“Tevin,” he said quietly. “What do you want to do with her?”
Tevin turned around, seeing that Myles as well as John and Simon were clustered around the ox cart, gazing at the dusty, dirty figure on the bed. Tevin walked up beside Myles, gazing down at the unconscious woman, before replacing his gloves. Then, he rolled her onto her back so her face was fully in view. The more he looked at her, the more he knew the face.
“Simon?” he muttered. “You knew Louisa. Is this her?”
Simon sighed heavily as he gazed down at the slip of a woman. After several long moments, he nodded his head.
“I believe it is,” he confirmed. “I can hardly believe it, but I believe it is.”
Tevin took his hands off the woman, still staring at her. “God’s Blood,” he hissed. “This is something I never thought I would see again. After all of these years… and in such bizarre circumstances. It does not seem possible.”
Simon could only shake his head, as stunned as his lord was, while Myles seemed a bit more logical about the entire thing. Unlike the others, he’d never met the woman and didn’t have an over amount of emotional investment in the situation.
“I will ask the question again,” he looked at Tevin. “What do you want to do with her?”
Tevin sighed heavily. “If she is ill, I will again reiterate that I do not want her infecting the entire castle.”
“But if she has the French disease, it does not spread like the Plague. We can still bring her inside and keep her isolated.”
Tevin was still resistant but he didn’t have much choice. It wasn’t as if they could leave the woman outside the walls, tucked away in the old ox cart, until they decided what to do with her. He looked at Simon.
“Have her brought inside and find a place where she can be kept well away from everyone,” he ordered. “Have a couple of serving women clean her up and make her comfortable. Make sure they clean themselves after they have touched her, for I do not want her disease spread through them. Furthermore, have the physic exam her. I will speak with the man for his opinion on her condition when all of this is accomplished.”
Simon nodded, already moving to carry out Tevin’s orders. He was snapping his fingers at some of the soldiers lingering outside the gates to have them move the ox cart inside. As the old cart began to slowly move towards the gates, towed by a few soldiers, Myles turned to Tevin.
“What are you going to tell Cantia?” he asked quietly.
Tevin drew in a long, thoughtful breath. “For the moment, nothing,” he said. “I am not sure at the moment. When this woman is in better spirits, I will speak with her to see what can be determined.”
“And if it is Louisa?”
He lowered his gaze, contemplating his answer. After a moment, he shook his head. “Anything I say will sound harsh and ugly,” he said, lifting his eyes to Myles. “The truth is that I am relieved. I am relieved if it is Louisa and the fact that she is very sick and more than likely dying. It means that she will soon no longer be an issue and I can marry Cantia as God and the laws of Nature intended. If that is a horrible statement, then I am horrible. I feel guilty for even thinking such things. But I will overcome that guilt the first time I take Cantia in my arms and call her my wife. Cruelty such as this will seem trivial.”
Myles wriggled his eyebrows in sympathy. “I do not disagree,” he replied. “But I should at least tell Val.”
“Why?”
“Because she can read my mind. She has already learned this skill and we have only been married two months. If I do not tell her, she will beat it out of me.”
Tevin gave him a half-grin. “Then it would be wise to tell her,” he said. “Moreover, she knew Louisa. If anyone can confirm the woman’s identity, Val can.”
“I am not entirely sure I want my wife around a sick woman until we can determine whatever she has cannot be spread.”
“Agreed. Make sure the physic examines her in short order so we know what we are dealing with.”
Myles simply nodded and the pair of them watched the ox cart, which was now lumbering beneath the yawning portcullis as it made entrance into the enclosure of Rochester.
With wonder, disbelief, and perhaps some fear, they followed.
*
It was noon before the physic could be found and instructed to examine the woman in the cart, mostly because the castle physic of Rochester, although a knowledgeable man, was something of a drunk and it had taken that long to find the man sleeping off a binge in a muddy crevice of the castle.
