“Weel, I wouldnae be so vain as to say I had none.” She chuckled and patted his thigh, deeply touched by how angry her tale was making him. “Howbeit, I had begun to think that I was just a miserable failure, ne’er meant to be a wife any mon wanted, but I kenned that I was a verra good mother to Michel and Adelar. I kenned that deep in my heart and none could tell me different. I had also begun to think that I wasnae as bad at the running of the keep as they all implied for, if I was so abysmal a chatelaine, why did they keep giving me e’en more to do? It wasnae easy, either, for many of their people followed the lead of Claud and his family, treating me nay better than they would some unwanted guest.”
She quickly covered a yawn with her hand and cuddled closer to Brian. “When I was held by Amiel and he began to hit me, I kenned that I would ne’er have accepted such treatment from Claud, from anyone in that family. One strike and I would have left. In a strange way, I found that knowledge a comfort. I e’en wondered where that cursed spine of mine had been when accepting all those cruel words, all that utter disdain.”
“Ye were just a young lass.”
“True, but I think it was more than youth. What Claud and his kin did was, weel, insidious, subtle ...”
“Sneaky.”
“Aye. I obviously wasnae as sure of myself as I thought I was. Claud found that wee weakness and fed it until it grew strong enough to conquer me. A part of me truly believed that I was an utter failure as a wife and a woman as he so often claimed I was. Believing my kin didnae care, or didnae see what I suffered was wrong or a problem, I felt I had nowhere else to go, either. So, I stayed far, far longer than I e’er would have if Claud had just once hit me or slapped me or kicked me as Amiel did. And every day I was there Claud, his family, and e’en many of the people on their lands kept picking away at whatever pride, vanity, or confidence I had. Ye hear something said often enough and ye believe it. I should have seen what he was doing to me.”
“Love, ye were so young ...”
“Old enough to be a wife.”
“But still young and ye came from a loving family, aye?” She nodded and he continued, “Then why should ye have questioned anything the mon ye believed was your husband said to ye? And, as ye said, your family had seen naught wrong with the mon when he courted ye. As far as ye kenned, they also didnae think your complaints about what was happening to ye were even worth replying to.”
“I should have left when I thought he had a mistress.”
“Ye probably kenned that few would think that a good reason to leave your husband.”
“Aye, true enough, though I did think it verra strange that there was no outrage from my family when I wrote them about that. Of course, they didnae get that missive, did they? I ken that now.” She hastily covered her mouth as another yawn overtook her.
“Time to rest, love. We have a long day ahead of us on the morrow.”
Brian took her by the hand, stood up, and tugged her to her feet. She blushed faintly and disappeared into the shadows of the trees to tend to her personal needs. He spread out the blankets for the bed as he waited for her. It made him think of making love to her but he tamped down the desire rising inside him. She had endured the journey with far more ease than he had anticipated, but he knew she was exhausted and undoubtedly ached all over. Sleep was what she needed.
The moment she returned, he strode away to tend to his own needs. By the time he returned, Arianna was sound asleep. Brian doubted she had been prone for a moment or two before exhaustion had claimed her.
He sat down and removed his boots. There would be little sleep for him tonight. Brian trusted Sigimor’s men to keep Lucette and his men too busy to bother hunting for him and Arianna, but the memory of how badly she had been beaten by Lucette was still a stark, taunting scar on his mind. He could not leave her unguarded. There would be no sleep for him until he had her tucked safely behind the high walls of Scarglas.
Sigimor sipped his ale and studied his brothers Tait and Ranulph. “Ye didnae kill Lucette, did ye?”
“Nay, just relieved him of the burden of two more men,” said Tait. “Followed him for a wee while and he is headed to Scarglas. Nay doubt about it.”
“Also heard that a certain Lord Ignace is gathering himself an army about a day’s ride from Scarglas,” said Ranulph.
“Is he now. A big one?” asked Sigimor.
“Could be. Talk of coin being tossed about freely is drawing the attention of a lot of men who havenae seen much coin for a while.”
“We left Brice and Bronan, as weel as two other lads, to follow them just to make certain they didnae try to find Brian and the lass,” said Tait.
“Good. I am thinking I might wander to Scarglas myself with a few of ye lads for company,” said Sigimor.
“There are already six of ours following Brian and the lass.”
“Aye, but it ne’er hurts to have more. Be ready to ride in the morning.”
“Do ye really think those Frenchmen will be mad enough to try and attack Scarglas?”
“They have hunted the lass and those lads of hers since she took them from her fool husband’s keep, e’en sank a ship to try and kill them. Aye, I think they just might be mad enough.” He grinned. “We will do our old ally France a fine favor and make certain that insanity gets buried deep here.”
Chapter 16