Heart's Magic by Flora Speer Read Free Book Online Page B

bidden her stop Giles before he caused trouble. If she
kept talking Giles would stay with her, rather than rushing up the
stairs to a confrontation with Brice that could only result in
violence and, probably, bloodshed.
    “Lady Alda was only thirteen years old when
she was married to Gavin of Wroxley,” Mirielle said. “She bore a
son when she was but fourteen and she was with child again the next
year when her husband went off to the Holy Land on crusade. Alda
was left here at Wroxley with no companions save for servants and
her father-in-law, who by all reports was a fierce old warrior, not
a person inclined to humor a frightened young girl.”
    “Say rather, a foolish girl, who cared only
for her own comforts.” Giles’s voice was harsh. “Other wives have
remained at home, directing the welfare of their castles or manor
houses, recalling always their duties to husband and children.
Other wives, however young and frightened, have been faithful.”
    “Sir Giles, I tell you again, this is not
your concern. Alda does not know if her husband is alive or dead.
She has had no word of him for five years. In January a year ago,
when old Lord Udo and his seneschal died within a week of each
other, Alda begged Brice to come to Wroxley to act as seneschal
because she could not hold the castle by herself and she wanted
someone she could trust in that post. Brice went to court and
formally applied to King Henry for approval. That approval was
granted, to the great benefit of Wroxley, which now has a firm,
manly hand in control of its lands and people.
    “The castle’s defenses have been strengthened
until no one would dare to attack us. Once there were robbers in
the forest who preyed on villeins and travelers alike; now they are
gone, captured and punished, or fled far away. When Brice and I
first came here, the houses in the village were in a sad state.
Under Brice they have been rebuilt. New fields have been brought
under cultivation. The castle itself is better managed. Stores of
extra food have been laid by in case of famine. In spite of
continual bad weather over the past few years, no one on these
lands starves now. The people are remarkably healthy. In the winter
just past, there were not even any serious illnesses.”
    “These are matters usually attended to by the
lady of the castle, including the defenses, the robbers, and the
clearing of the fields, all of which a woman can order in the
absence of her husband,” Giles interrupted her list of
improvements. “Left to herself, Lady Alda would have done none of
what you describe.”
    “You do not know Alda. Therefore, you cannot
say what she would or would not have done.”
    “I am not a fool, Mirielle. I think much of
the good done here at Wroxley in the last year has been done by
your instigation. Nor, from what I have seen of her, do I imagine
that Lady Alda has ever thanked you for your efforts.”
    This was too much. Giles’s words hit too
close to home. While she valued his recognition of all she had
done, still she could not allow him to speak so slightingly of
Alda. Mirielle drew herself up, gathering her courage,
concentrating her will. She looked directly into Giles’s eyes and
lifted her left hand to make a gesture.
    Giles caught her wrist, twisting her arm
behind her and pulling her against him. His eyes were blue as the
sky, and as boundless. She could not take her gaze from Giles’s
eyes.
    “Stop it!” He commanded. “Play none of your
conjurer’s tricks on me, lady. I recognize them, so they can have
no effect on me.”
    “You are not ill,” she whispered, too deeply
shaken by his hard embrace to pretend that she did not understand
what he meant. “You have suffered wounds in the past, but they are
well healed. Why do you pretend to be weak and unable to travel any
farther? Who are you? Why have you come to Wroxley?”
    “A man whose wounds have healed may still
bear scars that ache,” he said. “Perhaps it is my scars that bring
me