Kathryn Le Veque by Lord of Light Read Free Book Online

Roane
asked. “And your uncle really is John Adam?”
    She nodded, daring to look at
him. He cocked an eyebrow. “And that story about your sight leaving you, was that true?”
    She nodded again. “It is. Which
is why Dodge thought it would be a perfect way to earn your trust.”
    “You did not travel alone as you
said you did.”
    “No.”
    Roane sighed, licking his lips as
the rain ran down them. “Where are they holding your father and John Adam?”
    “At my
father’s seat, Kinlet Castle, to the north and east of Kiddminster.”
    “There really is a barony, too?”
    “My father is Baron Craven, a
title that Dodge will claim when he marries me.”
    “So your father has indeed
pledged you to him?”
    She smiled ironically. “Just as I
wasn’t given a choice, neither was he. Dodge saw a prime situation and bullied
my father until he agreed.”
    “And do his lands truly surround
your own?”
    “No. It was a story Dodge had
concocted to make everything sound more believable.” She paused a moment,
feeling as if she was confessing her most grievous sins to him. “His appearance
in the abbey ward was merely to confirm that you were there, and to make a show
of it. He thought you might feel more chivalrous toward me if you thought
someone was out to do me harm.”
    Well, the man had that
right.   Roane didn’t think he could feel
any more of a fool than he already did. “Is his name really Dodge de Vere?”
    “That is what he has told me.”
    It was a convoluted, ugly mess. Alisanne
could sense his turmoil and it matched her own. “Sir Roane, everything that I
have told you is true with the exceptions I have already mentioned. I did not
do this for any reason other than I was told if I didn’t help Dodge capture
you, he would kill both my father and Uncle John. I harbor no ill-will against
you. In fact, you will never know how sorry I truly am for all I’ve done to
you.”
    Roane was silent. He wasn’t
surprised by the story and he didn’t blame her in the least. But the fact
remained that he was now in a good deal of trouble. “So the sect has hired
Dodge de Vere to bring me to ecclesiastical justice,” he snorted softly. “They
hired many before. Seems no one had Dodge’s initiative to find John Adam, my
oldest friend, and use him accordingly. No doubt the sect told Dodge exactly
where to find John Adam.”
    Alisanne nodded guiltily. “They
would have found him at his monastery, but he was visiting us at the time and
the priests told Dodge where he was. He followed him.”
    A
displeasing series of events that led Dodge directly to Alisanne’s doorstep. Roane could see that she was as
much a victim in all of this as he was.
    “Christ,” he hissed. “Will those
bastards stop at nothing to condemn me? Now you and your family have been hurt
by all of this, and God only knows who or what else.”
    Alisanne could feel his
anger.   Not knowing what else to do, she
put a small hand on his wet, bare arm. “’Twill be all right, Sir Roane.   If I can think of a way to free you without
risking my father and uncle, I surely will. But… at the time,
in Church Stretton… I simply did not know what else to do.”
    He turned to look at her, their
faces very close on the bed of the flooded wagon. Though it was chilly, there
was a warmth between them that erased the discomfort
from the elements. He was stupid to have believed her, but God help him, he
did. She was so sincere, so genuine, that he couldn’t help himself.
    “You needn’t worry about me,” he
said huskily; she was far too close and he was feeling quivery inside. “I can
take care of myself. I’ve been evading these idiots for three years and I can
get out of this. But the problem is not risking your father and uncle’s life in
the meantime.”
    She could sense by his words that
he was not angry with her and the relief she felt was overwhelming.   Impulsively, she kissed him on the cheek and
fled the wagon. Had Roane’s hand not been