De Warenne Dynasty 01 - The Conquerer (29 page)

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rejection of them all, marrying her to his own best man.

Ceidre cried. She did not want him, she told herself furiously. She hated him, she always had. But the rejection was foul and bitter. She, who had been rejected so many times, was rejected again. Why was she not used to it? Why was she not immune to these crushing feelings? Why did she feel as crushed as she had the time her father lied, telling her the suitor he had approached was not good enough for her, that he had changed his mind, when in truth she knew she had been rejected again?

She told herself she cried because she had failedEd and Morcar. Not because the one man who had ever dared to treat her as a woman had only been amusing himself, and had now cast her off finding a better use for her, while he slept with her sister.

It was not too late. She could run away. Yet where would she go? ToEd , wearing her failure like a banner upon her arm? Should she hide in the woods, like a wild animal? She would be hunted, this she knew, and she even supposed he would eventually find her. She did not doubt his prowess over her.

Ultimately the end result would be the same-the altar.

Ceidre stared at the ceiling of the great hall. Everyone had long since risen and left, but she did not care.

Depression was vast, weighing her down. The best she could do, she decided, was marryGuy and spy upon him as well as theNorman . At least, that way, she would still be fighting for Aelfgar.

It was no consolation.

Ceidre's best gown was a bright, sun-gold yellow. She had always loved it. Today she hated it.Alice watched while Ceidre allowedMary andBeth to help her don it.Alice abruptly cried out for them to halt.

"Take it off," She said.

Ceidre barely looked at her, not really caring what she was up to.Alice turned and ran across the hall into her andRolfe 's chamber. Ceidre was being dressed in the solar. The ceremony was to take place shortly thereafter at the chapel. A small feast, nowhere as elaborate as the one given uponRolfe 's wedding day, had been prepared.Rolfe had givenGuy his old chamber in the original manor, now in the bailey. Ceidre felt sick.

Alicereturned, carrying something. "Take off that wretched undertunic," she ordered Ceidre. "'Tis most unseemly for a bride."

Ceidre did not care. Her undertunic was plain wool, ivory, worn in places, a simple shift.Mary helped her draw it off, andAlice handed her a tunic of her own. "You want to look your best for your groom, Ceidre," she purred.

The tunic was virginal white, almost new, the finest weave, so fine it was sheer. Ceidre hated it.Mary slipped it over her head.Alice was much smaller than she was, so it fit like a glove. "'Tis too small," she noted listlessly.

With a needle and thread,Mary let out the bust and hips. It still fit like a second skin, but at least this time it would not tear at the seams. The brilliant yellow gown followed, with a purple girdle.Beth began brushing Ceidre's long, flowing tresses, murmuring all the while about how she was the most beautiful bride ever to be. "And all this hair! Incredible, so long, and so thick!Guy will be a lusty one, he will, when
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he sees you! Like a goddess, you are-"

"Shut up,Beth ,"Alice snapped.

Marywove yellow carnations into her hair. They formed a wreath around the crown of her head, then trailed down through the loose mass. Ceidre refused to look at herself in the proffered looking glass.

Rolfewas waiting for them downstairs, outside on the steps of the keep. He regarded her without expression. Ceidre, seeing him, felt an awful stabbing, and humiliation followed the hurt. She allowed herself a moment's anger, seeking it, relishing it, and she glared, wishing she could smite him dead on the spot. He was completely indifferent, gesturing to the white palfrey awaiting her, the same oneAlice had ridden to her wedding. Her feeling of being sick increased.

Guywas waiting at the chapel.Rolfe , as her lord and master, would give her away. He held the palfrey's bridle and they descended down the motte and through the portcullis. The chapel was in the bailey, and everyone from Aelfgar had turned out for this event.

