The Sorceror's Revenge by Linda Sole

his conscience smote him.  He had wronged her enough and must listen to her wishes – but he would not give up his son.  The boy must stay with him.
    * * *
     
    Melloria stood with her head held high, her complexion pale.  She looked distant, calm but detached, as if her thoughts were far away.  Robert’s gaze was intense as he searched her face looking for some sign that she had softened towards him.  He saw nothing that gave him hope.
                  ‘You wished to see me, my lord?’
                  ‘Mother Abbess told me that you had remembered her.  Have you also remembered me, Melloria?’
                  ‘Yes, I remember you, Robert.  I remember that I begged you not to leave me but you told me it was important that you attend the prince’s wedding.  You left me when I was close to giving birth to your child – and you left me to die.’
                  ‘No.’  Robert took a step towards her in fierce denial.  ‘Do you think I would have left you had I known that Montroy would attack the castle?’
                  ‘Would you?’  Her clear eyes met his accusingly, just as they had in his tortured dreams.
                  ‘You should know that I would not.  I never dreamed you were at risk.  I have wished a thousand times that I had done things differently…’ He hesitated, then went down on one knee before her.  ‘I beg your pardon most humbly for leaving you.  My dreams have been haunted with the sight of you alone on that moor…’
                  ‘And yet you married again soon after you returned to England.  My sister continued to search for me in the only way she could…you took another wife, who has given you a son.  I believe you owe me some recompense, Robert.’
                  ‘Anything,’ he vowed and rose to his feet.  ‘I beg you, Melloria.  Forgive me and come back to me.  I never ceased to love you.  I married only because I needed an heir.  Rhoda is not my wife.’
                  ‘Rhoda is a pretty name.  You have wronged her, Robert.  You should not have married until you were sure I was dead.  She is within her rights to demand compensation.’
                  ‘I thought a nunnery…’
                  ‘You would make her pay for your sin?’  Melloria’s eyes flashed with contempt, causing him to lower his head in shame.  ‘You must let her choose.’
                  ‘Yes, I shall.’  He moved towards her, holding out his hand in pleading.  ‘Tell me what I must do to win you back, Melloria.’
                  ‘I had another child.  My firstborn daughter was stolen by a woman called Marta.  She was to have placed her in the care of a wet-nurse in the village but she ran away and took the child with her.  My first condition is that you find my child.’
                  ‘It was my intention to continue the search.  I thought once that I might soon have the information I needed but fate conspired against me.  I admit I was at fault.  My marriage was a mistake and I should have continued to search for you and the child.’
                  ‘You murdered a good, honest man.  He saved my life the night our children were born, Robert.  It is true that he let me believe that I was his wife but he used no sorcery to rob me of my memory.’
                  Robert felt a surge of anger.  ‘Do not expect me to apologise for what happened there.  The man was a liar and a thief.  He took something that belonged to me…’
                  ‘Is that what you believe – that I belong to you, as much as your horse or the serfs on your manor?’
                  Looking at her proud, cold face, Robert knew he had made a mistake.  ‘Of course I do not think of you as my horse or a serf.  You are my wife, Melloria.  I