A Choice of Secrets

by Barb Hendee

  Her attention moved to him. “Oh, I can assure you, sir. I have found your presence here most entertaining.”

  Chloe watched all this with frightened eyes, but I could not tell who she feared more, Julian or Mildreth. This was more than worry over managing an early birth. A clever woman could find ways to explain an early birth—and Chloe was clever. But now, she looked like a cornered animal and I was at a loss.

  Christophe walked over and took Chloe’s hand. “Are you feeling well tonight?”

  He sounded genuinely concerned, like a solicitous husband, and when she looked up at him, all fear left her face. “I am well, my lord.”

  Several servants entered carrying trays of food. The smell of baked chicken wafted through the air. Normally, the lady of the house would announce dinner, so I waited for Chloe to step forward.

  But Mildreth said, “Dinner is served. Will everyone please take a seat?”

  Chloe’s eyes had dropped to the floor.

  After a brief hesitation, I started for the table. Christophe sat at the head and motioned me to sit beside him. As everyone else took a place, Julian sat across from Chloe, leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs under the table. I found this penchant of his ill-mannered, as if he were lord of any room he occupied.

  “So, how soon can we expect the happy event?” Julian asked Chloe. “Can you make a guess?”

  Chloe went pale.

  Mildreth sat straight in her chair. “We may have an answer to that soon. I’ve employed a midwife from the village. Perhaps she might be allowed to examine Lady Chloe?”

  “A midwife?” I asked. “There is no need. I’m skilled and I’ve come to serve as midwife.”

  “There’s no reason you cannot both serve,” Mildreth answered. “We all want Chloe to receive the most care possible.”

  Chloe sat with her eyes on her plate and I had had enough of this. I needed to speak with her alone.

  Reaching out, I touched Christophe’s arm. He went still beneath my fingers.

  “My lord,” I said quietly. “No matter what Chloe says, she is not feeling well. Look at her. Might I please be allowed to take her upstairs to rest?”

  She had heard me and looked over in a mix of surprise and hope. Her expression was not lost on Christophe.

  “Would you like to go upstairs with Nicole?” he asked her.

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Quickly, I stood and hurried to my sister. Then I ushered her from the great hall.

  Chapter 10

  As Chloe whispered a few words to provide directions, I took her upstairs and down a passage.

  Upon entering the apartments, I found myself in a sitting room with thick carpets and low couches. In the far wall, I saw an open doorway into a bedroom. There was a white lace comforter on the bed and flowers in vases on the tables. I wondered if Christophe minded the feminine décor. Slowly, moving carefully due to the weight of the child inside her, Chloe walked over and sank down onto a couch. I went to sit beside her.

  “Nicole,” she said.

  Then neither of us spoke for a while. I longed to tell her that I knew the reasons for some of her fears, that the child was Julian’s, that he had abandoned her, and that she taken the only path left open: marriage to Christophe.

  But the words did not come. Perhaps I had remained silent on this matter for so long that now I could not speak of it.

  Finally, I said, “I would help you if I could.”

  “Would you?” She paused. “I have things to tell you, things that might make you walk away from me and never look back.”

  “I will not walk away.” Of that, I was certain.

  She was quiet for a few more moments. “The child I carry is not Christophe’s. It is Julian’s. I love him…or I loved him. He would not marry me and I married Christophe to save my honor.”

  “Oh, Chloe.”

  She had told me. I could no longer pretend that I knew nothing. I was part of this now. Reaching out, I grasped her hand.

  “What is it you fear?”

  “Discovery,” she whispered. “I thought I could manage this, but I am trapped.”

  “By who?”

  “By Julian.”

  This was the part I did not understand. “Chloe, what is he doing here?”

  “He is blackmailing me. Or he is trying to blackmail me. He’s told me that unless I give him the emerald bracelet and the diamond necklace passed down to me by Mother as my wedding gifts, he will tell Christophe the truth.”

  I gasped. “Blackmail?”

  Of all the things I thought possible of Julian, this would never have crossed my mind. He loved Chloe, or he had claimed to. But then I thought on the rumors I’d heard of Julian’s gambling debts. Could he owe so much he was in danger? The jewels he’d asked for were family heirlooms, worth a small fortune.

  “You’ve not given the bracelet or the necklace?” I asked.

  “How could I? They are family treasures.” Her voice broke. “I am expected to pass them down to my first daughter at her wedding. How I could explain their absence? No one here would steal them and no one would believe I lost them.”

  My mind raced. Chloe and I possessed no money of our own. My father paid for my gowns and other needs, and Chloe’s yearly stipend went directly to Christophe. Julian would know this and he’d asked for the only things of real value that Chloe might give him.

  “Do you think he’d really tell Christophe?” I asked.

  “I think him capable of anything.” Her voice was bitter now. “He has hunted me here, threatened me, made veiled taunts in front of Mildreth. I think she was suspicious when I began to show early, but she did not know anything and could not prove anything. Now…I’m certain she knows that I am ready to give birth at any time. I can feel it. As soon as the child is born, she will pounce. If the child is a boy, she’ll not have a pretender inherit Christophe’s title.”

