The Velvet Promise (43 page)

The girl came fully awake. "I would do anything."

"Good," Alice smiled. "Then listen to me carefully."

Judith woke from a sound sleep to a faint scraping at the door. She stretched out her arm before she opened her eyes, only to find Gavin's side of the bed empty. She sat up, knitting her brows, then remembered he'd said something about saying good-bye to Stephen.

The scratching at the door continued. Joan, who often stayed with her mistress when Gavin was away, wasn't in the room. Reluctantly, Judith threw the covers back and slipped her arms into the emerald-green velvet of her bedrobe. "What is it?" she asked as she opened the door to a servant girl.

"I don't know, my lady," the girl said with a smirk. "I was told that you were needed and must come straightaway."

"Who said this? My husband?"

The girl shrugged in reply.

Judith frowned. The court crawled with anonymous messages, and all of them seemed to lead to places she did not care to be. Yet perhaps her mother needed her. More likely Gavin was too drunk to mount the stairs and she must help him. She smiled at the thought of the tongue-lashing she would give him.

She followed the girl down the dark stone stairs to the floor below. It seemed darker than usual; some of the torches on the walls hadn't been lit.

Cut within the twelve-foot-thick walls were dreary rooms, not favored by the nobler guests. The servant girl stopped before one of these rooms that lay near the steep circular stairwell.

The girl gave Judith a look that she didn't understand, then disappeared into the darkness. Judith was aggravated at this skulking about and meant to say so when a woman's voice caught her attention.

"Gavin," the woman whispered loudly.

It was a whisper of passion. Judith could only remain frozen in place.

Tinder was struck and a candle lit. Judith could see clearly then. Alice, her thin, bony body nude from the waist up, lay half under Gavin. The candlelight revealed his bronze skin to advantage—there was none of it hidden. He lay on his stomach, his bare legs covering Alice's.

"No!" Judith whispered, her hand to her mouth, her eyes blurring with tears. She wanted it to be a nightmare, but it was not. He had lied to her, over and over again. And she had come so close to believing him!

She backed away from them, Gavin not moving, Alice holding the candle, watching Judith, smiling at her from her position under Gavin.

"No!" was all Judith could say. She moved farther and farther back, unaware of the staircase with no railing.

Her feet unsteady, Judith was not even conscious at first that she stepped into midair. She screamed as she fell down one step, then two, then five. Frantically, she clawed at the air, screaming again as her body fell sideways and missed the stairs altogether. Judith hit the floor below with a horrible thud, her fall finally cushioned by the pallet of one of King Henry's knights.

"What was that?" Gavin asked in a slurred voice as he raised his head.

"It was nothing," Alice murmured, her heart beating quickly with pure joy. Perhaps the woman had killed herself and Gavin would truly be Alice's once again.

Gavin raised himself on one elbow. "My God! Alice! What are you doing here?" His eyes roamed over her nude body. The only thought that occurred to him was that he had not realized she was so scrawny. There was no desire for that body he had once loved.

Alice's joy was killed by the look in Gavin's eyes. "You do… not remember?" Her words were halting. She was truly stunned by Gavin's reaction. She had been so certain that once she held him again, he would be hers.

Gavin frowned at her. He had been drunk, true—but not so drunk that he didn't remember the night. He knew full well that he hadn't gone to Alice's bed, nor had he asked her to his.

His accusations were ready, but suddenly the great hall on the floor below them was alive with light and noise. Men shouted to each other.

Then a bellow that fair shook the rafters rose: "Montgomery!"

Gavin was out of the bed in one swift movement, hastily throwing his tunic over his head. He took the steps two at a time, but he stopped at the last turn of the spiral staircase. Judith lay just below him on a pallet, her auburn hair in a tangled mass about her head, one leg bent under her. For a moment, his heart stopped.

"Don't touch her!" he said with a low growl as he leaped the last steps and knelt beside her. "How?" he murmured as he touched her hand, then felt for the pulse at her neck.

