Bond of Blood

by Roberta Gellis

  Hereford cast a glance at Leah. The man was her father and she must be hurt by hearing of his treachery. Well, if Radnor did not care, it was no business of his. "I went with my men, the whole fighting troop, and hid them in a bushment—well hid, I thought them, and I am no novice. I could not believe, however, what Philip said to be true, so I rode into Pembroke's camp to give him a chance to explain. He seemed right glad to see me; he spoke me sweet words and soft. Oh" Hereford raised his arms and shook his fists at the ceiling "let a man have but one drop of Welsh blood and he lies faster—"

  "I know plenty without the drop who do the same. Hereford, my men will hold off whoever is pursuing you, but I have no stomach to be embroiled in this and my father bade me stand clear. For God's sake, tell me what happened without all these useless groans and complaints and let me think where to hide you so that you be not taken."

  "No one pursues me."

  "Then what is this haste for? If Pembroke has already slipped the leash, he is here. If he is here, what can I do but speak honeyed words to Stephen later? What need to wake me in the middle of the night and fright Leah into a fit?"

  That last was unjust. For one thing it was well on into morning and for another Leah had not squeaked or moved a muscle since Hereford entered the room. She was sitting upright, clutching the bedclothes to her breasts to conceal them, her hair down over her back and shoulders. At the first alarm she had repressed the frantic urge to cling to her husband—which could easily have destroyed them both by hampering his sword arm if the emergency had been a real one—and had withdrawn to a corner of the bed to be clear of his swing or thrust. Now she was almost relaxed. The conversation of the men was serious enough, but it entailed no immediate physical emergency, for Leah could see the pulse in Radnor's throat beating slowly and steadily without excitement and the huge muscles lay smooth under the skin, not tensed and knotted for action.

  "Nay, my lord, I am not frightened." Leah felt it necessary to add a third voice to the conversation because she could see the offence in Hereford's face and she wanted to give her husband, who was sleepy and annoyed, time to collect himself.

  "I am very sorry to have disturbed your sleep and exposed you to royal disapproval. In future I will know enough to take my problems elsewhere."

  "Hereford, come back here. Come back, I say, you know I cannot follow you. Be not so thin-skinned for a gibe from a sleepy man. You and Giles are alike. Yesterday I was too bold; today I am too timid. Make up your mind. Now, sit down and tell me what happened since you are already here and I am already awake. When you stride around the room like that, you make me dizzy and half the time I cannot hear you. Do you want something to eat or drink?"

  "Wine, if you have it to hand."

  Leah turned her back and pulled a robe on under the bedclothes. She bade the little page bring cold meat and bread from the kitchen and poured wine herself.

  "Anyway," Hereford was concluding his tale, "he slipped off at dawn yesterday and either has hidden himself in the city or Stephen has taken him."

  "Dawn yesterday! Where have you been until now?"

  "Sleeping."

  "Wenching, more likely."

  "Sleeping, I tell you. He drugged my wine. My men could not wake me."

  Radnor's jaw tightened. "He might have killed you with a draught so potent."

  "I wish he had. Do you think it lighter to sit in prison—or to lose one's head? But why is Stephen hiding him? Why is he not here or known to be at court?"

  "I told you and you would not believe. He comes to accuse Chester"—and to kill me, Cain thought, but he could not bring himself to say that aloud. "The king, or more like, the queen keeps him hid for two reasons. One, so that none can make him change his mind before the council, and, two, so that she can, after the council, imprison him or destroy him to change the succession in Wales."

  "In Wales? How can that help her?"

  "Hereford, you do not think!" Radnor swallowed his exasperation hastily. He was being vastly unfair, for Hereford, although a redoubtable fighter, was little more than a boy, had little experience of court policy, and was of an honest and open nature. "Look you," he began patiently, "are not the Welsh lords ever opposed to Stephen and in favor of Henry? Maud will find evidence that Pembroke was involved in the rebellion after he has betrayed Chester in council. Then she will be able to keep or kill Pembroke also so that his lands, Fitz Richard's, Chester's, and yours may all be sequestered and put into hands loyal to the king. Who does that leave to aid Gloucester or fight for Henry?"

