Daughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance (13 page)

“
No,” I said. “It’s his
father, Henry.”

She nodded. “Edward
subjugates Wales so completely that it’s two hundred years before
any Welshman attempts to claim the title
Prince of Wales
. Even in my day,
Wales is subsumed into England. With your death, Wales ceases to
exist as a separate country. Though,” she amended, “the Welsh have
never forgiven or forgotten their subjugation. And they’ve never
forgotten you. You are a symbol to them of all that is Welsh. A
martyr, even.”

I absorbed this news with
more equanimity than I would have thought possible ten minutes ago.
Fourteen years. She thought I had fourteen more years. There was a
freedom in that that perhaps Marged had not considered.

“
Who betrayed
me?”

“
Roger something and his
brother. I can’t remember the name . . . Morgan? No, that’s not
right because the traitors were Marcher lords, not
Welshmen.”

It was my turn to roll
onto my back and fling my own arm over my eyes. “Mortimer,” I said.
“You’re telling me that I plan to meet the Mortimers and instead
meet my death? Why would I do such an crazed thing? Why would I
think I could trust them?”

“
I don’t know,” Marged
said. “The English found a paper on your body addressed to you. It
was from one of these Mortimers and indicated he might be willing
to switch allegiance. Maybe you thought that sounded credible at
the time?”

“
And my heir?” he said.
“Do I have one?”

“
Before your death, you
marry someone,” Marged said. “I can’t remember who, though, and
have a daughter. I’m sorry to say that your wife dies in
childbirth. That’s in 1282 also.”

“
Not a very good year for
me, then, it doesn’t sound,” I said.

Marged rolled over to face
me, astonishment written all over her face. “Again, you laugh at
this? How can you laugh?”

“
How can I not?” I said.
“You fell into my life two days ago, saved my life yesterday, only
to warn me that I will lose it, at some future date. How is this
not ridiculous? How can I not laugh?”

“
You believe me,
then?”

I gazed at her, taking in
her features and her beauty. “I don’t know. The fate you describe
sounds . . . complicated, as you said. Roger Mortimer’s father
married my aunt, making him my cousin. In turn, Mortimer’s wife has
two sisters. One married my Uncle Dafydd and was Princess of Wales.
The other is the mother of one Humphrey de Bohun, who is sleeping
in the hall below us as we speak and was one of the men who
orchestrated the attack on us yesterday.”

“
So you are murdered by
your own family?” Marged gasped. “That’s . . . that’s . . .
terrible!”

I smiled, warmed by her
outrage on my behalf, but rueful. “Roger and I have been enemies in
recent years, but I find it hard to believe he would lure me to his
castle to kill me.”

“
I don’t think it was
actually him,” Meg said. “I think it was his sons.”

“
Oh, well then. Perhaps
that’s more credible,” I said. “That’s the nature of politics in
the Marche.”

“
So what does this mean to
you, right now? What are you going to do with Anna and me?” Her
voice was suddenly very small. “I would go home but I don’t know
how.”

I twisted a long lock of
her hair around my finger. “This changes everything, and nothing,”
I said. “The most important thing for you to know is that unless
you have a different home to go to, you’re going to stay with
me.”

“
You mean that? I’m sorry
to have to even ask this, but why do . . . do . . do you want me?”
Marged stumbled over the question, more uncertain than she’d been
even when she was telling me her fabulous tale.

“
How can I let you loose
in the world? You would be a danger to yourself and everyone around
you. Besides,” I paused, considering my own certainty in the
matter, “I’ve grown fond of seeing you—and even Anna—in my
bed.”

“
B-b-but,” Marged said,
stuttering again. “You don’t know me. Not at all.”

“
Don’t I?” I said. “I
think I’ve learned quite a lot about you in the short time we’ve
been together. And I expect to learn quite a bit more in the coming
days.” I took her chin in my hand. “Being the Prince of Wales has
its advantages, every now and then, apart from dying for my people,
that is. Occasionally, I get to do what I like.”

