The Sorceror's Revenge

by Linda Sole

  28

  Alfreda’s heart caught with fright as she heard the twig snap behind her and she dare not turn round, even though she believed she knew who was there watching her. She had not come to the woods alone since the last time the earl had found her, which was almost five weeks earlier. She’d wrestled with herself, knowing that she wanted to see him again alone and yet fearing what would happen if she did. So she’d stayed home and helped her mother in the house, but today her mother had told her she must go foraging.

  ‘You are stealing from me again,’ his voice said from behind her and delicious chills ran up and down her spine. She turned slowly, her breath catching in her throat as she looked at him. There was such a hot need in his eyes, such longing that her heart seemed to slam against her ribs and she could feel the moisture run between her thighs. Rhys had never touched her, giving her only a chaste kiss on the cheek before he left to serve the King, but she’d heard the grunts and moans from her parents’ room, which was next to where she lay at night and she knew what went on. She ran her tongue over her lips as she looked steadily at the earl. This time she was not frightened, merely expectant as he moved towards her, catching her to him. ‘You are so beautiful. Do you know how your image has haunted me?’

  ‘No, my lord, how should I?’ she whispered, her voice no more than a whisper. ‘I am but a common village girl…’

  ‘Never that, Alfreda,’ he said and took hold of her by the waist, drawing her close. His lips touched hers and this time she parted them for him willingly, eagerly, returning his kiss as she pressed herself against him. He was wearing just soft hose and a shirt covered by a leather jerkin, his soft leather boots reaching his sturdy thighs. She could feel the hardness of his manhood burning against her and she moaned with want, her head going back. His lips caressed her, making her burn with a flame of need for something she hardly understood. ‘You are beautiful, passionate and spirited. Trust me, Alfreda. I shall always take care of you.’

  Alfreda could not have refused him as he took her down to the soft earth, which was covered by dry bracken and moss. She had fought her battle and knew that if she had not wanted this to happen she would have told her father the first time. Although she’d tried to resist she had been drawn here like a moth to a flame. As his hand parted her legs and she felt his fingers invade her secret places where no man had ever touched her before, she arched towards him, wanting all that he could give her.

  His first thrust was painful but his mouth covered hers so that her cry was lost and then he was moving slowly, sensuously, bringing her to a gradual climax that exploded into flames of white heat. She tossed beneath him, crying his name, her fingers digging into his shoulders while the spasms of pleasure shook her body. And then he gave a great shout as he came in her and they spent, just holding one another in silence.

  After a while, the earl stood up and straightened his clothing. Alfreda sat up, pulling down her gown to cover her legs. She could not look at him for shame. She was a wanton and surely he would despise her?

  ‘No, do not look shamed, Alfreda,’ he said and took her hands pulling her to her feet. ‘You were virgin and you gave yourself to me sweetly. You are mine now and I shall care for you. I will give you money or whatever you wish...'

  ‘My father would kill me if he knew what I’d done,’ she said. ‘I cannot take money – but some work for my father…’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he said, then looked thoughtful. ‘If anything should come of this – if there is a child, come to me. I would arrange something for you.’

  ‘Thank you…’ she stood with her head bowed. Now that he’d had her he would not want her again.

  ‘Look at me.’ She looked up and he touched her cheek. ‘Meet me here again when you can. I like you very much, Alfreda. Perhaps something can be arranged that would enable us to meet more…a position at the castle? You could be the children’s nurse perhaps…’

  Alfreda’s heart thrashed in her breast. He did still want her. He would arrange for her to be near him.

  ‘I should like that…if it were possible.’

  ‘It will be,’ he said softly. ‘Trust me, Alfreda. I shall not desert you.’

  Alfreda stood watching as he walked away. Did he mean what he said? She was suddenly frightened by what she’d done. She must wash herself in the stream before she went home. If her father knew what she’d done he would kill her…

  * * *

  Robert felt guilty as he returned to the castle. He had taken the village girl’s virginity – and he’d promised her the position of nurse to the children. It would suit him to have the girl in the castle so that he could have her whenever it suited him, but it meant he must dismiss their present nurse and deceive his wife.