  "Oh God! But what of you? As long as Gaunt is in your father's hands, Gloucester cannot be attacked from behind."

  "Ay, what of me?" Radnor said very slowly. "My father is not to the point. He is old, and Maud is not really impatient. She would be willing to wait until nature solved the problem for her, but what of me?" A slow smile spread across his face, making the increasing coldness and hardness of the expression in his eyes really ugly. "Perhaps it was not all in sweet compliment to me that I was chosen king's champion. Perhaps—"

  "No!" Hereford choked.

  "No!" Radnor readily agreed, but not to comfort Hereford. His eyes had caught the frozen figure of his wife, and he could have bit out his tongue for so carelessly frightening her. "It is but my own evil mind that invents such treacheries. You know how suspicious I am. In any case," he said briskly, "they will not take you, nor Chester either if we can but bring him to see reason.”

  “Perhaps after what Pembroke did, there is some hope of that.”

  “And I have a trick or two in my head. Also, if you and Chester are not to fall there will be little use in tampering with the rest of Wales. You are too close to Gloucester and will too readily go to his aid. Listen to me. Since Stephen has done nothing yet, it is plain that he wishes to make his move in full council and the council does not meet until the day after the tourney. Until then you are safe.”

  Hereford made a restless move but did not speak.

  “Hmmm,” Cain continued. “Doubtless you will need some excuse for your absence from court for the past two days. Make up a tale of an assignation with a woman. It has been true often enough in the past to lend credence to the story. If you do not hear from me that I have obtained a pardon for you, ride full armed as you are from the melee to the south gate. There you will be met, and I have planned a route of escape—"

  "Stop." Hereford's face worked and then assumed an unnatural but beautiful graven stillness. "I do not want to hear. You do but tempt me to dishonor. If I can reason Chester into abandoning his purpose, mayhap we can save ourselves. If we cannot, we will come to the south gate together and you may do what you will with us. But if Chester holds his purpose, for good or ill, I am with him. He has my oath on it. I will not be forsworn."

  "God keep you." With the sentiment Hereford had just uttered, Radnor would not argue. He too regarded his given word as sacred. "In any case, do not despair. Trouble there may well be, but somehow I will find a way to keep you from permanent harm. Between Gloucester and myself there will be a way."

  Hereford had risen to go, but at the name Gloucester he stopped. "But one thing more I have to say." His blue eyes were hard as agates. "Some bird sang a song in Pembroke's ear before ever I could reach him that if sweet words would not convince him to go home I would use force. Who knew of this save you, I, she, and Lord Philip? Who sent the bird that sang?"

  Radnor opened his mouth to make a sharp reply and then shut it; to be angry at Hereford or suspicious of Leah was useless. "Leah at least had no chance," he said calmly. "She was under my eye from the moment you left us until long after you were safe in Pembroke's camp. Philip could not, for I had to carry him in my arms like a child to his bed. That leaves me—well?"

  "The whole thing could have been planned before Philip came to speak to you. If you had gone as he asked instead of I … What a weapon in Stephen's hands. Dear Philip! And I said I had wronged him. You would have been ruined."

  No, Radnor thought
, seeing it clearly, not ruined, killed. And if there was a plot, not Philip but Leah was involved. "Perhaps,” he said, “but what profit is there for Philip in my ruin? We are known to be foster brothers and close companions too. He would be tarred with the same brush. No, Philip's only fault is in the sickness that has clouded his mind and prevented him from seeing the trap. Well, I am as much a fool, for I was so taken up with his pain that I saw it not myself. And you were no better either. Did it not seem strange to you that Pembroke should camp so near London instead of riding straight in?"

  "Of course I saw it. That was what made me suspicious enough to ask questions so that my wine had to be drugged, But what good was the trap if there was no bait to bring you?"

  "If Philip had not come, someone else would have. Such traps lack not for bait but, fortunately, the wrong mouse went."

  "You may be right," Hereford sighed. "Radnor, do I go to court tomorrow?"