"She seems to have fallen down the stairs," Stephen said as he knelt next to his sister-in-law.

Gavin looked up and saw Alice on the landing, her robe clutched about her, smiling slightly. Gavin felt there was something missing in the puzzle but he had no time to search for it.

"The physician has been sent for," Stephen said as he held Judith's hand. She didn't open her eyes.

The physician came slowly, dressed in a rich fur-collared robe. "Give me room," he demanded. "I must look for broken bones."

Gavin moved back and watched the man run his hands over Judith's limp body. Why? How? Gavin kept wondering. What was she doing on the stairs in the middle of the night? His eyes went back to Alice. The woman stood quietly, avid interest on her face, as the doctor examined Judith.

The room where Gavin awakened to find himself in bed with Alice was at the head of the stairs. He felt the blood drain from his face as he glanced again at his wife. Judith had seen him in bed with Alice! She had backed away, probably too upset to look where she was going, and had fallen. But how had she known where he was? Only if someone had told her where to look.

"No bones seem to be broken," the physician said. "Take her to her bed and let her rest."

Gavin murmured a prayer of thanksgiving, then bent and lifted his wife's limp form. The crowd of people around them gasped when he held her. The pallet and her gown were soaked with blood.

"She miscarries the child," Queen Elizabeth said at Gavin's elbow.

"Carry her above. I will have my own midwife look at her."

Gavin could feel the warmth of Judith's blood on his arm through the sleeves of his tunic. A strong hand was placed on his shoulder, and he knew without looking that Stephen was there.

"My lady!" Joan gasped when Gavin entered the room carrying Judith.

"I just now returned and she was gone. She has been hurt!" Joan's voice showed the love she had for her mistress. "Will she be all right?"

"We don't know," Stephen answered.

Gavin gently put his wife on the bed.

"Joan," Queen Elizabeth said. "Fetch warm water from the kitchen and clean linen."

"Linen, Your Majesty?"

"For absorbing the blood. She miscarries the baby. When you have the linen, fetch Lady Helen. She will want to be with her daughter."

"My poor lady," Joan whispered. "She wanted this child so much."

There were tears in her voice as she left the room.

"Go now," Elizabeth urged as she turned back to the two men. "You must leave her. You are of no use. We will see to her."

Stephen put his arm around his brother's shoulders but Gavin shrugged it away. "No, Your Majesty, I won't go. Had I been with her tonight, she wouldn't have been hurt."

Stephen started to speak but Elizabeth stopped him. She knew it would be no use. "You may stay." She nodded to Stephen and he departed.

Gavin stroked Judith's forehead as he looked up at the queen. "Tell me what to do."

"Take her robe off."

Gavin carefully untied the garment, then gently lifted Judith and took her arms from the sleeves. He was horrified to see the blood on her thighs.

He stared at it for a moment, not moving.

Elizabeth watched him. "Birthing is not a pleasant sight."

"This is not a birth, but a…" He could not finish.

"She must have been far along to show so much blood. This will indeed be a birth, though with less pleasant results."

They both looked up as the midwife, a fat, red-faced woman burst into the chamber. "Do you intend to freeze the poor girl?" she demanded.

"Here! We need no men," she said to Gavin.

"He will stay," Queen Elizabeth said firmly.

The midwife looked at Gavin for a moment. "Go then and fetch the water from the maid. She takes too long to carry it up the stairs."

Gavin reacted immediately.

"Her husband, Your Majesty?" the midwife asked when Gavin was gone.

"Yes, and their first child."

The fat woman snorted. "He should have taken better care of her, Your Majesty, and not let her roam about the halls at night."

As soon as Gavin set the water down inside the room, the woman snapped more orders at him. "Find her some clothes and keep her warm."

Joan, who had entered behind Gavin, rummaged in a chest and handed him a warm woolen gown. Gavin carefully dressed Judith, all the while watching the blood slowly seep from her. Perspiration appeared on her forehead and he wiped it away with a cool cloth. "Will she be all right?" he whispered.