  He decided that he would give Joanne notice to leave immediately. She could have a dowry and return to her village, where perhaps one of the older men would take her for the money – perhaps ten pounds was sufficient.

  ‘Why do you not come to my bed?’ Joanne looked at him with tear-laden eyes as he went to her chamber. ‘Have I displeased you, my lord?’

  ‘Enough of these questions,’ Robert said brusquely. ‘You no longer please me. Indeed, you never gave me pleasure. I need a woman of spirit. Do not bother me again or I shall give instructions that you are to be beaten. You are to leave us in the morning to return to your home – and shall have a dowry of ten pounds of silver.’

  ‘But I love you…’ Joanne wailed. ‘I love you…’

  ‘Be silent. I am master here and I have spoken.’

  Robert walked past her, ignoring her look of reproach and wounded cry. He was tired of weeping women. And he was guilty because of what had taken place in the woods – but it was all his wife’s fault. He had given her a chance to stop what had occurred. If she had yielded to him it need never have happened.

  Damn them all! He would not be made to feel like an outcast in his own home. The castle at Deveraux had recently been refurbished and a visit was long overdue. He would leave in the morning since there was nothing for him here.

  * * *

  ‘Why have you dismissed Joanne?’ Melloria asked when she saw Robert at supper that night. She was in tears when I saw her, though she would not tell me why.’

  ‘She neglected her work. I have engaged a new nurse for the children. She will begin her work tomorrow…’

  ‘You might have consulted me,’ Melloria said but the look in his eyes silenced her.

  ‘Had you been a more dutiful wife I might consult you more,’ he replied. ‘Do your duty, Melloria, and I will treat you as I once did.’

  Melloria stood up and walked from the hall. She suspected the truth. Robert had grown tired of Joanne and now wished for another girl in his bed. She felt a bitter taste in her mouth as she reflected on what her marriage had become, but she could see no escape for her. Unless Robert would allow her to go to her dower lands…

  * * *

  Melloria glanced up as Robert strode into her chamber that evening. Her heart beat rapidly, nails cutting into the palms of her hands as she wondered what he wanted. She rose, looking at him coldly, barely suppressing the shudder of revulsion and loathing that passed through her.

  ‘You wished to see me, my lord?’

  ‘I have news for you, Melloria. The day after tomorrow I ride for Devereaux. I do not know when I shall return so you must celebrate Christ’s Mass without me.’

  ‘I think there is little to celebrate, Robert.’

  His eyes narrowed in temper, but he merely inclined his head.

  ‘My steward will see to things while I am gone – and you have your women to keep you company.’

  ‘Who is the girl you have chosen to take Joanne’s place?’

  ‘Her name is Alfreda, but she will not interfere with you.’

  ‘Is she to be your whore now?’

  Robert’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who has been whispering in your ear?’

  ‘No one. I have always known that you lay with Joanne…’<
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  ‘Had you been a wife to me it would not have been necessary.’

  ‘I took a vow that I would not lie with you until you find my other daughter…’

  ‘I am aware of the excuse you gave for not doing your duty to me. It was not legal for you to take such a vow without my consent,’ he said, his mouth twisting with anger. ‘Yet I have accepted it. I have sent out more messengers to search once again, but I do not believe the child is in England.’

  ‘No, perhaps you are right,’ Melloria agreed. ‘I do not know where she is, but I am sure she is alive – and I think she is happier of late. I have not felt her crying as much as before.’

  Robert’s lip curled in disbelief. ‘I doubt she lives but have it your way. I leave at first light so shall not disturb you. I must bid you farewell, Melloria. Perhaps when I return next time you will be ready to do your duty. I have been patient thus far, but if you continue to defy me I may decide to take what is owed whether you wish it or no.’

