My Rebellious Heart Read Free

thought we might be able to save him, but alas, the good Lord wil ed otherwise."
    Thorne clenched his jaw in anger and frustration, yet even as he stood there, an eerie foreboding prickled his skin. First blood had once again been drawn between England and Wales. He nad the uneasy sensation the land would run crimson before peace reigned anew.
    ''Milady," Gryffen pleaded, " 'twould serve no purpose if you were to go to Castle Langley. I know 'tis vengeance you seek, but shouldn't such matters as this rest in the hands of your betrothed?"
    Shana's mind sped straight to Barris of Frydd, whose lands butted her father's to the west...
    her beloved, her betrothed. If only he were here, she thought, a yearning ache spreading throughout her breast, even as his image fil ed her mind. He was tal , with hair as black as ebony and eyes of gold, the handsomest man she'd ever laid eyes on. She knew an overwhelming urge to see him again, to seek comfort in the haven of his embrace against the pain of her loss. But perhaps it was a blessing after al that he was in Gwynedd, for what if Merwen's attackers had gone on to lay waste to Frydd as wel ?
    But even as she directed a fervent prayer heavenward that his people had been spared, a brittle determination sealed her heart.
    "Barris is in Gwynedd," she told the old knight.
    "He is not expected back until several days hence, mayhap more. And 'twas not his father who was slain, Gryffen. 'Twas mine." Shana's calm was deceiving; her eyes sparked with fire and fury. "The responsibility is mine ... nay, the duty is mine!"
    ''But milady, you cannot take on the whole of King Edward's army!" Gryffen thrust his hand through his iron-gray hair. In the space of just minutes, he seemed to have aged years.
    Her delicate chin tilted. "That is hardly my intent, Gryffen. But I will find the man who dared to attack Merwen."
    Gryffen rubbed a hand against his leathery cheek, clearly in a quandary. "Milady, I fear for you if they should discover you are Llywelyn's niece!"
    In truth, her uncle Llywelyn, named for his grandsire, was the reason her father had taken up residence here at Merwen those many years past. Though he seldom said so, Shana knew her father considered his elder brother domineering and stubborn. Kendal had wanted no part in the squabbles between his brothers; he harbored no hunger for land or power.
    Indeed, most of his people had known him only as Lord Kendal.
    But although Kendal had chosen to distance himself from his brothers, shunning his princely lineage and retreating to this mountain vale to live his life as he would, he loved his country and the Welsh people deeply. The blood of the Cymry flowed strong and swift in his veins.
    And he had passed on to Shana the same pride in their heritage, like her father, Shana had little tolerance for her uncles' pettiness.
    But mayhap it was time she joined the battle for her people.
    "We nave kept to ourselves here at Merwen, Gryffen. Though my father saw me wel -skil ed in the English tongue, why, in al the years we've
    lived here, not once have we shared our table with an Englishman." Nor, she resolved darkly, would they ever.
    "Nay," she went on. "My identity is safe. Not a soul at Castle Langley knows me, and I'll not give myself away." With that, the matter was settled. Neither Gryffen nor the other knights could sway her, though they tried in earnest. Nor did they dare to stop her, for even as a child, their princess was ever staunch, ever decisive; she had grown to womanhood no less determined. They had also sworn to protect her ... and so they would.
    She left for Langley the next morning, with half a dozen of her father's men-at-arms as escort.
    Although the journey was not an easy one, neither was it grueling. The mountains gradual y gave way to fold upon fold of lush rol ing hillside. They passed through several vil ages, where they heard tales of English soldiers further north who "razed hil and vale, plundering and burning without