Queen of Lost Stars (Dragonblade Series/House of St. Hever) by Kathryn Le Veque Read Free Book Online

standing there, he snapped his boney fingers at him.
    “What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Bring me Lady l’Ebreux. This shall help her as well; it will help her heal if the breasts are stimulated. It heals the womb. She needs this as much as St. Hèver does so stop acting like an embarrassed child and bring me the lady. Time is of the essence.”
    With a reluctant sigh, Thomas finally did as he was told. But upon collecting Madelayne from her bed chamber, for she was still deeply grieving and did not wish to leave, he only told her that Dolwyd needed her and nothing more. He would leave it up to the old physic to inform Lady l’Ebreux that she was to become a lifeline for St. Hèver. That she was about to become a wet nurse for a grown man.
    Once he carried the woman up to Kaspian’s chamber, he didn’t stay to see the end result. He was already too uneasy with the entire situation. Setting Lady l’Ebreux on unsteady feet, he fled the chamber and went in search of his wife, who would want to hear of Dolwyd’s outrageous scheme of forcing a woman to feed a grown man from her breasts.
    Oddly enough, however, Mavia wasn’t as outraged as her husband was. Something about Kaspian St. Hèver suckling on her breasts rather excited her, but Thomas never need know that.
    The mere thought brought a smile to her lips.
    She envied Madelayne.

CHAPTER FOUR
    “I am to do what ?”
    Madelayne wasn’t sure she had heard correctly but Dolwyd was quite calm, and quite firm, in his reply.
    “You will get into bed and nurse the man as you would an infant,” the old man explained again. “My lady, you have milk in your breasts that will keep him alive. He has a belly wound and cannot eat. He cannot take any food at all. But you have food within you, meant for your dead child, that will help him survive. Will you not do this for St. Hèver?”
    Madelayne had entered Kaspian’s chamber as a woman in the throes of grief. Grief for her dead son, her dead husband. All about her was pain. But Dolwyd’s unconventional request had her full attention, enough to momentarily push her grief aside because the request was so shocking in nature. To nurse a grown man? She had never heard of anything so outrageous in her life.
    Still, the way Dolwyd had explained it made perfect sense. Her milk would keep the man alive. Pushing aside the shocking nature of the request, it did, in theory, make utter sense. Still, her initial reaction was to refuse. Staunchly so. But the more she thought on what Dolwyd was trying to accomplish, the more confusion she began to feel. His only goal was in healing St. Hèver and she was the means to an end. Her wary gaze moved to St. Hèver, lying still and pale upon his bed. A very big man, a very handsome man… who needed her breasts.
    She was stunned.
    “He is to… to…?” she stammered, motioning hesitantly to her breasts.
    Dolwyd nodded patiently. “Suckle you,” he finished for her. “Please, my lady… St. Hèver’s life depends upon you. Will you not save his life?”
    Madelayne didn’t know what to say. She gazed at the unconscious man, mouth agape, wondering how she could decline such a thing. Increasingly, she knew she couldn’t, not after the way Dolwyd had put it. St. Hèver’s life depended on her, so he said and in looking at the man, she could believe it. He looked terrible. But the grief in her heart, the sorrow for her son and husband that had consumed her, was wreaking havoc with her generosity.
    “How can you ask me such a thing?” she demanded. “It is because of St. Hèver that Cairn is dead. Now you would have me save the life of the man who saw my husband to his doom? I will not do it, I say!”
    Dolwyd remained surprisingly patient with her. “Cairn is not dead because of St. Hèver,” he said. “Cairn is dead because of the Welsh. It has nothing to do with Kaspian at all. The Welsh have already claimed your husband. Will you now let them claim St. Hèver as well when you