  Melloria stared after him as he left the room. Were his words just another empty threat or did he mean them this time? A shudder went through her but she would not dwell on the threat of what might come when he returned once more. He would probably be away for months; a visit to Yorkshire and then the court, which meant she would be free of the constant shadow his presence threw over her. In the meantime she would have Robert’s new whore to keep her company.

  How long must she endure this humiliation? Hot tears stung her eyes as she thought of the man she loved.

  ‘Nicholas, my love,’ she whispered. ‘Where are you? Do you live or did you die the day Robert took me back?’

  It was a question that had haunted her these past long years.

  29

  Niccolai was weary. He had been with a woman dying of a painful wasting sickness throughout the night. Nothing he knew would cure her illness but he had been able to ease her dying at the last. When she had taken farewell of her family and friends, and made her peace with God, he had given her the sleeping juice – which, in sufficient quantities, gave a sleep that would never end. Unless the priests were right and the dead would rise one day in glory.

  Removing his gown, which still bore the stains of blood and bile that she had vomited as he held her moments before the end, he washed himself in warm water. He had just put on clean linen and a cotte of rich dark material when someone knocked at the door. He sighed, hoping that it was not yet another summons to the sickbed of one of his patients. For the past few weeks his services had been in constant demand.

  ‘Enter.’

  ‘My lord,’ Cedric said and stood just inside the door. ‘I know you have been up all night and I tried to tell him that you were not at home but he insists on seeing you.’

  ‘Does this impatient fellow have a name?’ Niccolai hid his smile for Cedric was a surly devil and ugly but he protected his master as best he could. It was in part due to his faithful servant that he had recovered from the vicious blow to the head, which had made him lose his senses for some days. Had Cedric not guarded and cared for him, he might well have wandered on to the moors and died of cold or starvation.

  ‘He says he is Sir Kerrin of Shrewsbury, and that he has done service for you in the past.’

  ‘Yes…’ Niccolai frowned. ‘I know this man. I employed him once but we parted company afterwards, and I did not expect to see him again.’

  ‘Shall I tell him to go? He has refused to leave thus far, but the men will persuade him if you give the word.’

  ‘No, I shall speak with him in private. Show him to my receiving chamber, Cedric, and I shall join him in a few moments. If he is so insistent it would be best to hear him out.’

  Niccolai frowned as he finished dressing. He was uncertain as to what Sir Kerrin wanted of him. Their business was done and he recalled that the man had not obeyed his orders to the letter. He had perhaps been unwise to trust him with the commission, but at the time he had needed to make sure that his enemy did not plot against him. Santos would have stopped at nothing to gain the book he wanted, an evil book that Niccolai had destroyed and could not give him if he would. He had used its secrets but once, to save the life of the woman he loved, and after lived in dread of it until he saw it consumed by the flames of his fire.

  Pushing away the unease that had begun to invade his mind, Niccolai opened the door and went through to the next room, where he kept his journals and locked chests of precious substances that he used in his cures.

  The man he had not expected to see again stood looking out of the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He had large, powerful hands, and he was a strong man. Once, when he was laid low of a fever, he had confessed his secrets to Niccolai; a tale of murder and bloody revenge had trickled from his lips as he lay between life and death.

  Niccolai had known the blackness at his heart when he sent him to Rome. Perhaps he should have expected what had happened. Yet he could not be certain whether the man was evil or simply too zealous.

  ‘Sir Kerrin,’ he said, giving nothing of his thoughts away in his expression or manner. ‘This is an unexpected surprise. When we parted I thought we should not speak again.’

  ‘I did you a service.’

  ‘And were paid for it,’ Niccolai said. ‘I do not pay twice and you would be unwise to try blackmail.’

  ‘I have not come to ask for money, unless it is earned. I believe we want the same thing. You need Robert Earl Devereaux, dead, and so do I. We might help each other.’

  ‘What makes you think I wish Devereaux harm?’ Niccolai’s gaze narrowed for he had believed his secrets were secure.

