a futile struggle and she cried quietly for a minute or two, her shoulders shaking slightly,