I kissed her forehead and
released her. Her eyes were as wide as Anna’s sometimes were,
watching me. I got out of bed and dressed quickly in the cold room.
“Llywelyn—” she said, but I shushed her.

“
Get some sleep, while you
can,” I said. And for once, she had the grace to obey.

Chapter Nine

Meg

I
stood at the washbasin and peered through a crack in the
shutter, trying to get some sense of what it was like outside. Then
someone knocked on the bedroom door.

“
Come in,” I said, and
turned.

The door opened to reveal
a short, lean woman, significantly older than I, her brown hair
streaked with gray.

“
You’re ready to get up,
then,” she said in Welsh. As two different people—Llywelyn
included—had prevented me from doing so earlier, I could hardly be
blamed for staying in bed. She came into the room, her arms full of
clothes. “My name is Angharad. The Prince asked that I help you
while you’re here.”

Pleased that I’d
understood all of her words, I nodded and then looked ruefully down
at what I’d worn to bed. “I couldn’t get out of these clothes last
night so I’m a little worse for wear.”

“
It was a difficult day
yesterday,” Angharad said. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to assist
you when you arrived.”

“
Thank you for coming to
help me now,” I said. “I didn’t expect it.”

“
Well, you should, a fine
lady like you,” Angharad said. “My husband is one of the Prince’s
men-at-arms but no longer rides with him,” she said. “He serves as
caretaker for the manor and I run the household.”

“
I don’t know that I am
such a fine lady. I’m sure you are very busy without having to
worry about me.”

“
Never mind,” Angharad
said, waving her hand. “It’s a pleasure to get out of the
kitchen.”

She tsk’ed over me,
looking me up and down, and then noticed Anna. I’d allowed her to
wander off with a maid earlier, but she’d come back, checking in
with me as she always did, as if we shared an invisible cord that
reeled her in every once in a while.

“
What a beautiful child!”
Angharad said. She came closer as Anna, who was standing on the bed
and holding onto my arm, peered around me. “What is your
name?”

“
Anna
dw i,
” Anna said.

I gaped at my
daughter.

“
She speaks very well,”
Angharad said, obviously pleased. “I’d heard that she didn’t have
any Welsh; that you spoke only the French language, but it’s not
true. She’s very small to be speaking at all.”

“
Anna has just spoken her
first words in Welsh.” I said.

“
Well, good for her,”
Angharad said.

“
I speak only a little
Welsh,” I added, “though I understand more than I speak, provided
you talk slowly.”

“
I will do my best,”
Angharad said, speaking much more slowly—over-exaggerating now,
which wasn’t really what I wanted either.

We muddled through,
however and the rest of the morning was taken up with dressing and
caring for Anna, eating breakfast, and a little exploration of the
grounds. It had turned colder in the night and I didn’t want to
spend too much time out of doors without something more substantial
for warmth. Like a parka.

The manor house was a
two-story affair, surrounded by a wooden palisade. Goronwy said
that it wouldn’t stand up to a concerted assault, but would protect
us for the time it took to organize a defense and give us walls for
archers to hide behind. I didn’t enter the long, low building that
was the stables; Goronwy asked us to avoid it as he was keeping a
prisoner, Dai, inside, though he’d allowed Humphrey de Bohun, as a
nobleman, out. Anna and I were standing on the steps to the manor,
in fact, when Llywelyn and Humphrey walked down them to meet Hywel,
who led Dai and a horse across the courtyard, ready for release. At
Llywelyn’s nod, Hywel stepped behind Dai and severed his bonds with
his belt knife.

“
You understand the
importance of your charge?” Humphrey said.

“
I’m a free man of Wales
and no servant of yours,” Dai said, in Welsh, the sneer evident in
his voice and on his face. “I ride with Lord Owain of Powys, not
with English bastards.”