  ‘He almost killed you and he took the woman you thought of as your wife. You have bided your time for reasons known best to you but you will strike soon.’

  ‘Who told you this?’

  ‘You are not the only one with eyes to see and ears to hear,’ Kerrin answered sourly. ‘When I want to know about someone I make it my business to discover the facts…’ His mouth smiled thinly but no warmth reached his eyes. ‘Did you know that the lady retired to a hermitage to fast and pray but her husband took the child Iolanthe and forced her to return to him?’

  ‘Yes, I am aware of what was done,’ Niccolai replied. ‘I have made my own plans. What makes you think you could help me?’

  ‘You do not like to get your hands dirty. You sent me to your cousin for that reason.’

  ‘I sent you to deliver a warning in a certain way at a certain time, but you exceeded your mission. I did not tell you to murder my cousin. I merely wanted him to fear what might happen if he interfered in my life again. Santos was a superstitious coward despite his physical strength. The warning, delivered as I directed, should have been sufficient without taking his life.’

  ‘You said you wanted to make sure he would not trouble you again. I do not think he has troubled you since that night.’

  ‘Did you think I would not know what you had done? Did you think I would not send men to investigate? My cousin’s body had been preserved by the dry atmosphere of the sealed cavern in the catacombs, and has now been given a Christian burial.’ Niccolai’s eyes were dark as granite. ‘You murdered my cousin…as you murdered Sir Jonathan Searles and the lady Rhoda Morgan.’

  A look of fear passed across Kerrin’s face. His startled gaze flew to Niccolai. ‘You could not know – no one knew…’ He was stunned, his mind working furiously as he sought an explanation. ‘In my fever…you tended me…’

  ‘You were troubled in your mind,’ Niccolai said. ‘I should have been warned that you were capable of violence, but I was not thinking as clearly as I might have at that time. I wanted my cousin frightened and chastened but I am not a murderer. You exceeded your commission and I have no more use for you.’

  ‘If you knew, why did you not have me arrested and hung for murder?’

  ‘It is not my place to punish. In life there is always a price to pay. When the time comes you will know what the price is and the choice will be yours.�
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  Kerrin shivered as he looked into the cold eyes. Nothing frightened him for he lived in a place he called Hell, but he sensed concealed danger beneath the silken mask. ‘People say you consort with the Devil. You wanted to be sure your cousin caused you no more trouble. I made sure he could not – and after what he did to you he deserved his death. Why do you care what was done to him? Most men would have exacted vengeance long before you did.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Niccolai’s face was devoid of emotion. ‘Yet I am not God. I do not decide who lives and who dies. I am an apothecary and I try to ease suffering. If you want Robert Devereaux dead, you must kill him yourself. My plans are not for his death, but I would have him disgraced – the rest is by God’s will not mine.’

  ‘You would have him disgraced – no longer a favourite of the King?’ Kerrin was alert, like a fox after its prey. ‘Devereaux is a proud man. I do not think it would suit him to lose his position as the King’s champion.’

  ‘I imagine not,’ Niccolai said, his tone unaltered. ‘If you are determined that only his death will satisfy you, there will come a time when he is weaker than he is now. While his power is at its height, neither of us could touch him and live. When he falls, you must make your choice, but do not forget that there will be a reckoning one day.’

  ‘I would not have thought you a religious man?’

  ‘No? How little we know of each other in this world. I shall bid you farewell, sir. I think we have nothing more to say to one another.’

  Kerrin stared at him resentfully. Niccolai Malvolia had paid well for the service he had rendered before and he had hoped to be paid for a task that would give him great satisfaction.

  ‘You may regret that you rejected my offer.’

  ‘Perhaps. We none of us know what is to come. Please do not approach me again. Our business is at an end.’

  ‘I did you a favour by killing Santos. You may be too squeamish to admit it, but you know it in your heart. If your plans go awry I will make sure Devereaux does not bother you again – for a price.’