He now knew that he need worry about her no longer.
She leaned up and bit his shoulder. He probably believed it a loving gesture, but it wasn’t. She wished she could bite him to the bone for what had come out of her mouth. Unplanned, all of it unplanned, just because he’d awakened her, loving her, making her lose herself in the passion, in the closeness to him.
She bit him again. He reared up on his elbows, looking down at her. “You must give me a few minutes before I can pleasure you again, Hastings,” he said, rolled off her, and within moments she heard his deep, even breathing. He’d come to her simply because she was here and available to him. But why hadn’t he gone to Marjorie? He’d drunk the love potion, after all. Surely it was Marjorie he wanted, only Marjorie, yet he’d come to her. She was already carrying a babe. Why?
She, lackwit that she was, she’d opened herself to him, given herself completely over to him, told him she loved him. She was an incredible fool.
She cursed. It was the use of the animal parts that made her feel better.
28
ALICE SAW MARJORIE PACING BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND forth, in front of Hastings’s bedchamber.
She stepped down a few steps and waited. What did the woman want? She heard the thick oak door open, heard voices.
It was Lord Severin. She heard the door pulled shut.
It was the master Marjorie had been waiting for. Alice wasn’t surprised, but she did think that the woman was luckier than she deserved. What would she have done if Hastings had come out or if they’d come out together? Ah, but that one was just full of stories and her wits worked quickly.
Without hesitation, Alice pressed herself against the solar stair wall, making no sound, and listened.
“I have waited for you, Severin.”
“It is very early, Marjorie. What is it you wish?”
“I wish for us to ride to the beach. The morning is warm, the sun bright. I wish to speak of the future.”
Alice thought she’d choke. The bitch, the damnable bitch. Coming right out with it. She sounded utterly confident. Mayhap, Alice thought, she should get some of the love potion for herself from the Healer. Marjorie certainly believed it worked. Just listen to her. Alice would pour a goblet of it into Beamis’s ale, the blind oaf.
She heard a deep sigh from Lord Severin. Fight against it, she wanted to shout at him, but she held her tongue, hearing him say at last, “Very well.”
She heard Marjorie’s skirts swish, and she heard a quiet moan. The woman was kissing him or caressing him with her hand, Alice didn’t know which. She began to whistle, very loudly, and clopped up the few stairs.
The noises stopped.
Lord Severin was standing with his back against the closed bedchamber door when Alice came into view. He was holding Marjorie away from him. At least he still had some shame or perhaps the potion wasn’t such a miracle after all.
“Good morning, my lord,” Alice said, sounding happy as a gull who’d just snaffled a fish from the sea. She merely nodded to Marjorie. “Is Hastings awake, my lord? I wish to speak to her.”
“Hastings is within. She is grinding some felwort, she told me.”
“Then I will see to her.” Alice knocked on the door, did not wait for a reply, and walked in, still whistling.
She didn’t close the door completely, and remained close, listening. She held her finger over her lips when Hastings looked up and opened her mouth to speak.
“I must speak to you, Severin. Away from here. Away from her. Come with me now.”
Alice began to whistle loudly. She clopped her feet right next to the door.
Then she flung the door open. “Ah, my lady wishes to speak to you, my lord. The Healer gave her a mixture of herbs to feed to the marten. It will complete his healing.”
Hastings just stared. Then she saw Marjorie standing next to her husband, just outside the bedchamber door.
She called out, her voice as cold as the frozen water in the jugs during winter, “My lord, do you have Trist?”
The marten poked his head out of Severin’s tunic. Severin merely looked down at Marjorie, raised his hand, then lowered it. “Aye, here he is. I’m bringing him.”
Once Severin had left the bedchamber, leaving Trist sniffing in the various open jars of herbs, Alice grabbed Hastings’s sleeve. “She attacked him, Hastings. I saw it. It is she who searches him out. Not the other way around.”
“He did not push her away, did he?”
