The Bride Tournament by Ruth Kaufman Read Free Book Online Page B

And finally be alchemy free.
    Alyce stared at her, hands dangling at her sides, mouth agape.
    “Close your mouth,” Eleanor said. “Everything happened too fast yesterday for me to think. How could I meekly accept a change in grooms, after years of waiting?”
    “It was cruel of Father to keep it from you,” Alyce agreed. “But women like us don’t have the luxury of choosing their husbands.”
    “Just because we don’t know of many marriages based on love doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Else why would there be so many books written and tales told of romance? Why should people spend their lives stuck with someone they don’t want?” Eleanor sighed.
    “Marriage isn’t about love.”
    “You sound like Father. Last night I began a list of unwed women we know.” Eleanor couldn’t tell even her sister that between the unfamiliar sounds of Richard’s soft breathing from the other side of the bed and concern about falling asleep and rolling toward him, she hadn’t slept a wink.
    She started pacing. “First is Lady Howes, wealthy but not beautiful enough and only two small manors to her name. Obviously this better bride needs have more lands than I.”
    Christ hanging on a large cross on Alyce’s wall interrupted her recitation. His sorrowful, compassionate eyes haunted her. Was it a sin to find your husband a new bride? She pivoted and kept walking.
    “Katherine de Sutton is of excellent lineage, but spiteful. Richard would never be comfortable with her. Alice Poynings has wealth, but six children from her first husband. I don’t know how he’d feel about that.” She shook her head. “As you can see, the available brides lack the necessary qualifications.”
    “Better bride? Qualifications?” Alyce’s voice cracked. “Have you lost your wits?”
    “I’ve never been more serious.” Eleanor halted. The dazed expression on Alyce’s face proved she hadn’t grasped how clever the plan was. “I’ll let you think. When you agree that helping Richard to another bride is the way to help me and him to happiness, nod.”
    Alyce combed her hair, but Eleanor could tell she wasn’t counting the strokes as she usually did.
    “What do you think?”
    “I said I would hear you out and I have. I think you are ill.” Alyce stared at her as though she had three eyes. “The shocking events of your wedding day must’ve disrupted your humors. Your blood, bile, choler and phlegm are clearly out of balance. I shall send for the physician. Perhaps you need a bloodletting.”
    “Don’t even think it,” Eleanor warned. “I am well.”
    “How can you be?” she asked. “You were sorely tested yesterday. But you must do your duty.”
    She sounded just like Richard. “Duty.” The word left a taste in her mouth worse than sour milk. “Why do men have more freedom to do as they choose? Why must women obey men’s demands?”
    “’Tis the way of the world. Richard and Arthur didn’t have much choice, either. From king to peasant, we all must obey a higher power.” Alyce set the brush on her trunk and began to make her bed.
    “I have to try.” Eleanor pivoted again, skirts swinging. “Here’s how my idea will work. What is my favorite tale?”
    “ The Odyssey ,” Alyce answered.
    “I put the two together, and voilà!” She clapped her hands. “Aren’t I brilliant?”
    “What has The Odyssey to do with finding Richard a bride?”
    Eleanor spoke as patiently as she could. “Odysseus’s wife Penelope waits twenty years for him to return from his voyage. She can’t keep her suitors at bay, so she holds a test of skill. A husband test. She’ll marry the man who can string Odysseus’s bow and shoot through twelve axes.”
    Alyce held up her hands as if warding off disaster. “Oh, Eleanor, no.”
    “You see? Brilliant.”
    “You have gone mad. You mean to hold a bride test.”
    “Exactly.” Eleanor raised her arms with glee. “Wait…why have one test when we can have several? I know! We’ll hold