  I sat back against the couch. I had wanted to let fate decide the outcome of this quandary. I had been desperate not to be forced to choose between Chloe and Christophe. But that time was past now. I had to make a choice.

  And I chose Chloe.

  She was my sister.

  An indelicate question rose in my mind. “Chloe, how far along were you before your wedding to Christophe?”

  “Perhaps two months.”

  “After the wedding, how soon were you able to…?”

  “Get him into bed?” she finished for me.

  “Yes.”

  “Our wedding night at the lodge. I had the sense to act swiftly there. But he hasn’t come to my bed since I told him I was pregnant.”

  “What do you mean? Doesn’t he live in here with you?”

  Our mother and father had always shared the same rooms and slept in the same bed.

  “No. We don’t have that sort of marriage. He keeps his own rooms.”

  That struck me as an odd arrangement, but I didn’t think on it long.

  Gripping her hand more tightly, I said, “Listen to me. All we need to do is convince Christophe that the child is his, make him believe it. After that, anything Julian does will seem like a desperate ploy. Few men seem to trust him and Christophe trusts him not at all.”

  Her chin lifted and she looked me in the face. “Can this be done? How?”

  Several ideas rolled through my mind at once. Could we pretend an illness on Chloe’s part, something contagious? I could act as her nurse. Once the child came, we could keep everyone away for a week or so.

  But I quickly rejected this idea. It was too risky. If Mildreth was suspicious, she’d find a way to see the child the day it was born—or find a way to send Christophe into the room.

  “I’ll need to get Christophe out of the keep somehow and away from here,” I said. “I’ll keep him away as long as possible. If the child feeds w
ell, upon our return, Christophe will not know the difference.”

  “You think you could get him away? But what about Mildreth?”

  This was trickier and I didn’t care for the only idea that occurred to me. “Do you think you could get three or four drops of an areial roots mixture into her tea?”

  With a quick intake of breath, she said, “Areial roots?” Then slowly, she nodded. “I could.”

  “Do you have a maid you can trust? Someone who can help you with the delivery?”

  This was even more risky, but she would need help and we had no other options.

  “Yes, Roweena has been treated badly by Mildreth. She is loyal to me and values her position here.”

  “Good,” I said. “Once I have Christophe away from the keep, wait until the very beginning of your labor pains. Then find a way to drug Mildreth’s tea. Fake a fall to provide a reason for early labor. If the midwife Mildreth hired arrives, order that she be sent away. Julian is not family and he won’t be able to come near you without your permission.”

  Her eyes shifted back and forth with hope as she listened. “How long do think you can keep Christophe away?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t figured that part out yet. But he doesn’t believe you are due until mid-spring, and so if I can convince him that I am needed someplace else for a short time, I should be able to talk him into taking me. I’ll try to keep him away for a week.”

  With a soft exhale, she leaned forward to press her head to my shoulder. “Oh, Nicole. I’m so glad you are here. I’m so glad to have someone on my side.”

  Reaching up, I held her close. “We will manage this, Chloe. We will.”

  * * * *

  Late-morning of the following day, I left Chloe resting in rooms so that I might go outside into the cold air of the courtyard to walk and allow myself to think.

  I was nearly in awe of the architecture of the keep. The bottom floor was square and solid, with crenellated turrets built into the second story of each of the four corners. The turrets rose into the air above the third floor. To me, who had only lived in buildings constructed from logs, Whale’s Keep seemed like a castle.

  But how could I get Christophe away from this place?

  I’d heard from my mother there had been an outbreak of fever in the village north of White Deer Lodge. It was not yet serious enough for her to travel there. Perhaps I could tell Christophe that a message had been forwarded to me from home, and that the fever had grown worse and my mother could not attend; the people there needed me. This ruse would prey on his kindness and concern for others—which troubled me—but I believed he would take me himself.

  Near noon, I braced myself to lie to him and decided it was best to act as soon as possible.

  But a side door near the kitchens opened and someone walked out. I expected it to be a house guard, but then I saw who it was.

  Julian.

  He saw me in the same moment and smiled as he walked toward me. “My lady. What are you doing out here? The air is cold.” He wore a heavy cloak that swung around his feet as he walked.

  I was near the front wall of the keep. Glancing toward the main doors, I nodded. “Yes, it is colder than I imagined. I should go back inside.”

  Before I could take a step, he moved around in front of me.

  “Wait,” he said. “I would speak with you a moment.”

  “Please. It is rather cold and I should like to go in.”

  I stepped nearer to the wall to try to move past him, but he reached out and put his right hand against the wall, blocking my escape. Beneath his cloak, he wore a sleeveless tunic to show off the definition in his arms. What a vain creature he was. Any man with sense would be wearing long sleeves.

  But still, I could not get past him and nervousness rose inside me. The nearest guards were out at the gates, a good distance away. I wished Christophe would come outside.

  “It’s good of you to travel so far to help your sister,” Julian said. “The question is, my dear: How much help are you willing to give her?”