“Don’t sound like a beaten dog! I know you believe the love potion makes him unable to resist her, but I don’t believe it. He did resist her. I heard him speak. He sounded like he just wanted to get away from her. Listen to me, Hastings, Severin’s mother, Dame Agnes, and I have all discussed it, and we’ve decided that it is time to take care of Marjorie once and for all.”
“Kill her?” Her voice was wistful, then she shook her head. “I cannot do that. I would like to, but I cannot. The king would be displeased if he had to find Eloise another guardian.”
Alice laughed. “That was a good jest, Hastings. Perhaps your humors are returning to their proper balance. No, it is not our idea to lay an axe on her neck. No, we want you to do something else. Something very basic, well, perhaps more than basic. Lady Moraine said it was the most elemental of strategies and the most advanced of strategies as well. Now, tell me what you think of our idea.”
A shadow fell over her columbine. His voice, deep and smooth, said, “I must punish you, Hastings.”
She whirled about so quickly she fell on her bottom. She had pulled up a primrose by accident he had startled her so. “Oh, dear, I would not have picked it so soon. But still, it is very lovely.” She began stroking the primrose as if she were its lover. Severin stared at that damned flower and felt his loins tighten. She stared up at him. “I don’t wish to be punished, Severin. I wish you would go off and fight with one of our neighbors or join the king against the Scots or the Welsh. Surely that would take your mind off me.”
He appeared to ponder that quite seriously. “There are no enemies right now of any count. Aye, you’re right, long stretches of peace are difficult. Do not you fear that I might fall in a battle?”
She hadn’t thought of that when the words jumped out of her mouth. “Nay, I do not wish you to get hurt. I might not be near enough to you to heal you.”
“It pleases me that you do not want me dead.”
“You are known. Why would I prefer the unknown?”
He pictured another man as her husband. It didn’t please Severin, particularly if he were dead. “You have spoken all around the core of the apple, Hastings. It must be done. Do not try to dissuade me.”
“No, I shan’t try that. You are more single-minded than Gilbert the goat. Ah, you have the rope, Severin?”
He shook his head. “Nay, my father always said that a man should not repeat his punishments. To use your own words, it is the matter of the known as opposed to the unknown. The fear of a punishment diminishes if it is known. Damn you, Hastings. Don’t you dare pretend that I’m abusing you. You know that I put off punishing you until after the stitches were cut out of you. You know that you deserve it. You escaped Oxborough, put yourself in grave danger, and wasted my time finding you.”
“That is my biggest crime, is it not? Wasting your valuable time?”
“Give over, Hastings. I will not allow you to anger me, not today.”
“Why not today? Perhaps you are riding with Marjorie? Mayhap to the beach where you can discuss the future? You want to be certain that your bile is sweet and gently flowing?”
How did she know what Marjorie had said? Alice, doubtless Alice had overheard them. He shook his head and lightly laid his hand on her shoulder. “No, I do not have the time. I asked her if she would like Gwent to accompany her, but she refused. I suppose I must speak to her soon, however.”
He did not sound like a man so smitten by passion that his eyes were nearly crossed with it. No, he merely sounded harassed. May
hap Alice had been right. Mayhap the love potion didn’t work. She brightened. Mayhap their plan would also work. She was still a bit taken aback that it was her mother-in-law who had decided upon this particular advanced strategy. She had no particular faith in it, but she would try. By Saint Ethelbert’s elbows, she would certainly enjoy trying. She was more adept now. She knew what to do. There would be no fumbling about, no guessing. She would know quickly enough if it was working.
“Why do you look so pleased with yourself when I am trying to decide on how to punish you?”
She lightly stroked the primrose against her cheek. Like the softest velvet, she thought. Rich enough for the king himself. She looked up at him through her lashes. “I enjoyed your mouth on me last night, Severin.”
He froze to the spot. He was staring at her mouth.
“Aye, and when you came inside me and I pushed my hips up against you, you came deeper and deeper. You made me want to weep with the pleasure that you—my husband and known to me—gave me.”
