The Bride's Portion. Susan Paul

unhappy lady before him was the man’s daughter, he kept silent.

      “I understand, my lord, why you wish to keep me here, and I agree that war must be avoided at every cost, but I beg you to release my companions and myself. I swear to you that I will speak with both my father and my betrothed. I will make certain that the dam is torn down, even if I must tear it down with my own hands.”

      “No,” he said softly. “I do not believe that either your father or Jason de Burgh will be stopped simply because you ask it of them.”

      She stood suddenly, and her hands fell to determined fists clenched at her sides. “But I give you my vow that I will have the dam destroyed! I will swear to honor this vow by all that is holy, by God himself. All I ask is that you trust me. You will not have reason to be sorry.”

      Alexander stood, as well, more out of a desire to be polite than anything else. He was struck again by her tallness; really, her height was a pleasant change from towering over other women.

      “I believe you would do your best to carry out what you say, my lady, but I do not believe you would be successful. I have spent the past six months doing all in my power to persuade your father to tear down the dam only to have him laugh in my face. Yesterday he assured me that naught would change his mind.”

      “But he would listen to me!” she insisted. “I do not know why he has done what he has, but I do know that he has never denied me anything I have asked of him. I am his only child, and he loves me.”

      Alexander raised his eyebrows. “He loves you so much that he kept you from your home for more than ten years?”

      Her expression became so suddenly stunned and pained that Alexander wished, powerfully, that he’d never spoken the careless words. She looked at him as if he’d slapped her.

      “My lady—” he began in his sincerest, most apologetic tone.

      “He did not send me away,” she informed him shakily. “I was living at the convent in Tynedale and being taught how to read and write and work figures. He came to visit me several times, and he wrote to me constantly!”

      Worse and worse, he thought. She sounded as if she were trying to convince herself more than him.

      “My lady,” he tried again, but she didn’t seem to want his apology.

      “I tell you he will listen to me!”

      “He might,” Alexander said, “but he might not. Indeed, it’s most likely that he will not. You’ve already admitted that your father has never confided in you regarding the management of Wellewyn. If this is so, then there is little reason to believe he will suddenly listen to any request you might make regarding land that he’s never seen fit to explain will one day be yours. You claim that he loves you, but what kind of man loves his child and sends her from his presence for ten years? Did he never once want you home, even for Christmastide?”

      She flushed deeply. “That is no concern of yours, Alexander of Gyer! And it has naught to do with the matter at hand. I have given you my vow that I will see the dam torn down. My sacred, solemn vow. Will you or will you not let my companions and myself go free?”

      “I have told you that I will not,” Alexander replied, “and I have told you why.”

      She drew in a deep breath, pressed her lips together tightly and sat down with a thump. Alexander sat again, as well, wondering rather uncomfortably if he was now going to be treated to the screaming and wailing he had expected earlier.

      “Will you at least let me write my father and ask him to fulfill your demands? He will be more inclined to comply if I do the writing.”

      Well, so much for screaming and wailing, he thought, picking up his ink quill in a careless gesture.

      “I’ve not yet decided whether I’m going to write to your father. I shall have to consider what is best to be done.”

      She sat forward in her chair. “But you must write him! My father’s not been well, and he’s been expecting me these past two days already. He’ll be terribly worried by now. You must at least let him know that I’m all right.”

      Alexander felt an unexpected surge of anger. “You will have to forgive me, my lady, if I don’t care whether your father worries or not. He’s given my people and myself no reason to love him.”

      His sudden anger caused her to sit back again, as though she wished to be as far away from him as possible, and he regretted having spoken so harshly.

      “Forgive me,” he apologized quietly, thinking that it was more than the third time he’d done so that morn. “I fear I am rather worn from dealing with your father of late. I have a great many vassals who have labored hard to save their crops, to no avail. The thought of having to tell them to prepare for war against both Wellewyn and Dunsted in the face of all they’ve already suffered sickens me.”

      She made no reply, and Alexander looked up and saw that her eyes were wide upon him, filled with a sympathy he’d never have expected from the daughter of his enemy.

      “I understand what a terrible situation you’re in, Alexander of Gyer,” she said, “but what good will it do you to hold us here? If you don’t let us go, there will most certainly be a war. My father will call on Jason de Burgh and you will have his men, however few they may be compared to your own, swarming around you, demanding our release.”

      “I know,” Alexander admitted soberly. “That is why I must think carefully on what is to be done. I harbor no falsehoods about which side will win should a war erupt. Neither your father’s nor your betrothed’s men could possibly stand against the strength of my own army. Still, I have no desire to kill any man without need. But these are not matters to concern yourself with, my lady. I shall do my best to keep anyone from coming to harm.” He offered her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “Now that you are aware of why you are being held I will try to come to some kind of decision as soon as I can. Until then, please believe that you and your maid and guards will be treated as guests in my home, save you’ll not be allowed the freedom of the castle without escort or be allowed to go outside the castle itself. Have you any requests to make of me regarding your comfort?”

      She contemplated Alexander in silence, long enough for him to feel uncomfortable beneath her steady gaze, long enough for him to understand something about the pride behind the eyes that held his own so determinedly. “My maid and I will take all of our meals in our room,” she answered at last, breaking the silence and bringing him relief. “As prisoners in your home, we would not feel comfortable partaking food with your family. We will wish to attend chapel in the mornings. I assume you have a chapel at Gyer?”

      Her mocking tone made him smile in wry amusement. He was one of the wealthiest men in England, as she must have very well surmised from the size and richness of Castle Gyer. Of course there was a chapel, which she must know very well, too. “Yes, indeed, my lady,” he answered with a hint of matching sarcasm. “It is just outside the inner bailey. I shall be happy to escort you and your Edyth there for the morning mass.”

      “You are kind, sir,” she said without expression. “Our things were brought to us this morn and we now have our needlework to keep us occupied. However, the chamber we are in does not receive enough light during the day to make the work easy, and so we will require a place that is well lit in which to pass the day.”

      That was easily enough remedied. “The women of the household do their needlework in a certain corner of the great hall that receives full sunlight during most of the day,” he said, “and that is near a fireplace for warmth. I’m sure that both my aunt and my betrothed will be glad to have your company there.”

      “Your betrothed?”

      “The Lady Barbara Baldwin,” he replied, noting her look of surprise. “You’ve not had a chance to meet the rest of my family yet. My betrothed is my cousin, distantly related, and lives under my protection. Both she and her brother reside at Gyer.”

      Lillis of Wellewyn seemed to