The Bride's Portion. Susan Paul

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СКАЧАТЬ matter to put it out with only a few buckets of water. Especially after the rains of the night before. And especially because the Eel River ran practically right outside the door of the dwelling involved. Save that it does not run anymore, does it? Thanks to your loving father, the people who lived in that village had to stand by and watch their homes burn to the ground because they didn’t have sufficient water to put out a small, smoking fire.”

      Lillis gazed at him, fighting back tears of both horror and panic. Alexander of Gyer stared at her with growing anger. He grabbed her by both arms and shook her, his voice rising with his fury.

      “Don’t you dare to look at me like that!” Each word was punctuated with a shake. “I don’t want your damned sympathy! I have people who no longer have a roof over their heads and winter coming fast on their heels! I’ve just spent an entire night listening to their children wailing and to them worrying and wondering what they will do to survive. And all because of your father. Your beloved father.” He spat the words at her. “So don’t dare to stand there and have tears in yours eyes, Lillis of Wellewyn. I’ve not an ounce of pity left to spare you.”

      She tried to shake free, but to no avail. Alexander of Gyer held her fast. “I don’t want your pity!” she cried. “Can’t I feel badly about what happened? I’m not the one who dammed the river!”

      “No, you’re not,” he agreed bluntly, releasing her, “but your father did, and you and I are the ones who’ll pay for his sins.”

      There was something very final about his words, about the way he looked at her, and Lillis felt a shiver of apprehension.

      “What—what do you mean?”

      “I mean that I’ve come to a decision, Lillis of Wellewyn, about what I’m going to do with you.”

      That stunned her. He certainly seemed angry enough to hand her over to a violent crowd. The thought terrified her, for she knew very well the painful death she’d suffer. Perhaps she had learned how to be brave in the face of a hundred unruly children, but that was the extent of her courage.

      “Have you?” she managed to say in a shaking whisper.

      “I have,” he said, looking at her directly. “We are going to wed, you and I. The only way that I can get rid of that dam is to have control of the land on which it is built, and the only man who will have control of that land is the man who is your husband. But that man will not be Jason de Burgh, as your father has planned.” He moved closer. “That man will be me.”

      * * *

      Alexander knew he shouldn’t be seeing her now. He was angry, upset and very, very tired. His emotions had frozen like ice, leaving him with nothing but raw anger. Enraged as he was, he couldn’t be anything but unpleasant to her. But he’d ridden all the way to Castle Gyer, after spending the whole night and some of that morning fighting a fire that wouldn’t stop until it had done its damage, thinking of naught but the decision he’d come to.

      They would marry. He and Lillis of Wellewyn. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. It was the perfect solution. They would marry and he would gain control of the lands that came to her through her marriage. He would tear the dam down, settle matters with Jaward and de Burgh, and then let her go. She could go back to Wellewyn, afterward, if she wished. She could go wherever she pleased.

      He’d frightened her that morning, though he hadn’t meant to. He had seen immediately when she’d walked into the room that she was anxious, her face pale and drawn, her eyes circled with the exhaustion of a sleepless night.

      It had been wrong to see her after having told Barbara of his decision—a task that had been most unpleasant—so that he’d greeted Lillis of Wellewyn with doubled anger. Now, watching her lovely face contort with shock, he was deeply sorry for it.

      “You cannot mean that!” she whispered in disbelief.

      “I do. We are going to be married. Tomorrow. There is no other way.”

      “No,” she said, shaking her head, staring at him from wide, panicked eyes, “I will not do it.”

      “You will,” he assured her without malice, turning and walking toward his working table.

      “I’ll not!” she cried from behind him.

      He turned, leaned against the table and folded his arms across his chest. “You will. If you do not, I will ride against Wellewyn with my entire army and utterly destroy it. I will kill every man, woman and child who crosses my path and I will let my men do whatever they wish with whoever survives. Do you understand what it is that I say?”

      She did, he saw. Her eyes widened with horror.

      “I don’t believe you,” she murmured. “You are a man of peace. You could not do such a thing!”

      Alexander was amazed at how cold he was. It was as though he’d died and someone else now lived in his body, someone filled with anger and weariness. “Yesterday I would have agreed with you, my lady, but today I can think of nothing I would enjoy doing more. You may believe what you will about me, but if you do not believe that I shall do as I’ve said then you condemn the people of Wellewyn to their deaths. This I vow before God.”

      “But it—it will not be legal,” she said. He didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice. She looked at him again, a light in her eyes. “It will not be legal!” she repeated triumphantly. “There is no marriage contract. Without a marriage contract approved by both my father and the king, it will not be legal. The land will not be yours.”

      “I have arranged with Father Bartholomew at the monastery for the writing of the marriage contract,” he said. “It will be completed this afternoon, and both you and I shall sign it before witnesses. Tomorrow morn we will have a large wedding and mass, attended by the entire village. You will behave like any other happy bride. You will walk to the altar with me willingly. You will repeat your vows willingly. There will be a celebration feast afterward with music and dancing, and you and I will attend and enjoy ourselves for all to see. The marriage will be consummated on our wedding night. The following day your Edyth will take the evidence of the sheet to Wellewyn, along with the marriage contract, to show Jaward. I should like to see him refuse to recognize the legality of our marriage then.”

      He stopped and smiled at the thought of Jaward’s reaction. How he would love to be there to see the old man’s face when he saw the sheet and read the letter that Alexander would send with it. His beloved daughter ruined and forced into a loveless marriage, his plans for destroying Gyer turned back on him. All in one master stroke. It would be worth any price to be able to see it.

      “I will also send a copy of the marriage contract to the king requesting his approval,” Alexander continued. “I shall have to supply an appropriate excuse for our breach of the law, of course. Perhaps I will tell him that we had to rush the marriage along so that our future child would not be born less than nine months from the wedding date. Would that suit, do you think?”

      If it was possible, Lillis of Wellewyn’s face grew even paler. Her hands trembled noticeably and she stumbled to the nearest chair and dropped into it.

      “You are very angry now,” she whispered. “You’re not thinking clearly. In a day or two you will be able to consider what you’re doing, and see how wrong it is. I beg you, Alexander of Gyer, do not do this thing.”

      He hoped she was right. He hoped he would be СКАЧАТЬ