Sanctuary of Roses (17 page)

The memory struck Madelyne with the force of
a gale wind and she could not help the smile that burst over her
face. “Judith? ’Tis you?” Before she could speak further, she was
enveloped by her childhood friend in an exuberant embrace and she
felt tension ease from her body.

Judith stepped away, holding her by the
fingertips, and appraised her bluntly. “Aye, Maddie, how you’ve
grown into a beautiful woman! But we must do away with your
clothing!”

Before Madelyne could protest that she had
much too much with fussing over her dress, Judith spurred into
action and began to issue firm, simple commands. “Fetch you my
ribbons and girdles trunk, Mellie,” she said to a maidservant who’d
accompanied her. “Onda, I will need to see Mistress Blaine—send to
her to see us before the midday meal.” Thus, each of the companions
were sent away—including Tricky and Peg, who wished to accompany
Onda on her mission—and the two women were left alone.

“At last,” Judith said, casting her a bright
smile.

“Please, sit,” Madelyne found her voice and
was determined to regain control over her future. She would gladly
admit her deficiency in fashion and dress, and capitulate to those
who knew better. But in other matters, she would not be overruled.
Before she had a chance to speak and establish this, Judith waved a
hand at her as she plopped onto the bed.

“I trow, ’tis most difficult to think up
excuses to send them away that they do not wonder why I should be
so urgent in the matter. ’Tis just that I wished for a moment alone
with you—as you are guarded by that little dragon—to speak on these
long years.” Her face, beautiful in its own right, softened from
the smile into one of quiet sadness. “Dear Maddie, you cannot know
how ill I felt when I learned you’d been drowned these ten years
past. And you cannot know the hope I felt when Gavin shared that
he’d found you yet alive.”

At the mention of Gavin, Madelyne felt an
odd wrench in her stomach and she stood abruptly. This beautiful
woman, with the red-gold beacon of a head and sparkling green eyes,
was the one he’d told her to seek if she needed assistance. She
spoke of him with familiarity and warmth, and though she shouldn’t
care, Madelyne couldn’t keep back the unhappy thought of what
Judith of Kentworth meant to Gavin of Mal Verne.

“Lord Gavin told me I should seek you out
should I need assistance, but I did not know that it was you of
whom he spoke,” she replied carefully.

“How did he come to find you? How did you
come to be alive?”

Madelyne gave a simple version of the escape
she and her mother had made ten years earlier, careful to repeat
the tale that Lady Anne had perished some years after reaching the
abbey. “Lord Gavin came upon the abbey which had been our refuge,
and after the sisters treated his wounds and those of his men, we
released them.” She thought it best not to refer to the trick she’d
played on Gavin. “’Twas only a fortnight later that he returned
with an order from the king demanding my presence at court.” She
looked questioningly at Judith. “I do not know why his majesty has
ordered an audience with me.”

A flash of surprise flitted across Judith’s
face. “King Henry has requested your presence? But Gavin told me—”
She stopped abruptly and bit her lower lip. For a moment, she
looked uncertain, and Madelyne watched her steadily, her heart
freezing.

Then Judith clapped her hands together in
chagrin. “’Tis always my loose tongue that puts me into the fire!”
She shook her head, and a thick coppery braid swung around, falling
over her shoulder.

“What did Lord Gavin tell you?” Madelyne
asked with a calmness she did not feel.

Judith sat upright on the curtained bed,
still gnawing at her lower lip. “He came to me to ask if I recalled
the markings on your wrist,” she gestured to Madelyne’s left hand,
the wrist barely exposed by the tight sleeve of her undertunic.
“’Tis how he came to recognize you, if you did not know.”

Madelyne inclined her head, trying to subdue
the churning in her middle. “What concern was it to him?”

“Your father and Gavin of Mal Verne are
sworn enemies,” Judith told her, her eyes wide and solemn. “Gavin
has vowed to crush Fantin de Belgrume, and he has the support of
the king in this.”

“King Henry has given his permission that
Lord Gavin should kill my father?”

“Nay, not to kill him—’though, in truth,
methinks Gavin would not hesitate to do so should he have a
permissible reason. His majesty wishes only that de Belgrume, who
has waged reckless war on other barons to steal their lands, should
be brought under control.”

