My Rebellious Heart Read Free Page B

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    hana found there was little need to attempt to conceal herself. Carts of hay weaved across the drawbridge. Tugging the drape of her hood forward ever so slightly, Shana guided her mount around them. Chin high, eyes cast forward, she trotted her horse briskly through the gates as though she'd done so every day of her life. Her heart was pounding so that she could scarcely think, but she'd done it! She was inside Castle Langley!
    Inside the bailey, she slid from the saddle. Soldiers and horses and servants milled about.
    Across the way, servants hurried to and from the kitchens, great platters of food on their shoulders in preparation for the evening meal.
    A young groom darted over. "I'll stable your horse, milady."
    Shana pressed the reins into his hands with a murmur of thanks, then set about her business. Ignoring the curious glances thrown her way, her gaze restlessly scanned her surroundings. High above the main watchtower, the Langley flag fluttered in the breeze— white with ornate lettering emblazoned in the center. Her eyes flitted to a building across from the wel , soldiers' quarters judging from the look of it. It was there she spied a triangular pennon, bright purple with a crouch-
     
    ing lion, and behind it another . . . Saints be praised, there it was, the one her father had described—blood red with a fiercesome, two-headed creature of the deep!
    In her eagerness she took an involuntary step forward; a slight weight stumbled against her.
    Shana glanced down just in time to see she'd tripped a smal boy. He sprawled flat on his bel y even as she watched.
    "Oh, pray forgive me!" she gasped. "I did not mean to trip you." Without a second thought she reached down and grasped the boy's elbow, pul ing him to his feet.
    He didn't bother to dust himself off. Warm brown eyes flashed up at her. "No harm done," the boy said with a shrug. "I wasn't watchin' where I was goin'."
    She smiled. "Nor was I."
    The boy was young, no more than eleven or twelve. Dirt smeared his cheeks and his tunic was torn and ragged, ripped at both shoulders. Strips of linen bound his feet. With a faint tug on her heart, she realized he was probably a poor youngster from the vil age.
    It gave her a start to realize his own appraisal of her was no less curious, but far more frank.
    "I haven't seen you here before, have I?" he asked.
    Shana shook her head.
    "You're a lady, aren't you? I mean, a ... a real lady."
    She laughed. "I suppose you might say that." She bobbed in a tiny curtsy. "You may cal me Lady Shana, if you like."
    "And you may cal me Wil —Wil Tyler." He swept her an exaggerated bow. When he straightened, the grin had reappeared, quite audacious this time. Urchin or no, there was something quite endearing about this boy.
    "I wonder if you might help me, Wil ."
     
    'If I can," he stated promptly.
    She gestured toward the blood-red pennon. "That pennon, Wil , the one with the two-headed creature. Whose pennon is it, do you know?"
    " 'Course I do. "Tis the Earl of Weston's." He eyed her as if she were the strange creature from beneath the sea, then half turned. "That's him yonder, there near the entrance to the stable, with Sir Geoffrey. The earl's the one with the black mantle."
    Shana's gaze cleaved sharply toward the stable. Sure enough, there were two men, one with hair as gold as a field of ripened wheat, the other with hair as dark as the midnight hour.
    A simmering fury stoked her ire. So this was Edward's mighty earl, the sword of England. Ah, but he would be the one brought low, she vowed. She'd bring the Earl of Weston to his knees if it were the last thing she did.
    "You haven't heard of the earl, have ye?" demanded the boy.
    She shook her head. "I've been ... away in Ireland for a number of years and am only just now returning to my home." The excuse was a lame one but al she could think to say.
    "The earl first caught the king's eye when Edward went on crusade in the Holy Land—he was a groom for one of the lords