His hand was on her belly, lightly caressing. He said nothing. He let her talk-it would bring her back to him. He felt her give a great shudder, then she stilled.
“Our babe is all right,” she said, lightly laying her hand over his ringers. “He’s all right, don’t worry.”
Severin couldn’t believe this. He shook his head. Marjorie, who hated Hastings, had saved her life? By all that was holy, it was beyond his cornprehension. He sent Hastings up first. It never occurred to him to send up the child first. He wanted Hastings safe. At last.
It took some time to get all of them back to safety.
The instant he was on firm ground, Severin grabbed Hastings, pulled her against him, squeezing her so tightly she knew she heard her ribs groaning. “Never again will I let you out of my sight,” he said, then,
“Never again. I love you but you will fight no more of my battles. Never
*•* *** again. I have decided that if I do not control you, I will die of the strain
of it. Aye, you will remain in our bedchamber. You may mix your herbs but nothing more. Perhaps soon I will allow you to come into the great hall, but only after I have ensured that it is safe for you, only after you have sworn to me that you will never stick a knife in another man’s chest. Well, mayhap that would be acceptable, but you will do no knife sticking next to the edge of a damned cliff.
“Aye, and then you will only leave the great hall if I give you permission and then you will always have me with you. Do you understand me, Hastings? I will not let you out of my sight again. I love you and I will now strangle you. Come, we will go home now and I will strangle you and then the Healer will make certain that our babe is all right.”
She kissed his chin and tried to squeeze him as hard as he was squeezing her. “Just a moment, Severin. Marjorie and Eloise saved me. I must thank them.”
He released her although he didn’t want to. He watched her walk slowly to where Marjorie stood, alone, with Sir Alan some feet away from her, looking at her as if he wanted to consume her. Eloise was clutched against her side, crying. Marjorie was comforting her and doing a fine job of it, Hastings had to admit, though she didn’t particularly
want to.
“You saved me,” Hastings said. “You didn’t have to, yet you did. You grabbed my ankle. You let me know I could fall over and land on the ledge with you. You grabbed me when I fell with de Luci. You didn’t let go. You also saved yourself and Eloise. That was excellent, Marjorie, though it pains me to have to say it. Aye, it was excellent.”
“Thank you, Hastings. I am very tired of all this furor. My heart is still pounding with fright. Come, little sweeting, let me dry your tears. We are all safe and your father is finally dead.” Then Marjorie raised her beautiful eyes to Hastings’s face. She threw back her glorious silvery hair. “I had to save you, I had no choice.”
“When you and Eloise disappeared over the cliff edge, I believed you were killing yourselves.”
“Oh no, I saw the ledge. I prayed, Hastings. I prayed more in those seconds than I have ever prayed in my life. I nearly lost Eloise, but I managed to get her onto the ledge. When I grabbed your ankle, I wanted you to know that we were there and you would be all right. I am glad we managed to hold on to you until Severin came. Since I had my feet beneath that overhang, I was in no danger of being pulled over with you.”
“I hate this,” Hastings said, scuffing the toe of her shoe. “I really do hate this, but I will say it again. Thank you, Marjorie, for saving me. I really didn’t make your nose swell or turn red.”
“I know. It was Lady Moraine. She was trying to protect you. Her punishment gained my respect.”