Myles had manhandled the old surgeon to one of the unused smithy shacks where they had the woman called Louisa sequestered. Tucked away on a straw bed with a serving woman to watch over her, the surgeon took his time in examining the woman, struggling to shake off the after effects of too much drink with the big knight glaring daggers at him. The man felt her pulse, looked in her eyes and ears, and listened to her lungs. He also poked and prodded a good deal, and thumped her several times on the back and listened to the results.
Myles stood in the entry to the shack, watching, glancing over his shoulder now and again to make sure Val or Cantia weren’t around to wonder why he was hanging around an old smithy shelter. Cantia was curious but Val was worse. She had the senses of a trained knight and he swore the woman could move like a phantom and read minds like a witch. He rather liked it, though. The past two months had been the best of his life.
Grinning when he thought of his lovely, strawberry-blond wife who was trying very hard to learn to be a good chatelaine, he refocused on the old surgeon as the man thoroughly examined the patient, who was by now becoming semi-lucid. Folding his arms across his big chest, Myles leaned against the door jamb, his mind wandering, when someone stuck a finger in his ear.
“Boo!”
Myles jumped as much from the finger in his ear as the voice, turning to see Val grinning back at him. He returned her smile as he turned his back on the door to block her view of the interior. Then he wrapped her up in his embrace.
“Greetings, wife,” he kissed her sweetly.
Val put her arms around his neck, accepting his affection. “Greetings,” she kissed him in return, savoring the gesture. “What are you doing?”
He shook his head, trying to distract her with sweet kisses and moving away from the shack at the same time. “Nothing of note,” he said, trying not to lie to her. “More importantly, what are you doing?”
Val had her arms wrapped around his neck as he picked her up and began to walk off with her, her legs trailing down his long body. She giggled as he swung her around playfully.
“Walking with Arabel,” she said, removing an arm and pointing over to her niece several feet away. “She wanted to come outside on this lovely day.”
Myles smiled over at Arabel in her specially built chair with wheels on it, being tended by the two women who had raised her. She lifted a weak hand to wave at Myles and he waved back.
However, as Myles was smiling and waving, he was also quite frantic to move them both away from the old smithy shack. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen them coming. His mind must have been wandering more than he realized. But to take the blame off himself, he silently reiterated that his wife moved like a wraith and he was paying the price for it by being surprised at her appearance.
“Arabel,” he called over to the girl. “I saw that a dog had a litter of puppies over in the stables. Do you want to see them?”
As he hoped, Arabel was properly distracted. She cried out gleefully. “Aye!” she clapped her hands. “Perhaps my father will allow me to have a dog like Hunt does!”
Myles grinned at her enthusiasm. “Perhaps,” he said. “But do not tell him I told you about the puppies. He will berate me when he is unable to refuse you.”
Arabel nodded happily and her women began to wheel her off in the direction of the stable. Just as Myles settled Val in beside him to follow, the physic emerged from the shanty and called out to him.
“My lord!”
Myles came to a halt, inwardly groaning as the physic made his way towards him. In fact, he was rather desperate to remove Val so he gently turned her in Arabel’s direction.
“Go with Arabel,” he said. “I will join you in a moment.”
Val started to agree but the physic started talking before she could move out of earshot.
“My lord,” the physic said again. “It would seem the woman has a disease of the lungs. I have seen it before. It is indeed contagious but should not create an issue if we keep her isolated and keep her mouth covered so she cannot breathe out her disease on others. I believe I can keep her contained.”
Val heard him. She came to a halt, looking at the physic curiously even as Myles tried to turn her around.
“What woman?” she wanted to know, then looked at her husband with concern. “Do we have sickness at Rochester?”
Myles shook his head and started to reply to her, but the physic interrupted. “They call this disease phithisis,” he said to them both. “The woman coughs up black blood. I can hear her chest laboring. She is far gone with the disease and will not live much longer.”