He ran his tongue over his lips. He was still staring at her mouth. “You are with child,” he said finally.
“Aye, were I not, then I would be now. You were inside of me, Severin, inside my body, touching my womb. It is a feeling that makes me want to hold you even now and stroke you with my hands and bring you into me again. I am truly sorry that you have no time.”
“By Saint Eggbert’s nose, you will kill me with your thoughts. Nay, continue to think, it will not harm me, but perhaps it isn’t wise for you to speak your thoughts aloud. What did you say you wanted me to do to you?”
“It’s what I want to do to you. Let me touch you with my mouth again just as you touched me last night. Remember when I held you in my hand and wouldn’t let you go?”
He actually shook as she spoke. “Aye, I remember. I would have laughed had I not hurt so much. I remember that first time you took me into your mouth. It”—he swallowed, feeling awash with lust—“pleased me.”
She rose slowly, gently laying the primrose against his chest. She pressed herself against him. She slipped her hand between them and found him. He was already hard as the wooden stake that held up her irises.
She outlined him with her fingers. “I should like to do that again, Severin. Soon now, very soon.”
He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He thought he’d die. “Do what exactly?”
“My hands on you, my mouth on you, everything.”
He grabbed her wrist. He pulled her hand away, but he didn’t want to. By Saint Elbert’s toes, he didn’t want to. “Many of our people are doubtless watching.”
She leaned up on her tiptoes, whispering into his mouth, her hands clasped behind his neck, “Take me into the forest and punish me as you will there.”
His dark blue eyes dilated.
Lady Moraine and Alice stood on the narrow ramparts, watching Hastings and Lord Severin ride from the castle. Alice laughed. “They are riding so hard their mounts must believe they are going into battle.”
“Aye, a battle of sorts. They are going to the forest, just as we’d hoped. Hastings asked us why our strategy is always the same—well, a bit more skill we are requiring of her now—but still the end is always the same.” Lady Moraine just shook her head. “She is very young, but she is learning. I liked what you told her, Alice.”
“Aye,” Alice said, looking quite smug. “It is true. Men are simple in their needs and wants. Coming into a woman is the first thought in their heads in the morning and the last thought in their heads at night. Once Hastings has mastered that, she will seldom have another frown from your son.”
“That is true,” Lady Moraine said. “And I am pleased that she loves Severin. Oh aye, Alice, she loves him very much. She would not be able to employ the strategy if she did not love him. As for him, well, we’ll see. A man is very different from us. Love doesn’t come to him all of a moment. He must exercise his lust, ruminate upon all facets of his situation. He must be made comfortable in what he has before he can come to appreciate it with his heart as well as his head. Now, watch your step, Alice. The wind is heavy and could blow you off.”
Alice gripped the wooden railing on the inside of the ramparts’ walk. “Saint Peter’s bones, I know Hastings will succeed. She will also enjoy herself immensely.”
“It pleases me that she agreed to our plan even when she was certain that Severin was bedding Marjorie. She is very hardheaded, my daughter-in-law.”
“As you said, she loves your son. Doubtless, when they are not shrieking at each other, she also enjoys his man’s body. I also believe that the Healer made a mistake. That potion didn’t blind Severin to all save Marjorie. I vow he doesn’t have a thought for her.”
“Thank the Lord for that. I wonder how he will punish Hastings.”
Alice laughed so loud, Auric, one of the men-at-arms on guard at the corner tower, stared over at them. Alice raised her hand and waved at him. He gave her a wide grin, showing his remaining six teeth.
Hastings and Severin did not return until it was time for the dinner meal. They tried to slip up the solar stairs unnoticed, but it didn’t work. Gwent shouted, “My lord, the wind has died down. The temperature has dropped. A storm is blowing up. Beamis agrees with me. All the horses and other animals are safely in their sheds. Most all our people are already within the great hall, as you can see, as they can see you. As everyone who is not blind can see you and Hastings.”
Hastings tugged on his hand, grinning up at him. “We are the butt of their jests, my lord,” she said.
