Suzanne Robinson Read Free Page A

bide in England, not France. You still fear me, or you wouldn’t run away.”
    “You always did twist the truth to suit your illusions,” Blade said. “As I told you, I’ll come back when you’re dead. There’s nothing to keep me here now that you’ve driven Mother to her grave.”
    “Your mother was a weakling, and you’re a coward, afraid to marry a feather of a girl like that Oriel.”
    “God’s breath!” Blade took several steps toward his father, then halted and cursed again as he tried to strangle the hilt of his sword with one hand. “I won’t do it. I won’t marry her. She has eyes like dried peas and a pointy little face like a weasel, and she can’t even remember my name.”
    “It’s Blade.” Oriel pushed the door back and stepped into the great chamber.
    It had taken all her courage not to run away. His disdain had been so unexpected. He’d said those words so quickly she hadn’t understood their meaning immediately, and then she realized that while she had been enraptured, he had been offended by her and her appearance. All the years of encountering youths and men who paid her slight notice came thundering back into her memory. The evenings spent watching while others danced, the hunts spent pursuing a deer or fowl whileother girls were instead pursued themselves—these had driven her to seek comfort in learning and solitary pursuits.
    Until today she’d scorned to seek the favor of men, for there lay the path to great hurt. She had forgotten herself and her fear this once, for the prize entranced her without warning, danced before her in the guise of a dark-haired lord with eyes like the silver edge of a cloud when lit by the sun behind it. She had forgotten, and now she paid the price.
    When she’d spoken, both men had frozen. Neither had spoken as she entered, and now Blade approached her. Oriel held up a hand to stop him, and he hesitated.
    “If it please you, my lord, let there be no pretense between us.” Oriel stopped and swallowed, for her voice trembled. “I see that you like not my person and have no time or desire to make yourself familiar with my character. Likewise, I find myself unable to countenance a suitor with so ungentle a manner, be he ever so handsome and endowed with a goodly estate.”
    “Mistress, my hot and heady language was the result of being near my lord father.”
    “Whatever the cause, I have no wish to deal with you further. Good day to you, my lords.”
    Oriel turned her back on Blade and made herself walk slowly out of the great chamber, down the gallery to the staircase. She lifted her skirts and was about to dash upstairs in a race to beat the fall of her tears when she heard Blade’s voice calling to her.
    He was at her side before she could retreat. His cloak swirled around her skirts, and his dark form blocked out the light from the gallery windows. She could smell the leather of his riding clothes. He put a hand on her arm, and she sprang away, shaking it off.
    “Mistress, stay you a moment.”
    “I have work, my lord.” She must gain her chamber before she betrayed herself with tears.
    “I swear to you, my words were hastily spoken andill-reasoned on account of my anger at my father. A meanness of spirit overcomes me when I’m in his company for long, and this time I struck out at him and hit you instead. I take an oath before God that none of my insults are true.”
    “Ofttimes we speak our truest feelings when our words are least guarded, my lord.”
    She brushed past him and mounted the stairs with as much dignity as she could summon. Halfway up he was still looking at her from below.
    “Lady, I go to France soon, and would not leave this kingdom without your forgiveness.”
    Oriel looked down at Blade. Even from this height he appeared as tall as a crusader tower and as beautiful as a thunderstorm in July. In a brief span she had been enthralled and rejected, and if she didn’t get away from him she would throw herself on the floor