Val looked very concerned as well as puzzled. “But I have not heard of anyone at Rochester being ill,” she said to Myles. “Is this woman from the village?”
Myles sighed heavily, glancing at the physic and making a gesture for the man to vacate. As the old surgeon wandered back towards the shack, Myles turned his attention back to his wife. Gazing into her dark eyes, he knew he had to tell her. He could easily make up another story to satisfy her, but his conscience would not allow it. He had never lied to her before and wasn’t about to start. Moreover, Tevin was sure Val could identify the woman if, in fact, it was Louisa. He put his arm around her shoulders and turned in the direction of the shack.
“Early this morning, we had visitors,” he said quietly. “I must ask you now to keep this to yourself until Tevin informs Cantia. It is important.”
Val nodded seriously. “Of course, Myles. What is it?”
Myles began to escort her towards the shanty. “Did Cantia or Tevin ever tell you about Gillywiss?”
Val nodded. “Cantia told me,” she replied. “He was the outlaw who saved her from Dagan, was he not?”
Myles nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “He also formed some kind of strange attachment to Cantia. He made her a promise.”
“What do you mean? What promise?”
“That he would discover Louisa’s fate so that Tevin and Cantia could be married.”
Val’s brow furrowed. “Why on earth would he do that?”
“As I said, he formed a strange attachment to Cantia. When he appeared this morning, he said that he did it because they had something in common, wanting things they could never have. He also did it because she saved his sister’s life and he felt indebted to her.”
Val came to a halt at the door to the shack, looking at him with an utterly baffled expression. “What did he do?”
Myles lifted his eyebrows at her. “I am hoping you can tell me.”
He pushed the door open, exposing his wife to the dark and unsettling world inside. The physic and the serving woman were there, washing out some clothes in vinegar to put over the patient’s mouth so she could not cough out her germs. Wary, Val stepped in with Myles behind her. He took her over to the straw mattress where a small figure lay, now with a cloth over her nose and mouth, and still swathed in jumbles of dirty blankets. She smelled like a sewer. Myles glanced over his shoulder at the physic.
“Remove the cloth on her mouth,” he instructed. “I want to see her face.”
The physic slid into the space between Val and the bed, peeling off the vinegar-soaked cloth. A very pale, very fair face came into view and the physic pulled back the blankets around the woman’s head so her hair and features could be more plainly seen.
“Tell me who this is,” Myles whispered to his wife.
Perplexed, Val bent over to gain a better look. She truly had no idea who she was looking at until the woman shifted and more of her features came into view. Then, an inkling of suspicion gripped her and Val peered more closely at the woman, drawing on distant memories to put a name to the face. When the woman sighed faintly in her sleep and a big dimple appeared on her chin, Val was seized with recognition. She grabbed Myles as if something had just terrified her.
“Louisa!” she gasped. “It… it is Louisa!”
Myles held on to his stricken wife. “Are you sure?”
Val nodded, so hard that her hair flopped over her cheeks. “My God,” she breathed, blinking back tears. “I knew her. I thought we were friends. That is her, I swear it.”
Myles pulled her away from the bed, gesturing to the physic, who went to his patient and covered her mouth and nose again with the soaked cloth. Meanwhile, Myles pulled his wife all the way to the door, kicking the panel open to get her out of the diseased hut. He had a strong grip on her because she was shaken and upset.
“Listen to me,” he whispered. “You cannot tell Cantia. Tevin must tell her.”
Val lost the battle against the tears. “It is not Cantia I am worried over,” she wept. “Arabel will be devastated. All she knows of her mother was that she abandoned her and did not love her. Dear God, why is that woman here? What will we tell Arabel?”
Myles put his arms around her to comfort her. “You will tell her nothing,” he said soothingly, steadily. “That is for Tevin to decide. I simply needed your confirmation that it is indeed Tevin’s wife. You have done that. You must let your brother take care of the rest.”
