Dragonblade Trilogy - 03 - The Savage Curtain by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

no other reason than that.  Moreover, you
prayed over the woman for hours.  Did you not tell her that, either?”
    “I did not.”
    “Why?”
    He shrugged. “I did not do those
things so she would admire or revere me. I did not do them for glory. I did
them because they needed to be done and because it was right that I should do
them.”
    Tate sighed faintly, slapping
Stephen on a big shoulder. “I know,” he said in a low voice. “But she might
like to know that her new husband is capable of such compassion.  You are an
accomplished man with an amazing spirit, Stephen. She might like to know that
as well.”
    They entered the cold, dark keep.
“She will know as time allows,” Stephen replied. “She knows that I brought her
the clothing.”
    Tate snorted. “Good Lord, man,
that’s the least of your generosity,” he fell in behind Stephen as they moved
up the narrow stairs. “She should know the character of the man she has
married.”
    They reached the landing. “She
will,” Stephen said, knocking softly on the chamber door.  After several long
seconds and no answer, he knocked again.  Still no answer, he opened the door.
    The room was empty.
     
    ***
     
    The day was sultry and sticky.
The moisture rising up from the river was as thick as a fog, cloaking
everything around it.  In spite of Stephen’s previous order to stay to her
chamber, Joselyn had found her way from the castle and down to the river,
thinking of the family she had lost.  She felt so very alone.  She needed time
to clear her head, far from castles and knights and visions of blood.
    Reaching the damp, sticky grass
that grew in tall clumps around the river’s edge, she found a sandy bar near
the water and plopped down on it, her mind a jumble of grief and fear. Clad in
the lovely cranberry surcoat, she gathered her legs up against her chest,
lowered her face onto her knees, and wept.
    So much of her life had been out
of her control.  The day she went to Carlisle with her father was the worst day
of her life; it had changed everything. Her father had been ashamed of what had
happened but her mother, a sweet simpleton, had coddled and supported her. 
Even when they realized the soldier’s seed had taken root, her mother continued
to protect her fiercely. It was her father who had insisted on keeping her
hidden as her stomach grew large and round, hidden from family and friends
alike.  Her father had told everyone that she was visiting relatives in
Aberdeen when she was really locked up in her bower of Allanton Castle.
    The shame that had been instilled
in her during that time still clung to this day.  Everyone but her mother was
ashamed of her. Now the only person who had never harshly judged her was gone
and she wept painfully for the woman whose mind left her years ago. Joselyn
wept for that sweet woman of memories gone by, of brothers she had once loved,
and for a life that she would never know again. All of the tragic events from
the past few months had overwhelmed her and she felt like she was living
another life, one she did not recognize or like.  It was like hell.
    Something shuffled off to her
right and she looked up to see a doe and fawn, a few feet away, drinking from
the river’s edge.  The doe seemed to be singed from a fire but otherwise seemed
well.  Joselyn’s weeping faded as she watched the two of them drink.  When the
fawn looked in her direction, she slowly lifted her hand to it, clucking
softly.  The doe seemed startled but didn’t bolt; the fawn was genuinely
curious.  Slowly, the little creature came up to her and sniffed her fingers. 
She was able to tickle its nose.
    Enchanted, she forgot her tears
for the moment as the little fawn nibbled on her fingers.  She giggled at the
baby with no teeth trying to nibble on her. The mother seemed more interested
in eating the fat summer grass around the river while the fawn drew closer to
Joselyn.  It was enough of a distraction to cause her to forget her