Humphrey stepped towards
him, his face flushed, but before he could get farther, Hywel had
the man up against the stone wall of the manor, moving so fast it
had barely registered that he’d moved at all.

“
Do you know who this is?”
He tipped his head to Llywelyn. His voice was low and urgent, but
carried no anger, just a dark intent that any fool should
recognize.

“
The Usur—”

Before he could finish his
sentence, Hywel cut him off with a shake, choking the words out of
him. He tightened his grip on Dai’s tunic and knocked his head
against the stones. Dai coughed and sputtered—and when he quieted,
Hywel spoke again, his teeth gritted, every ounce of power in his
large frame directed at overpowering the man.

“
He is the Prince of
Wales, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn’s liege lord,” Hywel said. “You
do understand what that means?”

Dai didn’t answer, trying
to get his breath through the constriction around his
throat.

Hywel didn’t seem to
expect a response and answered for him. “It means that you obey him
or so help me God I will hunt you down and personally see that your
head is removed from your body. Is that clear?”

The man coughed again and
nodded. Hywel released him and stepped back. Dai slumped to his
knees, his hands around his neck, pulling at his collar to help him
breathe.

“
Apologize,” Hywel said.
He kicked Dai in the thigh. Dai straightened, using the wall for
support and looking a little green, he levered himself to his
feet.

“
My lords Llywelyn,
Humphrey,” the man bowed. “I beg your forgiveness. I am prepared to
carry your message if you would be so good as to give it to
me.”

Llywelyn, who’d been
watching the proceedings with an impassive expression, didn’t
answer. It was Goronwy who spoke.

“
Tell Lord Bohun that
Prince Llywelyn sends his greetings and wishes to discuss with his
lordship his grandson’s activities in Wales. You are to assure the
Earl that Humphrey is unharmed and being treated as befits his
station.”

“
Yes, my lord,” the man
said, bowing again. His held his shoulders stiff and limped to his
horse. He scrambled onto it while we watched, nobody making a move
to assist him.

“
See that you complete
your charge,” Hywel said.

Dai saluted, turned his
horse’s head, and rode out the gate of the manor.

“
See that he takes the
road to England,” Llywelyn said to three of his men who’d sat in
the saddle, waiting for Dai to mount.

They obeyed and Anna and I
watched them go, still silent.

Llywelyn put a hand on my
shoulder before turning back inside. “You are well?”

“
Yes, Llywelyn,” I
said.

“
Good. If you need
anything, let me know.”

“
I will.”

What I didn’t immediately
say was that I didn’t feel I’d needed to see that little drama in
the courtyard. Anna
really
hadn’t needed to see it. I didn’t tell him that
what I needed was a shower, which he couldn’t help me with, or at a
minimum, a good book to read. I was really glad I’d told him I was
from the future, though. My heart had been in my mouth the whole
time, but it cleared the air between us. He might not believe me—or
might not be able to believe me, more to the point—but I wasn’t
keeping secrets from him or living a lie, and I could live with
that.

“
And the ransom?” Humphrey
said, matching Llywelyn stride for stride as they took the stairs
two at a time back up to the manor house. “What are you asking in
exchange for me?”

“
I’m leaving that up to
your grandfather,” Llywelyn said. “We will see what he feels you’re
worth.”

Humphrey’s face fell. It
was a scary thought—to assert a monetary or territorial value on a
person, and have that person know what it was. Goronwy stayed
behind a moment with Anna and me. Anna had found a stick and to
draw with in the dirt.

“
I’m sorry you had to see
that,” he said.

“
Dai was going to say
‘Usurper’,” I said. “What did he mean by that?”

Goronwy’s mouth tightened.
“Owain and his father are Prince Dafydd’s allies. They believe
Prince Llywelyn has denied his brothers their proper place as
rulers of Wales. Owain, at least, is Prince Llywelyn’s elder
brother and feels he should have primacy.”