Val was wiping at her eyes with shaking hands. “That… that outlaw actually found her?” she was flabbergasted. “How did he find her?”
“He has family in Paris,” Myles replied. “Since Paris was the last known location of Louisa, Gillywiss apparently went there looking for her. It took him months to track her down, but he did, finding her in a brothel. He brought her back because he promised Cantia he would.”
Val was gazing at him with a wide-eyed expression, full of incredulity. “Promised her? But I simply do not understand. For what purpose?”
“I told you,” he said patiently. “I can only surmise that it is so Cantia can know the woman’s fate and, in knowing, pave the pathway for her and Tevin to be married. At least, that was the gist of what I understood.”
It made some sense, but Val was still reeling. “I can hardly grasp all of this,” she breathed. “Louisa has actually returned.”
“Aye, she has.”
She started to reply but the words caught in her throat and her expression changed from disbelief to one of sorrow. Her gaze moved to the mighty keep of Rochester soaring over their heads.
“I must speak with Tevin,” she said, moving for the keep and pulling Myles with her. “He must know… my God, what must he be thinking of all of this? He must be astonished at the very least. The woman humiliated him, abandoned him, and now she is returned.”
Myles took her hand to both slow her down and steady her. “Your brother can well handle his feelings, Val,” he said softly. “I know you want to protect him, but he is a grown man. He can handle himself.”
Val knew he was right but she didn’t like his answer. Val had been watching out for Tevin for many years, as the younger sister to a powerful brother. There was something vulnerable about Tevin in her eyes and her protective instinct for him had only gotten worse when Louisa had deserted him and their month-old infant. She could feel her anger rise.
“You were not there when that… that woman discarded Tevin and Arabel like so much rubbish,” she said, pointing angrily in the direction of the smithy shack. “She ran off with another knight, a man from her homeland. She never wanted to be married to Tevin but she went through with the marriage anyway, eventually leaving him with a sick baby and humiliating him. I know my brother can handle himself in any situation but it does not stop the sense of protection I have for him and for Arabel. I have tried very hard not to hate Louisa for
what she did but right now, all I can feel is fury.”
Myles was calm as he watched her. “Then what would you have me do with her?” he asked softly. “Do you want me to dump her in a church somewhere, with a charity where she will be cared for until she dies? Do you want me to send her away from Rochester to save your brother and Arabel’s feelings?”
Some of Val’s fury seemed to abate and she grew uncertain. “Tevin already knows she is here.”
“He does, but he is not sure it is Louisa. He said you would know for sure. Would you lie to your brother and tell him it is not Louisa and we can simply rid her from Rochester?”
More of her fury took a dousing. After a moment, she shook herself, struggling to calm.
“Nay,” she muttered, averting her gaze. “I would not lie to my brother, no matter how much I want to protect him. He should make the decision on what to do with Louisa.”
“Then let us go and tell him the truth. Louisa has indeed returned.”
Reluctantly, Val agreed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Tevin had told her not to go near the smithy shack, but Cantia wasn’t so sure that she was inclined to obey him. After he had told her of Gillywiss’ appearance and the subsequent unveiling of a dying Louisa, Cantia had moved from the realm of disbelief and shock to one of complete astonishment. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, torn between bewilderment and jealousy. But that didn’t compare to what Tevin was feeling.
So she pushed aside her emotions to comfort Tevin, who seemed truly shaken and bordering on despondence. It wasn’t so much for himself but for his daughter, and he and Cantia and Val had spent two solid hours attempting to determine how to tell the young woman that her mother, on her deathbed, had returned. It was a touchy and understandably emotional subject, with Tevin feeling quite protective of his daughter, wanting to shield her from the woman who had hurt her so badly. But he ultimately decided that he had to, in good conscience, tell her, and Tevin and Val went to Arabel’s room to inform her of Louisa’s arrival. That was the last Cantia had seen of them.