"I can't answer that. It depends on whether we can get all the birth out of her and if we can get the bleeding to stop." Judith moaned and moved her head. "Keep her quiet or she'll make our work harder."

"Judith," Gavin said quietly. "Be still." He took her hands in his when she began to move them about.

She opened her eyes. "Gavin?" she whispered.

"Yes. Don't talk now. Be still and rest. You will be well soon."

"Well?" She did not seem fully aware of her state. Then a violent cramp shot through her. Her hands clutched at his. Judith looked up at him, bewildered. "What happened?" she gasped then her eyes began to focus clearly. The queen, her maid and another woman knelt over her, looking at her with concern. Another spasm rocked her.

"Come," the midwife said. "We must knead her stomach and help her."

"Gavin!" Judith said in fright, panting after the last pain.

"Quiet, my love. You will soon be well. There will be other children."

Her eyes opened in horror. "Child? My baby? Am I losing my baby?"

Her voice rose almost hysterically.

"Judith, please," Gavin said, soothing her. "There will be others."

Another pain shot through Judith as she stared at Gavin, her memory returning. "I fell off the stairs." she said quietly. "I saw you in bed with your whore and I fell from the stairs."

"Judith, this is not the time—"

"Don't touch me!"

"Judith," Gavin said, half-pleading.

"Do I disappoint you that I'm not dead? As my child is now dead?" Her eyes blinked back tears. "Go to her. You wanted her so badly, and you are welcome to her!"

"Judith—" Gavin began, but Queen Elizabeth took his arm.

"Perhaps you should go."

"Yes," he agreed as Judith refused to look at him. Stephen waited outside the door for him, his brows raised in question. "The child is lost and I don't know yet if Judith will live."

"Come below," Stephen said. "They won't allow you to stay with her?"

"Judith wouldn't allow it," Gavin said flatly.

Stephen didn't speak again until they were outside the manor house.

The sun was just beginning to rise, the sky gray. The commotion caused by Judith's fall made the castlefolk rise earlier than usual. The brothers sat on a bench by the castle wall. "Why was she walking about the hall at night?" Stephen asked.

"I don't know. When you and I parted, I fell into a bed—the nearest one at the top of the stairs."

"Perhaps she woke and found you were gone and came to search for you."

Gavin didn't answer.

"There is more to this that you aren't telling me."

"Yes. When Judith saw me, I was in bed with Alice."

Never before had Stephen offered a judgment of his brother. Now his face blackened. "You may have killed Judith! And for what? That bitch—"

He broke off when he saw Gavin's bleak profile. "You were too drunk to want a woman. Or if you wanted one, Judith waited above for you."

Gavin stared across the courtyard. "I didn't take her to bed," he said quietly. "I was asleep and I heard a noise which woke me. Alice lay beside me. I wasn't so drunk last night that I would have taken her to my bed and not remembered."

"Then how?"

"I don't know."

"I do!" Stephen said through clenched teeth. "You are a sensible man except when it comes to that witch!"

For the first time, Gavin didn't defend Alice.

Stephen continued. "You have never been able to see her for what she is.

Don't you know she sleeps with half the men at the court?"

Gavin turned and stared at him.

"You may look at me in disbelief, but she is the jest of all the men—and I'm sure most of the women. From stableboy to earl, she doesn't care, so long as they have the equipment to pleasure her."

"If she's like that, then I have made her that way. She was a virgin when I first took her."

"Virgin, hah! The Earl of Lancashire swears he had her when she was only twelve years old."

Gavin's expression was one of disbelief.

"Look at what she has done to you. She has controlled you and used you

—and you have allowed it. No, you have begged for more. Tell me, what method did she use to keep you from loving Judith straightaway?"

Gavin stared with sightless eyes. He was reliving the scene in the garden on his wedding day. "She vowed to kill herself if I loved my wife."