When Hugh opened his eyes, his headache was gone but his side hurt like the devil. An open book of healing lay next to a mortar and pestle on the bedside table. Next to his mattress sat a priory basket full of pungent herbs but no Rose.
He dragged his arse to the slit in the wall, leaned against the ledge, and shouted to Doğan. “Where’s the healer?”
“She left this morning, m’lord, and is being held at the priory. Aliyar has gone to fetch her.”
“Damnation! Send someone up to help me dress.”
Cursing freely, he managed to get a tunic over his head and stumbled down the stairs in his bare feet. He only paused in the great hall because a new page dared ransom his sword until he donned his boots and spurs.
“Anon. My charger. Bring her around front.” He stood and raced to the door.
Midway through the forest, his stiches broke open and he shot his hand to his side while Wind kept her gait steady.
“Bloody nails of the Savior!” Upon exiting the forest, he spied his men milling about on their chargers just west of Lanercost with swords drawn and faces grim.
He pulled up on the reins as a frowning Aliyar pointed to his bloody side. “Allah, m’lord. You’d die for her?”
“Where is she? If they touch a hair on her head, by God, I’ll burn the place to the ground.”
He glared at the walls, picturing them in rubble and then back to the furious face of Aliyar who said, “DeBruce is within and won’t let anyone pass.”
Back at the priory door, Hugh pounded with the hilt of his sword until a tonsured man slid open a small hole and peered out.
“Who knocks?”
“I’m here for Mary Rose.”
“Begone!” The man’s lips went to the hole and his voice dropped to a whisper.
“I cannot let you pass but there’s another way. Ride west to the wall’s first tower, take the stairs, and come back along the top. Anon, they mean to burn her alive. You have but moments.”
“Christ’s nails!” Hugh raced Wind along the ancient wall until he came to the place described by the priest at the door.
When he clicked his tongue, Wind reared and whinnied but with stout heart, ascended the steps.
Then, high above the meadows, Hugh turned on the wall’s thin path and his heart sank at the smoke rising and Rose’s pitiful scream.
Have faith, my love.
Leaning forward, he urged Wind faster until he arrived back at Lanercost atop the battlements. There, a foolish knight refused to yield with sword drawn and helm down.
“Move or die!” Hugh impaled the soldier because there was no time for battle.
In the square below, Rose’s desperate gaze met his as flames licked the edges of her tunic.
“Aaaahh!” Placing knife between teeth, Hugh soared off Wind and landed on her burning pile of wood.
He sliced through her binds, picked her up, and jumped to the ground. Then, after making sure she’d not been harmed, he stormed over to the bishop and put his blade to the man’s throat.
“I swear, I shall kill you.”
“Put the knife down.” The command came from DeBruce who stood a few feet away. His sword was pointing, along with those of about a dozen men.
Hugh grunted, lowered his knife, and shoved Rose behind him. Then he stomped until the tip of DeBruce’s sword met his chest. Normally he’d not hesitate to slay any man so foul as to watch a woman burn. However, with his wound open, it’d be more difficult. Not only that, should he raise sword against his liege, all recently gained would be lost, including Rose.
When her small hand slipped into his, Hugh unclenched the grip on his knife, turned, and spat on the ground in front of the bishop. “She risked her life to save mine. Does that sound like a murderess? Let me confront her accuser.”
Speak of the devil and she shall appear.
The abbess strode out from the small crowd gathered in the square with nose held high. “You can’t save her, le Despencer. She murdered Sister Cecilia and tried to murder me. For that, she must die.”
“If you touch her, my men will burn Lanercost to the ground. Anon, M’lord, you should read this.” Hugh reached into his belt’s pouch and handed forth Rose’s missive.
The earl pulled the parchment out of the hollowed twig and paled. “Damnation. She’s a de Longley on her mother’s side. Nobility. Someone, douse that fire. You?” DeBruce glared at Hugh. “Into the church. Someone take the girl and clean her up.”
“She stays with me.” Snarling, The Destroyer clenched his sword, ready to kill anyone who tried to touch his woman.
“Hugh, don’t.” Her palm covered his tight knuckles and he pulled her shaking fingers to his lips.
“Stay with me. It’ll be over, soon. I promise.”
Her other hand pressed into his bloody side and tears, black with soot rolled down her face. “Ye shouldn’t have come, Destroyer. Look at ye.”
“I’ve lived through far worse. ’Tis him that should worry.” Hugh tossed his head at DeBruce, entering the church with his knights.