  I kept my eyes level with his chin. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean, or you wouldn’t have come running when she called.”

  Pretense was futile and I was no good at clever word games. Raising my head, I glared at him. “You are a snake,” I whispered, “to bully and frighten a woman who loved you.”

  He didn’t react to my insult. “She’s in no danger from me so long as she does as I ask. Perhaps you could help her to see this?”

  How I hated him.

  “She’ll never give you those jewels,” I said. “She couldn’t if she wanted to. And you are playing a dangerous game. Your only thought is to terrify her enough to buy you off before she gives birth. But the child will come at any time now, and if Christophe sees the truth for himself before you’ve told him, you’ll have more to worry about than a few gambling debts.”

  At this, a flash of rage passed over his face and to my shock, he grabbed my wrist, jerking me up against himself. “She still has days left before the child comes, possibly a week. And if she does not do as I ask, I will tell Christophe she has deceived him. I mean it.”

  He was hurting my wrist and his eyes were desperate now. Perhaps he owed money to someone more threatening than one of our family guards.

  I didn’t care.

  “Get your hand off me,” I said, “Or I’ll call for those men at the gate.”

  His breathing was uneven and he gripped me for another moment. “Talk to her,” he said. “Make her see reason. Or by the time I’m done, your family’s honor will be in tatters. Everyone knows how much your father needed this marriage. He’ll take half the blame.”

  With a slight shove, he let go of me, turned, and walked through the front doors of the keep.

  Shaken, I leaned against the wall, trying to gather myself. My forearm would be bruised tomorrow, but that was the least of my worries. I did not know Julian’s troubles, but he’d almost seemed in fear for his life, and he needed money—apparently, a good deal of money.

  Forcing myself to calm down, I let my thoughts flow, trying to see the path forward, wondering if I should change tactics in light of this knowledge regarding the depths of his desperation.

  But my original plan still offered the best chance of saving Chloe: Get Christophe away from here and incapacitate Mildreth. Then Julian would lose any power or leverage. I would ensure that upon Christophe’s return, he would fully accept the child as his own and once that happened, Julian would have difficulty attempting to blackmail Chloe. At that point, if he tried, he would look like a desperate man trying to cover gambling debts by impugning a lady—and the consequences for Julian might not be pleasant. I gauged him as intelligent enough to reason this for himself.

  Still, I would have to move quickly. Julian was wrong about one thing: Chloe did not have a week. I needed to act now.

  Upon reentering the keep, I stopped one of the house guards.

  “Can you tell me where I might find Lord Christophe?”

  “In the great hall, my lady.”

  “Thank you.”

  Heading down the center passage, I walked through the arches of the great hall to find Christophe speaking with Julian.

  Julian must have come straight here. Neither man saw me in the archway and both of them were frowning at the other.

  “I just don’t understand the rush,” Julian said. “I’ve not even been here a week. Are you in such a hurry to be rid of me?”

  “Of course not,” Christophe answered, but the strain in his voice belied his words. “But you were sent here to train. You need to take a boat to the shore and arrange for a room at the barracks. Captain Fáuvel will assist you.”

  “At the Montagnas’, I always lived in a guest room at the lodge and ate with the family.”


  “Yes, but Erik handles most of the training himself there, and the main barracks is part of the lodge. We operate differently here. Captain Fáuvel does our training at the barracks on shore.”

  “I’ve already been training for months. Surely you won’t begrudge me a week or so of rest here in your home?”

  How manipulative Julian was. He wanted to remain here so he could continue pressuring Chloe to give him her jewels. Each day closer to her delivery would cause her to panic more.

  Just then, he saw me standing in the archway and he smiled. “And here is the lovely Nicole. She has only arrived at Whale’s Keep and I’ve barely seen her. I should like a few more days here in her company.”

  I fought back a shudder.

  Christophe’s frown deepened. “Julian,” he began and his tone sounded firmer now.

  But before he could finish the sentence, a man in his late twenties, wearing armor and a gray tabard—and wet up the waist—came striding into the great hall.

  Christophe frowned. “Lieutenant?”

  “Forgive the intrusion, my lord,” the man said, “but I have news that couldn’t wait. A party of raiders somehow got through our lines several miles up shore, undetected. They made it all into Chastain.”

  “Chastain?”

  “Yes, my lord. The village was attacked. But word didn’t reach Captain Fáuvel until the attack was well over and the raiders were gone. Their boats are gone. Anyone they took cannot be retrieved.”

  “No,” Christophe breathed.

  I could only imagine what he was feeling, that he had failed his people.

  “What about the village?” he asked. “What is the damage?”

  “I don’t know, my lord. The messenger who arrived was badly injured. He could only tell me what I’ve told you. Captain Fáuvel sent thirty men on fast horses immediately, but he’s in the process of preparing a larger contingent to go and provide help to survivors. He wants to make sure we have adequate supplies to offer assistance when we get there, and we may not be ready until morning.”

  Nodding, Christophe said, “Good. I’ll need to make some preparations here, but I’ll take a boat over before dark this evening. We’ll leave at first light.”