Dryden's Bride Read Free Page A

castle, the atrocities committed were etched all over his body. One eye gouged out…a finger dismembered. Burns and lacerations covered him. Dehydration, filth…It was a wonder he’d survived.
    But that’s all he’d done. Survived . Hugh had recovered to become a mere shell of his former self. He was a man alone, without purpose or intensity.
    It was Wolf Colston’s wife, Kit, who was especially determined to see Hugh’s soul restored to him. A fair and compassionate woman, Kit wanted to see her husband’s closest friend healed in every way. The start ofnegotiations for Hugh’s marriage to Marguerite of Clairmont had been, in good measure, Kit’s doing.
    Not that Lady Kit believed marriage would be the answer to Hugh’s indifference, but Clairmont was of strategic importance to the crown. Near the Scottish border, Clairmont lands provided the buffer between the northern warlords and England. A strong leader, a man with military experience, was essential to maintaining the integrity of the northern border.
    Kit Colston hoped that if Hugh married Marguerite, he would take seriously his duty to defend the border for England, and protect Clairmont holdings for Marguerite’s infant son, John. She was confident that this challenge would rouse Hugh as nothing else had in the last two years.
    And if his marriage should become a happy, fruitful one, then all the better.
    Sir George escorted Hugh and Nicholas to a pair of chambers where they were to spend the night, and were informed that Lady Marguerite would see them at midday meal, as she had other matters to attend at present. Though they were both somewhat taken aback that Lady Marguerite did not deign to greet her guests immediately, they were even more surprised by the steward’s next words.
    “The queen, however,” Sir George said, “is most anxious to see you.”
    “The queen?” Nicholas asked. “Catherine is here?”
    “She is,” the steward replied as he pulled open the heavy curtains covering the windows. “The royal entourage is here at Clairmont for the remainder of the month…Lady Siân Tudor is part of the queen’s party.”
    “Tudor!”
    “Squire Owen’s sister,” Sir George explained.
    Both men knew Owen Tudor from his presence in the court of Henry V. Neither of them had known, however, that he had a sister—a sister who’d chosen to identify herself in the old Welsh way rather than call herself Tudor. Hugh wondered if there was some reason she hadn’t wanted to be associated with Owen.
    Hugh and Nicholas remembered Tudor as a competent young man in King Henry’s court, a man with winning ways. He was exceptionally handsome, ambitious yet careful, and absolutely loyal to the crown. Hugh could not imagine any reason for Siân’s reticence to be associated with her brother’s name, but he let the irrelevant matter drop from his mind, and went along with Nicholas and Sir George to a spacious solar high in the castle tower.
    “Your Majesty!” Nick said as he and Hugh knelt before their queen. She was a young woman, as lovely and elegant as ever, tall and slender, with intelligent, light-brown eyes sparkling in welcome. Neither Hugh nor Nick had seen her in over two years. Their last meeting had, in fact, been at the marriage of Kathryn and Wolf Colston in London.
    “Your Majesty, it is an unexpected pleasure to see you here,” Nicholas said.
    Catherine smiled sadly. “Ah, but London is tiresome this time of year,” she said.
    “London?” Nicholas asked.
    “ Oui . London.” The queen’s eyes sparkled. “ And …my brother-in-law and his uncle.”
    “So, Gloucester and Beaufort are at it again?” Hugh asked.
    Catherine bit her lip and looked away. “I will not become a pawn in their despicable power struggle.”
    “What is it this time?” Nicholas queried.
    “A hideous little plot to get me wed.”
    “Wed? To whom?” Nicholas demanded. Only the council could approve the queen’s marriage, and neither he nor Hugh had