Ceidre did not look at anyone. She stared, instead, somewhat blindly at her palfrey's dainty ears. Her gaze wandered to the squared shoulders of the man leading her mount. He was dressed for the occasion, in a royalblue tunic and red mantle. She had a flashing image of how he had looked as he rode his stallion to his own wedding, godlike, pagan, beautiful, and ruthless. Recollections started to tumble, one after the other, through her mind-Rolfe stroking his own sex, Rolfe carrying her inside after the flogging; Rolfe drunk, smiling, cajoling a kiss from her; Rolfe as he sat his steed, ordering the razing of Kesop. As if feeling her regard, he abruptly glanced at her. Ceidre hoped her hatred showed. He looked away.

Guywas standing nervously in front of the chapel withFatherGreen , who, if in his cups, was hiding it well.Guy had also dressed for the occasion, in a fine green velvet mantle and tunic, with red hose. He blushed, not looking at her but once.

Rolfehelped her dismount, his touch impersonal, and led her toGuy . He stepped back.FatherGreen raised his voice, coughing once. ToGuy , he said, "Hast thou will to have this women as thy wedded wife?"

"Yes, sir."

"May thou well find at thy best to love her and hold ye to her and to no other to thy lives end."

"Yes, sir,"Guy said.

"Then take her by your hand and say after me I, Guy Le Chante, take thee, Ceidre, in form of holy church, to my wedded wife, forsaking all other, holding me holiest to thee, in sickness and health, in riches and poverty, in well and in woe, till death do us depart, and there to I plight ye my troth."

Guyrepeated the words, and it was done.

Ceidre had marriedGuyLe Chante .

Ceidre paced her chamber. She looked around. It was truly a bridal chamber, with garlands strewn across the bed, wine and food laid out. She was supposed to be readying herself to receive her new lord,
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but she would not. She was still clad in her yellow gown. At least, she decided, she could get rid of these flowers. She began removing them abruptly.

The wedding feast had lasted hours. All around them was drunken boisterous laughter and dancing. As the newlywed couple, they had graced the raised dais under the walnut tree.Guy had eaten and drunk merrily, in no rush to leave the festivities. Ceidre had not taken one bite of food or one sip of wine. At first, he had offered her, as a groom should, the choicest morsels of what he picked for himself. She had refused everything ungraciously. Then he had ceased offering anything to her. He had not attempted conversation after, which had suited her just fine. She had sat still as a stone, ignoring everything and everyone.

Except forRolfe . She could not ignore him, not when she was so keenly aware of him, not when he sat on her right. Like her, he did not seem inclined to conversation, yet he made an effort to quip withGuy .

She was aware that he gazed at her from time to time. She refused to acknowledge him. She did not look at him. She was in a strange state, her wedding almost felt like a dream. And this state was infinitely preferable to the pain she had felt upon awaking, that same pain she had harbored the past few days.

There was a knock upon her door.

Ceidre clenched her fists. "Enter."

Guyappeared, closing the heavy door behind him. Then, noting her state of dress, he looked unsure. "I am sorry, I am too quick. I will come back." He started to leave.

"No!" Her abrupt command halted him. "I am not readying myself for you," she said, her tone hard.

His eyes widened.

"I did not want this marriage," she said furiously. "And I do not want you!"

His face changed, grew hard, making him seem older, making her remember that he was aNorman knight and one ofRolfe 's best men. "But I want this marriage," he stated.

"You want Dumstanbrough-not me!"

He flushed. " 'Tis true. But Dumstanbrough comes with you, 'tis your dowry. I will not give it up-or you."

"You may have Dumstanbrough," Ceidre spat. "I care not. But you will not have me."

He stared. "You deny me my husbandly rights?"

"If you touch me," Ceidre hissed, "I will kill you!"

He blinked.

"I will curse you, do not doubt it. Your manhood will shrivel up. Your teeth will fall out. You will lose your hair. You do not think I can do this?" She laughed, slightly hysterical. "I have potions! You will be an old man before your time! I warn you!"

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Guycrossed himself nervously. "Do not do anything rash," he said. "I would not hurt you!"

Ceidre relaxed slightly. "Look," she said, "I will be your wife-I am your wife. You did not want me before this wedding. I know it. You have never looked at me the way a man looks at a woman."