It suddenly became clear to Madelyne how
she’d been manipulated. “Lord Gavin has brought me to the king to
suit his own purposes then,” she said flatly. “The king has not
requested my presence—’twas only to suit Mal Verne that he has done
so.”

Judith must have seen the coldness that
settled over Madelyne’s features, for she reached out to touch her
friend’s hand. “Maddie, Gavin does not mean you any harm—”

Madelyne drew away. “I do not know that. I
do know that I’m here against my will, having been taken from the
sanctuary in which I sought refuge—in which I was happy—for years.
In this world, this man’s world, I lose the freedoms I had in the
abbey: the freedom to write and read, to manage my own affairs
within the abbey, and the freedom to answer to no man except the
king—who knew me not until Lord Gavin blazoned my presence to
him.”

She wrapped her arms around her waist,
fighting the fear and anger that swarmed her. She had been a fool
to believe the man meant her no harm…a fool to consider that a man
might have more than his own interests at heart. Lady Anne had
warned her over many years…and every word her mother had spoken had
flown away in the presence of Gavin of Mal Verne.

“I am to be used, then, to bring my father
to heel—or to his death.” Her voice was dull and her mind numb.
“Then Lord Gavin spoke true when he named me hostage. I am to be a
tool, a carrot to dangle in my father’s face.” All hope of
returning to her private, simple life at the abbey disintegrated,
and she stood abruptly, moving to look out of a small arrow-slit
window.

“Madelyne—” But before Judith could finish
her sentence, a rap sounded at the door, followed by the
announcement that the maidservants had returned.

Madelyne turned to answer it, pausing with
her hand on the leather strap. “For what reason does Lord Gavin
seek such destruction of my father?”

For the first time, Judith’s eyes shuttered
and her face lost its inherent glow. “He seeks to avenge a wrong he
believes your father has done me, and to atone for Gavin’s own
perceived sins toward me. And…for the other cause he has to hate
your father—you will have to ask Gavin yourself.”

* * *

Although Madelyne pressed her for more
information regarding Gavin’s relationship with her father, Judith
did not feel she should divulge more details. She would do nothing
to promote Gavin’s own feelings of guilt.

She made certain to remain in Madelyne’s
chamber until dinner, so that she could escort her proud friend to
the hall where the meals took place. She’d been pleasantly
surprised that Gavin had arranged a private chamber for her, but
vexed that he had not visited his charge since leaving her there
the day before. Thus, Madelyne had not ventured from the room, and
had relied on her maids Patricka and Peg to procure bread, cheese,
and wine for her meals.

“You must be starved!” she exclaimed when
she learned of Maddie’s simple fare.

Shaking her head, Madelyne replied with a
quiet smile, “Nay, Judith, I am most content with the simple meals,
for that is how we supped in the abbey. ’Tis true, I may find
myself more overwhelmed than comfortable in the royal court.” A
glint of humor lit her luminous eyes and Judith smiled in
return.

She patted her lightly on the cheek.
“Maddie, somehow I sense that you shall garner strength and
boldness that you did not know you have when confronted by the
whirlwind of the court. At the least, you shall have myself, who
knows much of what goes on here—and what I do not know, I most
usually can learn.” She took a last, appraising look at Madelyne,
who, with her help, had shed her outdated gown and was garbed in a
more stylish mode of clothing.

Madelyne was an exceptionally beautiful
woman, Judith thought to herself—not for the first time. With her
fair, smooth skin and midnight dark hair, she would likely cause a
stir among the queen’s ladies—as well as among the noblemen and
men-at-arms who were part of the court. Now that she wore more
fashionable clothing, the snipes and darts borne from jealousy
would not carry the added sting of belittling her clothing or
branding her a country mouse.

Judith had chosen an emerald green undergown
from her own wardrobe for Madelyne to wear. Although she’d
initially balked at the form-fitting skirt that laced up the side
and along the sleeves, Madelyne had acquiesced and now wore that,
covered by a floor-length overtunic of sapphire blue. Onda,
Judith’s tiring maid, had shown Peg and Tricky the intricacies of
braiding Maddie’s thick dark hair and looping it in stylish snoods
over each ear. The snoods also belonged to Judith, and they
sparkled with tiny gold beads nestled against the black masses of
braids.