“You have twigs and leaves in your hair, your gown is ripped beneath your right arm—”
“That was the arm that reached nearly everything of interest, my lord,” she said, and giggled again. “Remember when you had me reach up and hold to that branch over my head? I believe that is when it ripped.” She raised her hand and pulled a leaf from his dark hair.
He wanted to tug at his tunic, to swipe at his hair, but he forced himself to be still.
“Mayhap, my lord,” Beamis called out, “you wish time to bathe before we eat?”
“Their jests become riper,” Hastings said as she picked a leaf out of her own tangled hair.
“Alice,” Severin called out, “serve ale. It will close the mouths of these louts.”
When Severin and Hastings walked into the great hall close to an hour later, it was to loud singing, laughter, Edgar the wolfhound barking loudly as he chased after a bone one of the men-at-arms threw for him, and several amorous bouts, the most interesting between Belle and the armorer. “I wonder if there is a drop of ale left at Oxborough,” Hastings said, grinning up at her husband.
He paused a moment, oblivious of the nearly sixty people, all watching them now. “I have yet to punish you, Hastings.” He lightly touched his fingers to her cheek. She turned her head and kissed his palm.
“Mayhap you should wait until our child is born.”
He lightly touched her stomach. “Give me a curve here, Hastings. Something to show me that my child is within.”
“Soon,” she said. “Soon.”
They took their chairs, answering jests coming from Gwent and Beamis. Hastings started to take a bite of her stewed onions and cabbage when Severin grabbed her hand. “It must be tasted first.”
He turned to Marjorie. “Give Hastings your trencher and you take hers.”
Marjorie looked pinched. Her face was pale, her eyes darkened with pain, with deep anger—Hastings didn’t know—but she said nothing. Eloise was silent and slouched down in her chair beside her.
“Give her your goblet also.”
Marjorie continued silent, simply doing as he bade.
The laughter and jests continued long after the sun set, the storm blew in, and the wind howled around the castle, making the tapestries billow against the stone walls that faced the sea.
“You have won.”
Hastings drank the last of her wine before turning to Marjorie. “Won?” she repeated slowly. S
everin was in close conversation with Gwent, Trist on his shoulder. “Won? This was never a contest, Marjorie. Severin is my husband, not yours. The love potion you stole from my bedchamber did not work. Listen to me. I merely want peace again. I want my husband with me. I don’t even want you dead. I merely want you gone from Oxborough.”
Marjorie was staring hard at Hastings. “I have studied you. You are comely, but no more than that. I am more beautiful than any other lady I have ever seen. Severin wanted me, adored me, gawked at me even. He kissed me, touched me, caressed me until I opened myself to him. Even though you used your body to distract him today, it should not have worked. Oh aye, his crazy mother delighted in telling me that he had taken you into the forest. To frolic, she said, and she laughed at me. He should have gone with me, not you. I do not understand.”
“Mayhap there are qualities Severin cherishes other than just a beautiful face and silvery hair. Mayhap there is honor and caring. Mayhap he got a glimpse of your insides, Marjorie. Did you try to poison me?”
She shrugged, picked up a piece of warm bread, and began to chew on it. “We will return to Sedgewick on the morrow.”
“I will be pleased to see the back of you.”
“Would be that you had drunk from the goblet and not dropped it. Would that the marten had died.”
Hastings was on her knees, pulling weeds from between her lupines and her foxgloves. She was humming. The air was fresh from the storm the night before. The sun was high in the sky.
And Marjorie was gone. Thank the good Lord.
She sat back on her heels, a weed in her hand, shaking it free of rich, black dirt. Severin had spoken quietly to Marjorie before he’d lifted her onto her palfrey’s back.
What had he said to her?
She tossed the weed over her shoulder and gently pushed a stake more deeply into the ground. She tied the iris closer to the stake with a short length of thick wool thread. The columbine was blooming madly, bright yellow flowers. She would begin harvesting them soon. She turned at a soft mewling sound.
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