The Shattered Rose Page 0,35

wasn't sure how much of the pallor had been fear, how much shock.

Lowick was simply furious. It didn't take him long, however, to realize that staying was certain disaster. Certain death.

Right there in the hall, Jehanne calmly urged him to leave. Aline wanted to shake her cousin, to tell her to say something warm about her husband's return. Instead, she was sounding like a woman urging her beloved into safety.

At least Jehanne was publicly refusing to go with him, stating before all that she would not flee her legal husband.

It hardly sounded loving, though.

"Jehanne. My lady!" Lowick protested, and he at least sounded genuinely moved. "How can I leave you here to face him? You must come with me, or I fear for your safety, and for the safety of our child."

"Donata is too young for a wild journey, Raymond."

"Then leave her. Aline can hide her."

"She's at the breast."

"A wet nurse ..."

"I will not give my child a stranger's milk, especially not to save my skin."

"There will be no milk if he strangles you!" He tried to seize her then, but Jehanne whipped out her knife, and her men in the hall drew their swords.

Lowick's men drew too, but they were heavily outnumbered, and so they and their lord headed for the postern gate in the dead of night.

With men of her own to protect her, Jehanne accompanied than down to the small door in the walls. Aline went too, wanting to make sure the chief cause of their problems left.

At the door, Lowick tried one more time to persuade Jehanne to flee with him. Failing at that, he fell to his knee to kiss her hand. "God protect you, then. And I will go to the bishop and beg his aid. He will speak to the king for us. I will find a way to protect you, a way for us to be together."

Jehanne, unfortunately, said nothing.

Aline muttered, "Good riddance," and prayed Lowick would quickly find some other propertied lady to prey on.

That wasn't fair, though, she thought as they all hurried back into the keep.

Raymond was genuinely devoted to Jehanne. Perhaps that explained why Jehanne seemed so weak with him.

And there was reason for Lowick to fear for the safety of Jehanne and Donata. Men were not kind to adulterous wives and bastard children, and that knowledge haunted Heywood through a long, sleepless night. Aline, helping to prepare to open the castle to its returning lord, prayed earnestly to Mary Magdalene, patron of sinful women.

Dawn was welcomed as an end of waiting, though no one felt confident of what the day would bring. Jehanne, still outwardly calm, spoke one last time to her officers, making sure they understood their orders, and then tidied herself and went to wait in the hall.

When Aline realized she meant to greet her husband bastard in arms, however, she finally protested. "Donata is the only innocent in this, Jehanne. You can't put her at risk! Give her to me."

"No." It came out breathily, and Aline realized then that her cousin was almost faint with fear. Which meant she was not thinking clearly.

"Be sensible, Jehanne. You can't expect a man to be careful at a moment like this."

She tried to take the child, but Jehanne held on. "I won't hide her. . . ."

"It's not a matter of hiding. Give her to me!"

But then Galeran was there, looming in the doorway, an ominously dark shape against the dawn sky. With a hiss of anxiety, Aline retreated a few steps, telling herself that Galeran had always been a rational, good-hearted creature.

For a man.

Aline had five brothers and few illusions about the male of the species.

Anyway, was this man the Galeran she knew? He looked a mess - ragged, gaunt, bearded, and filthy, with new scars on his face.

She almost wondered if it was him, until the dogs raced forward to welcome him home. He gave them their due, then looked up. As he walked toward Jehanne and the baby, Aline sucked in a fearful breath.

This man was not the Galeran she knew. . . .

It had not gone too badly, though, all in all, Aline reflected.

And yesterday he and Jehanne had spent time together at the bath. Then this morning Jehanne had been in the solar with him for quite a while, though she'd emerged stone-faced again.

Hardly surprising. Aline couldn't ignore the new darkness in Galeran's eyes and the sense, emanating from him like heat from a fire, of choked-off rage.

She couldn't forget that blow.

Perhaps