  "Assuredly. To hide is to proclaim guilt. What else can you do but face the matter out boldly? Be of good heart. I swear I will have you out of this, with whole lands and a whole skin."

  The young man smiled wanly. "No blame to you if you do not. It was my own judgment that took me in, you ever spoke against it."

  "Yes, well, never mind that. Do not worry more than you must, and do not show that long face in public. It is not like you to be sad and will tell the tale to all who do not know it."

  At that Hereford smiled more naturally and came back to kiss Radnor's cheek. "You need not school me like a child. I know better than that, even if I am a fool. I will see you tomorrow—no, it will be today, of course. Fare you well."

  "God speed you."

  Radnor sat and watched the closed door for a while after Hereford left. "He is so clean and good, it is a sin to dip him in this mud. For all he says, he is little more than a child. Not but what he is a man and more on the field of battle, but he thinks the skies would fall if he broke his word."

  "I have heard that you were ever one to hold by your given promise." Leah's throat ached with unshed tears. If Cain were not so bound by his honor, perhaps she could have induced him to run away before the tourney, not to risk his life. How foolish. If he were such a man, she would not love him and would not care whether he lived or died. Leah laid her lips against her husband's shoulder as she slipped into bed. He pulled her close absently, still staring at the door, his mouth a bitter line.

  "There is a difference, Leah. I keep my oath in bitterness and pride, knowing full well that others will betray me. He keeps his in hope and trust. Each new betrayal is a new pain to him."

  He fell silent. It was easy enough to say that he would bring Hereford scatheless out of this situation, but not so easy to do. What he needed and needed desperately was a lever to use on the queen. If he had but one tittle of proof of what he thought to be true or if he could somehow twist Pembroke's intentions to destroy him so that they seemed to be Maud's also, he could count on the Marcher lords to support him.

  "My lord." Leah's voice broke into his train of thought and he turned to her impatiently.

  "What now?"

  "I did but think that if there was truly use in convincing the court that Lord Hereford had been with—with a woman. last night and yesterday, in this I might be able to help you."

  "What? How?"

  "Elizabeth of Chester—"

  "How do you know Elizabeth Chester?"

  "She was at our wedding, Cain, I met her there and she is one of the queen's ladies, so I have had some talk with her."

  "I hope you will take no notions from Elizabeth Chester. She is my godsister, and loyal and helpful to her father, but her ways are bold and her manner to her menfolk … I will not have you think that you may do the same."

  Leah sat silent through this lecture with her lids lowered over her eyes. She would not argue with Cain on any matter again for quite a while, but she wondered with a little impatience how he could wander from such an important subject as Hereford's fate to such a slight one as Elizabeth Chester's behavior.

  "No, my lord. Of course not, my lord. But on the matter of Lord Hereford, Elizabeth Chester can—"

  "What has Hereford to do with Elizabeth?"

  "My lord, if you would only allow me to finish one sentence, I will tell you. Nay, it would be better to use fewer words and see the thing done."

  "What thing?" Radnor's voice went sharp with anxiety.

  "Perhaps it were better for you not to know. There are other women involved."

  Radnor grasped his wife's arm brutally. "Are you intimating that I cannot hold my tongue?" He was totally incredulous. All jest aside, this chit was getting out of hand.

  The mistake she had made was instantly clear to Leah, but there was no help for it now. "No, no. Only that what is life and death to a woman is often a light matter to men."

  "Look you here, Leah, my dogs do not go to hunt on their own for their own pleasure, and my wife will not play politics without my approval. Your little jest with Maud was one thing, you had no time to talk to me. But if you move in a matter in which I could have been consulted without my knowledge, II will beat you witless and lock you in Painscastle for your lifetime."

  "I only wished to help Lord Hereford," Leah whispered timidly.

  "Why?" Cain's jealousy was alive on the instant. Hereford and Leah seemed to be very friendly.

  "Because you seemed to wish it."

  "Then out with it."

  "Elizabeth Chester knows Hereford's mistress—"

  "Which one?" Radnor asked dryly before he started to wonder how his innocent bride came to be speaking glibly about such matters.

