Juliana Garnett Read Online Free PDF

not excuse le Draca. Have you heard that he allowed his wife to die for lack of care after her lying-in?” Alais punched her needle through the square of linen she was embroidering, then looked back up at her cousin. “ ’Tis why Thurston removed the boy from le Draca’s care. After all, ’twas his sister’s child he sought to save from harm. If a man would not see to his own wife’s welfare, would he do more for a helpless child?”
    It occurred to Annice that from what she knew of Thurston, he would be much more interested in claiming his dead sister’s revenues from the dower lands left her son than in seeing to the boy’s welfare, but she did not say that aloud.
    “Lord Rolf seems extremely fond of his son,” Annice said instead. “I do not think he would harm him.”
    Alais shook her head. “I do not trust him. ’Tis good that his fortunes are so slim of late, else we might find the Dragon at our gates with his army, loyalist or no. I told Thurston what he said about his keep being in ruins and his gold spent on warring.” Her needle flashed in and out of the embroidery linen stretched upon a hoop. “ ’Twas useless sending me to listen. All le Draca could do was gaze at that silly boy.”
    Annice looked away, staring blindly at the tapestry she had been working earlier. ’Twas for the vestry. It still hung on the frame, a scene from Christ’s life depicting his first miracle. She wondered if she should pray for guidance.
    Confused by conflicting emotions, she questioned her first instincts. Alais was so certain of her facts, and in truth, Annice had heard nothing to contradict her. Dragonwyck’s reputation had long preceded this day and, she was certain, was founded in a great deal of truth. Yet could there be underlying circumstances? Could the decency she had sensedin him be only a masquerade? Certainly his capacity for ferocity was not exaggerated. She knew she was not mistaken about the hostility in his eyes when he had regarded Thurston of Seabrook.
    But, then, she could well understand his animosity for the earl. Her own dislike of the man grew apace with her familiarity with his mind and methods. Seabrook used his nephew as a pawn, but no more so than the king would do. It had not been so long ago that King John had ordered the hanging of twenty-eight Welsh children—some of them no more than five years old—held as hostages against their fathers’ good behavior. It had a dilatory effect on Welsh uprisings, to be certain, though she was appalled at the king’s brutality.
    It was not necessarily true that one became inured to inhumane actions if continually exposed to them. Alais often chided her for being too tenderhearted, and p’raps she was. Few seemed to regard such actions in the same light. She thought again of the tender scene between Dragonwyck and his son. Could a brutal warrior have the capacity for such love?
    “Are you even listening to me?” Alais demanded loudly, and Annice turned to look at her.
    “Forgive me. I was thinking of something else.”
    “I can well imagine.” Alais pursed her mouth. “Have you heard that Robert FitzWalter’s eldest daughter, Matilda, wed to Geoffrey de Mandeville, is rumored to have been poisoned by the king for her refusal of him? He sent her a poisoned egg. ’Tis said also that Robert was forced to flee to France after the king caused his Castle Baynard to be pulled down.…”
    Relieved that Alais had turned her attention to other matters at last, Annice picked up her needle and thread and pretended to focus on her tapestry and gossip. For the present she would do her best to offer what comfort she could to a small boy without mother or father to aid him. She missed her own parents dreadfully, and p’raps she could ease that loss for a tiny hostage. Her visits to the nursery would increase slowly, so that none would suspect what shewas about. Yea, if nothing else, she could brighten the days of a child.
    Edmund de Molay shifted in