The Shattered Rose Page 0,36

Jehanne was relieved to see him riding away for a few days.

She went forward to interrupt whatever thoughts held her cousin captive, and saw something else. "Tears?" Immediately, she regretted mentioning them. Jehanne hated to be seen crying. "Donata's hungry."

Jehanne wiped her eyes, then turned. "I'm sorry. I lost track of time." Calm again, she led the way down the steps to the bailey.

Aline hurried after, wishing Jehanne would cry in public, and often. It would soften the men up in no time. "What's going to happen now?" she demanded.

"I don't know."

"Didn't you ask Galeran?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Jehanne stopped and looked back at her. "Because he probably doesn't know."

Aline rolled her eyes. "You could have asked him. You were together this morning."

"We hardly spoke."

"But you were in there for ages! Oh!"

"Quite."

Aline could feel relief like a warm poultice to her heart. "Is everything all right, then?"

But Jehanne sighed. "No, Aline. Sex doesn't mend problems like this."

"What does, then?"

"I don't know." And Jehanne turned again to make her way across the bailey.

"You can't just put it out of your mind. You have to be prepared. What will Raymond do now?"

Jehanne stopped dead. "Raymond?"

"You remember Raymond," Aline said caustically. "The tall, blond one?

He won't give up. He's probably doing as he said and trying to get the king's interest in his case."

"I suppose he is," said Jehanne, but her frown was thoughtful. "What gain to the king, though, in supporting Lowick against Galeran's family? And a returning crusader at that. They are the closest thing we have to living saints."

"So he'll have to give up?"

Jehanne turned pale. "So he might think of correcting fortune's move." She lifted her skirts and ran up the stairs to the hall, Aline pounding after.

"What?" she gasped as Jehanne shouted for her scribe. But then she heard the hasty note her cousin was dictating - a warning to Galeran to beware of sneak murderers in the woods.

"He'd try to kill him?" Aline asked as the scribe hurried off to give the letter to a fast rider.

"Why not? Why not?" demanded Jehanne, pacing the hall in a swish of skirts. "With Galeran dead, Raymond would once again be in an ideal situation to claim me." She suddenly stopped, hands gripped together. "Oh, if only I could ride with that note myself!"

"To protect him? Jehanne, he can look after himself, especially now that you've warned him. And he has that Raoul de Jouray alongside as well. All that brawn must be of some use."

Jehanne calmed and even laughed. "True. And I am resolved to have done with my fierce ways. Look what they have brought us to. I am going to put my trust in God."

Aline hugged her. "Then there is hope. And Donata is waiting, as you can hear."

Aline accompanied her cousin to the crying babe, sending up her own most earnest prayers for Galeran's safety.

* * * * * Galeran was surprised by the note. He could read no particular affection in the terse words, but surely they must mean that Jehanne preferred him to Raymond.

Unless she simply feared to be judged an accessory to murder.

With a grimace at his thoughts, he pulled up his coif and rode on, keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding countryside.

They slept that night at a monastery, one that prospered under the protection and endowments of Heywood. In fact, many of its riches came from Jehanne's petitions for a child.

The Lord gives to his people, but He also demands sacrifices in season . . .

Was that a part of the answer? Had his disgust and lack of faith at the taking of Jerusalem angered the generous God, and caused Him to take back his gift? Galeran was not accustomed to thinking of God as petulant, but he wasn't used to thinking of him as cruelly unjust, either.

As he and Raoul sat in the guest parlor finishing a fine meal, Galeran said, "You're being remarkably tactful. No questions? No advice?"

"Do you want advice?"

"Yes."

"But will you take it?"

Galeran grinned and mopped up a delicious gravy. "Probably not."

"Then it may be harmless to give it. Put her aside. She's a sorceress."

Galeran stared at him. "A sorceress? "

"Scoff if you want. No one who's under a spell knows it. It's clear the people in the castle think she uses magic."

"The people in the castle think she's strange because she doesn't always act like other women. She does not use magic."

"Then how did she get into your bed today?"

Galeran burst out laughing. "You can ask that? I was