Dark and Bright by Anna Markland Read Free Book Online Page A

terrain, the lack of roads and the remoteness of many villages. For Carys to travel back and forth from Ellesmere to the family llys in Wales was an arduous journey, though not a great distance. Rhys wanted to lessen his new bride’s feeling of isolation and Baudoin was concerned for Carys when she travelled. Gradually over many months of discussion the two men formulated a plan to improve travel in the Marches, both firm in the belief that better roads would lead to increased prosperity.
    They had little information available, but charted areas which might need the most improvement. They planned to undertake a fact-finding expedition to verify their thoughts. To facilitate their meetings, Rhys and Annalise came to stay at Ellesmere Castle, and Rhys was grateful to his sister and brother-by-marriage for giving his wife the opportunity to get to know them, and for the respite from the isolation of Wales.
    He and Annalise were abed one evening, shortly after their arrival, and Rhys sensed his wife’s nervousness. She had been unwell on the journey and looked pale. He cupped her breasts in his hands and grazed his thumbs over the pebbled nipples. She groaned, but tears welled in her eyes. He sat up and pulled her to his chest. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
    She took a deep breath. “I spoke with Carys today. I haven’t been feeling well.”
    His heart lurched. He had known this woman such a short time, and yet she had become an essential part of his life. “What did she say?”
    Annalise hesitated, clutching the linens. “She says I am with child.”
    Something he couldn’t describe hit him in the gut and spread its heat all the way to his toes and back up his spine, before it settled in his heart. He was to be a father. His seed had taken root inside this beautiful woman he was married to. He couldn’t speak. His breath caught in his throat.
    His wife tensed beside him, staring at the linens. “You are not pleased?”
    He put his hands on her shoulders and held her away. “Not pleased? Annalise, I am euphoric.”
    He rose from the bed and pulled her to her feet. They stood skin to skin, breast to chest. Then he knelt before her, smoothed his hands over her belly and kissed her there. “Thank you, Annalise. Thank you for this precious gift.”
    “You’re welcome, Rhys.”
    He loved the way she pronounced his name, the R deep in the back of her throat, the long drawn out eee , the soft sss and the indefinable little emphasis at the end, as if his name had another letter. He put his cheek to her belly and his arms around her waist. She rested her warm hands on his shoulders. They swayed together for a long while before he looked up at her and said, “There is only one problem.”
    Her eyes widened and he regretted the worry on her face. He smiled and explained, “This means I will have to share the suckling.”
    The reappearance of her smile spread warmth through him again as she tousled his hair. “ Méchant ,” she scolded.
    He frowned. “Can I still be naughty now you’re with child?”
    She smiled. “Carys says it is permitted.”
    He rose from his knees, took her hand and led her back to bed.
    ***
    Carys too was with child, her third, and the two women were good and supportive company for each other. Annalise told Rhys she was reassured by Carys’s calm explanations about childbirth. Gallien Rambaud de Montbryce had been born in the year of our Lord One Thousand One Hundred and Two. When he was two years old, Carys and Baudoin welcomed their second son, Etienne Robert.
    Carys had assisted as a healer at many birthings and had inherited her mother’s mystical aura in her abilities to heal. She brought no fear to her experience of giving birth. She had confided to Rhys she was secretly hoping for a girl, having more than fulfilled the obligation to provide Baudoin with an heir. Baudoin doted on his sons.
    Rhys was proud of his previous moderation with women, often going many months without bedding