Never If Not Now - Madeline Hunter Page 0,35

the armor and mail off him quickly once they returned to the tent. “You should eat and rest.”

“I will, but now I am going to the castle.”

“You think to convince Lord Yves to change his mind?”

Zander did not know what he thought. He only knew that nothing would change if he remained in this camp.

He rode his palfrey through the gate and guided it through the lanes of the town. He stopped at the mercer’s where Elinor had bought her thread and purchased more steel needles for her. In the small yard in front of the church, peddlers of luxuries had set up small shacks as temporary shops. They had requested this privilege, so their expensive goods would not be vulnerable to theft out on the field.

He had seen great luxuries before, so he was not overly impressed by the wares here. Any knight who visited Saracen lands came away with memories full of gold and jewels. They were a people whose artisans created visual splendors that made even the riches of royalty in England suffer in comparison. They built their gardens to be a kind of paradise.

The items offered in these little shops were much simpler. He purchased a few things, then saw one item that impressed him. A circlet for a woman’s head, made of silver. The metal had been braided before a fire had melted it all together. The silversmith showed how, with the right bale, a jewel could be slid on to dangle on the woman’s forehead.

He bought it. He would give it to Elinor, no matter what happened this day. She would accept it, he assumed. If her father lived, she would see it as a gift from her lover. If her father died, she would take it as compensation for her loss. Elinor was beautiful and proud, but she was also very practical.

When he entered the Great Hall a short while later, the midday meal was underway. He ate his fill, then prepared his mind for Lord Yves. It was doubtful the lord would be swayed, but Zander believed he had to make one more effort to stop this personal combat.

He was starting to leave when another guest slid onto the bench across the board from him. Lord Marcus smiled while he broke some bread.

“I told you the money was on your being the champion. Soon now.”

“It helped that two of the best jousters withdrew. Undefeated in the past, both of them.”

“You are too modest.”

A page brought Lord Marcus a wooden board with cheese and bread and set down some ale.

“How closely are you related to the last Earl of Essex?” Lord Marcus asked. “William de Mandeville.”

“Close enough that I could not marry his daughter. Distant enough that he knew nothing about me.”

Lord Marcus thought about that. “You never met him? He carried the crown at Richard’s coronation.”

“I was not there. I remained in France, along with most of the army.”

More thinking. “If you are close enough that you could not marry his daughter, you are close enough to have a claim on his title.”

“Only if someone knows how to twist the limbs on a family tree.”

“There are those who do nothing else.” He leaned in. “Most of them have judgments that can be influenced.”

Perhaps. For a price. A large price. More than Zander expected to have, even if he pillaged this tournament for all it was worth. And if the influence depended on other than coin, he had nothing at all to offer.

The man sitting across from him did, however.

Lord Marcus looked at him. He looked back. The negotiations over this marriage had just become much more interesting.

Zander went up to the battlements. While he watched the competitions on the field, Lord Marcus’s words filled his mind. It felt like a betrayal of Elinor to pay those overtures any mind at all, especially coming so soon after she’d given herself to him.

He did not feel too guilty, however. Lord Marcus had just dangled much more than land and money. There were good marriages to be had, and then there were really good marriages.

He realized he was no longer alone on the battlements. Lord Yves had arrived and watched the field just as he did. After a particularly interesting match ended, Lord Yves noticed him and walked over. “There are three strong contenders for the champion. You are one, but that last joust has made the next two competitions critical to the outcome.”

Zander said nothing to that. He was not in a friendly mood