Bitterness touched her tone. "Men do not look at me that way, not once they know of my eye. I am used to it. No one needs know what passes between us. Just because we are married, you do not need to come to my bed, when you do not want me, when you are afraid of me. Seek out your lemans, I care not. Can we agree on this?"

"But what about children? I need heirs."

"Then take a mistress," Ceidre said frankly. "Make sure she is a virgin and is faithful to you. Adopt her get. 'Tis simple enough."

"In truth, I do not want you,"Guy said. His words stabbed at her. Ludicrously she thought ofRolfe . "But not because I am afraid of you."

"Of course not."

"'Tis most unnatural not to consummate a marriage."

"No one will know. Besides, you have not married a natural woman. Do you really want to bed one with the eve?"

Guygrimaced. "No, I do not. Not when the world is full of fair wenches. I have just never shied from my duty before."

"Guy, what about your duty to God?"

He suddenly smiled. "You are right. You are not natural, not godly. My first duty is to God. Why did I not think of that? We have a bargain, then. But no one must know the truth, Ceidre. No one."

"Believe me," she said, overwhelmingly relieved. "I will not tell a soul."

They stared at each other, thenGuy shrugged. He strode to the trencher on the chest and picked up a pastry. "Are you hungry?"

Ceidre smiled. She was suddenly starved. She opened her mouth to reply, but her words were cut off.

There was a violent pounding upon the door.

Ceidre froze.Guy leapt forward, hand upon the hilt of his sword. "Who is it!"

"'Tis your lord, open up,"Rolfe demanded harshly.

Guythrew open the door anxiously. "What is it! Are we attacked?"

Rolfestared atGuy , his blue eyes brilliant. "I have come to claim my rights."

Guywas taken aback. "Of course," he said instantly. "What rights, my lord?"

Rolfe's diamond-hard gaze swung to Ceidre. "Le

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droit du seigneur. "

Chapter 39

A stunned silence ensued.

Ceidre's stare was locked withRolfe 's. The meaning of his words shocked her-he had come to bed his vassal's bride. Her heart was banging wildly, uncontrollably. His gaze did not waver from hers. In it she saw both anger and fierce, unyielding determination.

Neither was aware ofGuy , who recovered first, glancing from one to the other. "Of course, my lord," he murmured, backing out, and then the heavy door swung shut behind him, with a bang as loud and ominous as a clap of thunder.

Ceidre jumped;Rolfe moved. He suddenly unclasped the brooch holding his black mantle together and let the heavy cloth fall to the floor. Ceidre's eyes widened, she took a step back. He was unbuckling his sword belt. Total comprehension set in. He would take her now. Now, after rejecting her, after giving her so casually to another. Now, at his convenience-not hers. "You can't mean this!" She gasped.

For the first and only time, he removed his glance from her, to lay his sword carefully aside. Then she was pierced again by bold, brilliant blue eyes. "Oh, I do meant it," he said harshly. There was nothing smug in his tone.

He was shrugging off his tunic in one quick movement and tossing it aside. In the flickering candlelight his naked torso rippled and gleamed like bronze.

She was still stunned by what was happening, by the impossibility of it, the arrogance. "You have given me toGuy !"

His stare was hard, blazing like his tone. Was there a trace of bitterness there? "You think I do not know this, and know it too damn well?"

She clutched the bedpost. "AndAlice !" she cried desperately. "Aliceis my sister-your wife!"

"I am lord of Aelfgar!" he shouted furiously. It was the wrath of gods. "I am lord here!"

Ceidre reacted in real terror. She whirled and raced around to the other side of the bed.Rolfe ran after her. Even as she moved, she knew, with a huge, terrible fear, that there was nowhere for her to run to, that she could not escape. His mind was made up, and his will was steel. His iron hand closed on her wrist, dragging her forcefully up against his body. "No!" she screamed, struggling like a madwoman.

With his leg, he caught hers deftly, knocking her feet out from under her. She went down, as he had intended, and was on her back in a trice, writhing and bucking, while he straddled her, a knee on each side of her hips. He seized her wrists. His thighs were rockhard, pinning her in place as she twisted
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