When Hugh stumbled, Rose put an arm around him, taking his weight. Inside, she let go, genuflected, and blessed herself at the font. Then, she led him to the altar where DeBruce’s angry face was lit orange by bright torches.
“Sit him down before he falls down.”
“Thank you, m’lord.” Hugh coughed up blood and his side screamed in agony.
“Don’t thank me. Your life may still be forfeit. Out with it, Destroyer. What goes on, here?”
Hugh turned from his liege and spoke to a man who’d just entered the church. Dressed in fine wool tunic and jewels, he was no doubt a noble canon who lived within these walls.
Hugh hoped the other man would be more willing to listen. “How many mysterious deaths did you have, prior to the arrival of the new abbess?”
“None at all.” Clever eyes narrowed and the man’s frown deepened as he stared at the abbess.
“And now?”
“Two, we believe. Sister Cecelia and recently, Mary Margaret has gone missing.”
Even DeBruce seemed shaken by that revelation and the abbess’s face skewed, a shriveled apple inside a white wimple. “It was Rose, I tell you. Rose.”
“Did you search her room for a weapon?” It was obvious to Hugh what had happened and his sword hand itched to wipe out this holy order of idiots.
Because Rose was a mere servant, she was undeserving of a second thought but now all feared because she was noble-born.
“Do what he asks.” DeBruce nodded at two of his soldiers and shot Hugh a glance. “Still with us, le Despencer?”
“Aye.” Hugh gritted his teeth at the gut-wrenching pain and leaned against Rose whose soft hand rested in his while they waited.
She whispered in his ear, “Why? Why risk yer life for me?”
Heaving a sigh, Hugh cupped one of her soft cheeks with his unbloodied palm. Someday he’d make love with her again and see her round with his children. “Don’t you know? You’ve haunted my every moment since seeing you in the forest.”
DeBruce cleared his throat. “Should she be found innocent, she’ll take her vows.”
“She’s lain with me and we will marry.” Hugh scowled at the earl whose brows shot up.
“Her? She’s what? Twenty? Way too old to wed.” DeBruce was saved from an earful from the sputtering Rose when the guards reentered the church.
The taller of the men held aloft a knife, the shaft dark with dried blood. “We found this in the abbess’s chambers.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. I use it for my evening meal.” The abbess’s smile was so serpent-like, Hugh half-expected a forked tongue to slip out.
“We also found these.” Grimacing, the other guard lifted a bloody tunic and a small leather-bound book, both which he handed to DeBruce.
The earl read for a moment, eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped open. “God’s wounds. She’s the devil incarnate. Take her away.”
The book was then handed off to the canon who read, frowned, and turned to Rose. “You are free to go.”
As the abbess was dragged out of the church, cursing most foully, DeBruce stroked his full red beard. “We’ll need to contact de Longley and de Wolfe, immediately.”
It seemed to Hugh that suddenly the statues in the church danced in circles. “My liege, could I ask one more boon?”
“Aye.”
“I might need a moment…” He lay his head back onto Rose’s lap and closed his eyes.
~~~
Rose screamed. “Christ’s Cross! Someone! Lay him on the floor. Help me to remove his armor. Damnation, Destroyer, ye won’t die. Not on account of saving me.”
There was not much time.
“Get me a flesh needle. Now! DeBruce, if ye have any love of this man, find the cauterizer. Let Sir Aliyar and his men into the walls! We must stay this bleeding. And someone bring me the sacramental wine.”
The rest of the day and long into the night, Rose did all she could to save the wonderous man who’d stolen her heart and saved her life. Then, she lay down on the church floor, exhausted. At some point, Aliyar came to her side as Hugh was put upon a litter and she followed them into an infirmary.
“You should get some sleep, m’lady.” Aliyar pulled her away from Hugh’s cot.
“No, no. It’s because of me, he lies here near death.” She put her hand to Hugh’s warm forehead and prayed as she never had before. “Please, dear God, let him live, and if ye want, I will marry yer Son, Christ.”
Hugh thrashed his arms and moaned. “Over my dead body.”
Destroyer? Yer still with me?” Her heart leapt and tears welled as she kissed his face, his lips, and his forehead.
“Aye. Still here.” He coughed with a crooked smile and she forced her recipes down him until he slapped her hand away. “The only person you’re going to marry Rose Douglas, is me. Swear to it or I’ll die just to spite you.”
She laughed and put his rough palm to her cheek. “I swear it.”
“And God’s blood, try to stay out of trouble. Better yet? Aliyar, see to it she moves not an inch from my side until I give the order. Understood?”