Pillaging Elinor's Castle [Elinor's Stronghold 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Berengaria Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

Elinor slowly.
    “Yes, and look what happens. Their children are all born dead. Besides, my cousin is an old man and dribbles into his beard. He’s disgusting.”
    Elinor hid a smile and clapped her hands loudly for the servants to bring the food into the great hall.
    Wade took Ebert to a lower bench and, still surrounded by children, began asking him questions. Rhys and Hammond were doing much the same with Alistair. So Elinor smiled at Rhyannon and said, “Tell me all your news.”
    Rhyannon took her seriously and began at the very beginning. “My mother died when I was five. I was their only child. Rhys’s father and my mother were brother and sister.”
    Elinor nodded. It was coming back to her now. Her own mother had explained this genealogy at some time, quite possibly when her father and Rhys’s were considering them marrying.
    “My father married three more times. Each time, his wife died without them having any child at all, much less a son. My father blamed them all for being frail and sickly, unworthy of him, but with so many wives and no child, it seems to me the fault lay with him. However that may be, my cousin Coll, the son of my father’s older brother, inherited the land.”
    Rhyannon’s eyes were the same dark-brown as Rhys’s, her pretty face as round and comely as his, too, but now it creased in a frown. “Coll said he’s inherited everything, but I kept my mother’s jewels. My father never gave them to any of his other wives, so they are mine,” she said fiercely.
    Elinor nodded and passed her a plate of tiny cakes, fresh baked that morning.
    Rhyannon popped one in her mouth and smiled again.
    “When he said I was to marry him or leave, I had Ebert put my chest of possessions on the back of a mule and bade him farewell. I told him I was coming here, and he said, ‘Good riddance.’”
    Rhyannon’s voice expressed a mixture of hurt but also determination.
    “And Lord Alistair?” asked Elinor.
    “He’s not a lord. His father is, but for some reason, although he’s the oldest son, he isn’t a lord. I love him anyway, and he chose to come with me. As did Ebert.”
    “You are welcome here. Your home shall be with us for as long as you wish it to be,” said Elinor sincerely, but carefully avoiding the topic of Alistair. That would be for Rhys to decide, although she was sure he and Hammond would welcome two more fighting men. However, a husband was slightly different. At least Rhyannon had a dowry in her mother’s jewels. Every woman needed something to bring to the marriage to demonstrate her status.
    Rhyannon began asking questions about Rhys’s demesne, and the castle and stronghold, and they enjoyed themselves for some time, until Elinor noticed the light was fading and jumped up to ensure arrangements for her guests’ comfort had been made.
     
    * * * *
     
    The next day, Rhys took four of the guards hunting for deer, along with a handful of peasants to act as beaters, and Alistair who’d asked to go with them. Elinor walked with Rhyannon around the castle itself, then out into the grounds. They stopped at the field that led to the river, and Elinor noticed two or three older boys splashing and playing in the water.
    At that moment, she knew another way to protect her people. Very few people could swim. In particular, soldiers in armor never entered water as the heavy armor made them sink. If people crossed a river, they were almost certainly safe from pursuit, at least until the pursuer could find a bridge or a ford and take up the chase.
    In the case of her people, it would give them time to get to the castle. If, instead of trying to run away or hide, they ran directly to the river, they could swim across and then walk to the castle, certain to arrive before the pursuing solders. As long as enough of them could be taught to swim. Surely swimming was not too hard to learn.
    Catching Rhyannon’s hand, she said, “Let’s go down to the river.”
    Arriving there, Elinor asked