“Absolutely breathtaking,” Judith told her,
cocking her wrist to place a forefinger on her pert chin. “You will
turn every head, and they will wonder who you are.”

Madelyne blanched, her hands going
automatically to touch her hair. “But I do not wish to attract
attention!”

“Now, Maddie,” Judith chided, linking an arm
with her, “you cannot hide your beauty, and you shall soon be known
to all anyway…so ’tis best to do it under your own terms. Come, we
mustn’t be late.”

Brushing aside the unhappy expression on
Madelyne’s face, Judith propelled them out of the chamber, leaving
the maids to scurry behind in their wake.

Upon reaching the hall where the masses of
people who followed the royal court ate their meals, Judith paused,
stretching onto her toes to look over the gathering. She hoped to
spot Gavin and insist that he sit with them at table, or, at the
least, that he settle them in a place near the royal dais. Aside of
that, she intended to sharpen her tongue on him for leaving
Madelyne to her own devices. A sigh caught at her, and Judith
lowered from the balls of her feet onto her heels. She meant to
take Gavin to task—if she found him—but their relationship was
tenuous and fraught with tension, and ’twas likely he’d only turn
cold and blank and proceed to act unerringly the gentleman,
accepting the reprimand and his fault in the matter.

Her lips pursed. If only he’d show some
emotion other than anger or blankness! Judith squeezed Maddie’s
hand and began to pull her through the crowd, heading toward the
royal dais. There had been a time when Gavin laughed and joked, and
his face warmed with smiles and caring…a time before Nicola, before
Gregory…and before Fantin de Belgrume.

She threaded her way between the rows of
tables, tugging Madelyne behind her. Suddenly, she felt the cool
fingers slip from hers, and Judith stopped, turning about. “Maddie,
are you—” She swallowed her words when she saw Gavin standing
there, his face dark and unreadable as ever.

Madelyne had frozen and, having drawn her
hand away from Judith, had folded her hands demurely over her
waist. “Why, Lord Gavin, ’tis a surprise to see you. I thought you
must have left the court.”

Her words, quiet, calm, and without a hint
of rancor, delighted Judith and made it unnecessary for her to make
the selfsame point to him. The kitten does have claws, she thought,
hiding a smile.

He gave a small bow, his gaze traveling over
Madelyne from head to toe, then flickering to Judith. “I see that
you are none the worse for your first day at court,” he replied
mildly, returning his attention to Maddie.

Judith stepped toward him, taking his arm
with a firm grip. She looked up into his face and directed a bright
smile laced with temper at him. “Madelyne had not ventured from her
chamber since yestereve, and I bethought ’twas nigh time she found
her way to sup with the rest of us.”

Gavin had the grace to show a bit of shame
as he made another slight bow to Madelyne, offering her his arm.
“Many apologies, my lady,” he said. “I did not mean to leave you
unattended for so long, but my services were required elsewhere and
I would have sent word had I known how long I was to be
occupied.”

Madelyne glanced at his proffered arm, but
made no move to take it. Instead, she cast a cool smile at him and
responded, “Do you not fear, my lord, ’twas not your presence that
I felt lacking, but the desire to sup on more than bread and
cheese. With Lady Judith to assist me in that, I should only need
from you an introduction to his majesty, and you shall need to
dance attendance upon me no further. Unless I am to play some
momentous role in your vengeance upon my father?”

Judith swallowed back an exclamation of
surprise at her friend’s direct and powerful censure, and looked at
Gavin. His countenance remained stone-like and immovable as always,
although she saw a flare of surprise widen his eyes for a brief
instant before he turned a frigid gaze onto herself. “You have ever
the loose tongue, do you not, Judith?” Annoyance set in his face
and his lips firmed into chiseled marble.

Then he turned back to their companion.
“Lady Madelyne, I will be pleased to see that you are made known to
his majesty. As to your role in the vengeance that I will have upon
your father…it remains to be seen how you will figure there. Now,
ladies, with your permission, I will escort you to your seats and I
will leave you to your own devices.”