  "Nay, my lord, this is Lady Gertrude, not aa woman of the streets. But she is not so young as he and very jealous."

  "She has need." Lord Radnor laughed, forgetting for the moment that he had just tripped over that stone himself.

  "Elizabeth, I am sure, will carry this tale of still another woman to Lady Gertrude, pretending to be hurt and angry at Hereford. No doubt Elizabeth can choose such a time and place that Lady Gertrude will be certain to meet Hereford soon after. From what Elizabeth says, Lady Gertrude will not be able to contain her wrath. A few well-born witnesses with loose tongues can easily be provided, and they will soon spread the tale, which Hereford will not dare deny. In this manner, backwards as it were, not coming from him and in a manner making a fool of him, there will be weight enough to carry it as truth."

  "It may well be. But why should Elizabeth Chester be willing to so demean herself? It will not help her father. And why should she seem angry at anything Hereford does?"

  "I pray you, my lord, do not use this as matter for jest—do not. Elizabeth will have Hereford, if she can get him, to husband. It is common talk among the women and Lady Gertrude knows this. Lady Gertrude does not know, however, that Elizabeth knows she is Hereford's mistress."

  "Elizabeth—and Hereford? There was talk of a dispensation once so that she could be proposed to me, but—" Suddenly Radnor started to laugh. "Oh, they will make a merry pair. I can hear the crash of the crockery now."

  Leah's hand, pleading, touched her husband's. "Do not let him, above all, hear of this. I think she has a lust to him and he to her, but he says to all the world that he will not marry, and she, for all her light tongue, will have him no other way. I think it is to torment her that he has taken a mistress at court, and a stupid slut at that."

  Radnor was still laughing at the thought of those two living together. "Very well, I swear I will say nothing, but I would love to warn him. Nonetheless it would do no good. If Elizabeth says she will have him, I have no doubt she will. God, she is beautiful.” Cain's eyes lit suddenly with the sensual fires never far from the surface, but the interest died out in a flash. "I would not have a hellcat like that in my house for anything you could name,” he murmured, smiling. “There are beauties other than that type. I think I should tire quickly of that opulence always displayed. Nay, I have what is better in this unfolding, petal by petal
!”

  He turned and bent over Leah, gazing avidly at the way her loose hair made a transparent golden screen between his eyes and her body. It was late and he should rise, but their quarrel the night before still hung heavily on his spirits and Leah's appearance behind that shimmering screen was irresistible. Cain slid his fingers through the shining mesh of hair, watching for a sign of renewed anger or reluctance. Leah lay still, paralyzed by his caress, her mind going blank, her eyes closing slowly, every sense concentrating on her feeling. Cain's fear that he had destroyed her love made his own passion slow to rise. By the time he drew his wife to him, Leah was nearly insensible with a pleasure terribly akin to pain.

  It was nearly breakfast time when Bess entered the room to open the shutters and wake her master and mistress. She cast a quick, alarmed look at the bed. Both occupants were soundly asleep, but she could see nothing of her mistress except a blanket of golden hair which hid her back and strayed over Lord Radnor's shoulders. Why had her mistress cried out in that dreadful way? There had been no sound of argument or blows. Perhaps this one had other ways of hurting a woman—ways that did not show. Bess shuddered as she realized that she had made a sound that had disturbed Lord Radnor. His right hand reached down automatically, even before he wakened, to the long sword by the bed. Let them wake of their own accord, Bess thought, and with a little gasp, she was out of the door.

  The feminine gasp reassured some unconscious mechanism in Radnor, and he sank again into sleep; it had, however, the opposite effect on Leah who sat up cautiously and stared at her husband. The room smelled faintly of burnt wax, for they had allowed the candles to gutter out, and a fresh breeze blew in at the open window. Feeling slightly chilled herself, Leah drew the coverlet higher over Cain's shoulders. The sensation disturbed him, and he turned flat on his back and pushed the covers all the way off with an impatient gesture, Leah smiled at her sleeping lord. He was always much warmer than she, and she could never remember it. Her eyes ran over him affectionately; then their expression grew fixed and she began to study his body with an awareness of it that she had not had before.