was to kill Severin. You would have realized that if you had but used that brain of yours that must lie beneath that beautiful hair.”
Marjorie was silent for a very long time. Finally, she nodded, saying, “Aye, I suppose I did know it, but you see, he promised me, Hastings. He promised he wouldn’t kill Severin. He promised he would give Severin to me and a lot of gold so that we could live in France.”
“But Severin would still be the lord of Oxborough.”
“Not if-”
“De Luci will kill him. I care not about myself. If you can, save Severin. Take him to France. Take him anywhere, just save him.”
Marjorie gave her a twisted smile. “You are weak, Hastings, begging me to save Severin. I doubt he would beg me to save you. Have you not seen that men are greedy creatures? They think only of themselves, only how to make themselves more important. But Severin, I had believed he
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was different. Aye, he wanted all your father’s possessions, but only because he wanted to save his father’s devastated lands and keep and take care of that miserable mad mother of his.
“But now I see that he has changed. He has grown accustomed to the power that wedding you brought him. He will become as greedy and selfish as the rest of them.”
“He is not selfish and you know it, Marjorie. Now, why did you not tell de Luci that I carried Severin’s child?”
Marjorie shrugged. “I started then to change my mind. It is something he doesn’t know. Perhaps I will find a way to make use of it. I don’t have much of anything, but that is something. I know you will not tell him.”
“Stop this blindness, Marjorie. Just stop it. De Luci intends to kill Severin. If he doesn’t, then he will have no chance of ever gaining anything. ”
“Do not be too certain of that,” Marjorie said. “There are other ways.”
Hastings started to demand what she meant when Ibac suddenly appeared in the doorway. “The child fetched me. My lord told me the moment Lady Hastings recovered she was to come to the great hall.” He gave Hastings a worried look. “Can you walk? Shall I carry you?”
Hastings shook her head and slowly, very slowly, rose, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She was dizzy, but it was passing. She felt weak and wondered how long she had been unconscious. Eloise appeared in the doorway, a goblet in her hand.
Marjorie took the goblet and gave it to Hastings. “It will give you strength. Drink it.”
“More poison, Marjorie?”
Ibac sucked in his breath, staring at the beautiful silver-haired woman with consternation. Like every other man-at-arms, he’d looked at her as he would look at a statue of the Virgin Mary, with reverent awe. What was this about poison? No, surely the Lady Hastings was wrong.
Marjorie said nothing, merely smiled as Hastings drank from the
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goblet. It was goat’s milk, sweet and strong. She felt strength flowing back into her body. Trist, who had been lying beside her, now jumped onto her shoulder.
Ibac stayed close, his hand up, ready to steady her, but Hastings wasn’t going to collapse. No, she was thinking furiously. Severin had to be all right. She had to think of a way to save him.
The great hall of Sedgewick had blackened beams, greasy, scarred trestle tables, benches that were so filthy she didn’t want to sit on one. The rushes smelled stale. The vague odor of urine hung in the air. A half dozen wolfhounds lay in the matted rushes near the huge fireplace. How long had Richard de Luci been here? More than a week, she guessed, for everything to be so filthy and neglected. Sir Alan would have never allowed that.
In the lord’s chair sat Richard de Luci.
She called out, “Where is Sir Alan? ”
De Luci merely smiled at her. “In the dungeon with your husband and his men that were here at Sedgewick. A pity he didn’t die of the sweating sickness, but he survived intact. He hasn’t enjoyed my dungeon. Come here now, Hastings, and let me look at you.”