The Woman Inside (15 page)

Uric jerked to a stop and stared at the man for three long seconds. “Then let
the devil give her a warm welcome.” He slammed open his door and made for the
stairs, taking them two at a time. He had no tolerance for his mother’s games
just now.

He’d lost patience altogether, and she’d live to rue it.

“Ceylon.” He slowed to a halt in front of her cell’s bars. He didn’t have to
say a word. The guard hurried to unlock the door. He winced at the squeak of
hinges. This was no place for a woman.

She gave him a biting look, tossed off her blanket and stalked out the door.
When he tried to reach for her, she said coldly, “Don’t touch me unless you
fancy lice.”

He took an involuntary step back. It was his death knell.

Her lips tightened. “I need to cut my hair. Tomorrow I am crossing that
bloody river if I have to learn to walk on water to do it.” Back ramrod
straight, she walked off.

Uric snapped. In that moment he became the Baron of Shardsvale, and no longer
a son. As he watched Ceylon mount the stairs, he said to Roland, “Bring Mistress
Maude to me in the judgment hall. I will pronounce her sentence there. And
Roland,” he smiled without humor, “don’t hesitate to break down her door.”

A savage smile in place, Roland followed Ceylon up the stairs, one hand on
his sword.

The lord was still firmly in place when Maude was escorted into the judgment
hall. He didn’t blink when she fixed him with the full force of her
contempt.

“I refuse to live in the same house as that woman any longer,” she told him
haughtily. “She is disrespectful, cloddish and is subverting my staff. I want
her removed immediately.

Cold slits of blue fire regarded her from her lord’s frozen face. “It is well
you do not wish to share a home with her,” he agreed silkily. “It is our opinion
that you are unfit to share a home with anyone.”

The first trace of panic fluttered in her eyes. “What--”

“Henceforth you will be exiled to our property in the middle of the lake.
There you will pass the rest of your days, blissfully unbothered by
company.”

Maude’s jaw dropped. “I will not--”

“Oh, you will. Beginning immediately. We’ve just had word that the ice has
frozen fully.” His smile held the chill of endless arctic night. “Enjoy your
stay.”

His guards seized her and dragged her away. His last view of her was of
stunned eyes and an astounded expression. It was the first time the ogress had
ever lost.

Cold silence reigned in her absence. Memories played before Uric’s eyes. This
moment had been a long time coming. He had Ceylon to thank for pushing him into
it. He owed the girl.

It wasn’t hard to find her. She was in her room allowing Anne to wash her
newly shorn hair. Although she was in her shift she made no move to cover
herself when he walked in unannounced. Anne was quick to bring her a robe. She
draped it over Ceylon’s shoulders as Ceylon bent over the tub, dripping
water.

In complete silence, Anne tossed the towel in the bath water to be boiled. A
pungent smelling grease was rubbed into Ceylon’s hair, which was then wrapped in
a rag turban. At Uric’s silent nod, she left the two of them alone.

“I banished Maude to the lake isle,” he told Ceylon, who sat beside the fire.
“As the injured party you had a right to know.”

“Thank you.” She didn’t look at him.

“Maude has been stripped of her jewels and finery. She won’t be needing them
where she’s going.”

“How long?” The words came out stiff, as if she close to tears. Whether of
fury or humiliation for the loss of her hair, he didn’t know.

“Forever.”

She looked at him then. “Forever is a long time for a cruel but not fatal
injury.”

“You are not her first victim. You would not have been her last. Her things
are yours. You are a woman of no small means now. You may go anywhere or do
anything you want. Nothing is beyond you.” And no one, though he didn’t expect
her to choose him. Not now.

She blinked and went back to staring at the fire. He left as silently as he’d
come.

* * * *

To no one’s surprise, Odell left before they rode out that morning. According
to Murdock, he’d left the moment the ice had been declared stable.

“Not to worry, mistress,” he reassured Ceylon. “He seems like a steady lad.
He’ll get on fine.”

Ceylon clamped her jaw shut and just nodded.

Her head felt funny without the weight of her hair and there was a constant
prickle in the back of her eyes. More than once she caught herself staring at
Uric and brooding. Even the prospect of riding in a sleigh with covers to her
chin and a hot brick at her feet didn’t cheer her. Uric wouldn’t look at her. It
hurt.

“Buck up, woman,” Roland advised her in his rasp. “He’ll come round. He
always gets this way after spending time around the ogress. Not that we’ll have
to worry about that again now, will we?” He winked at Anne, who shared the
sleigh with her.

The older woman returned a dour nod and chose to ignore his playfulness.

Rather than cheer her, the reminder just sank Ceylon deeper into gloom. After
all, it was her fault that Maude had been exiled. Surely Uric must resent her
for being forced to choose between them.

“We’ll cross three rivers before we get to Queenstown,” Roland told her just
before they started out. “Yell if you get cold.”

“Put on your mask,” Uric told her, nodding to her fur tie-on. “The wind will
burn your face in no time at a fast clip.” It was the first thing he’d said to
her since the night before, and he immediately turned his attention
elsewhere.

Still, she was a little cheered.

“Lord Roland speaks the truth,” Anne told her kindly. “Baron Uric will be
back to his old self soon. I can tell you no one regrets what he did, least of
all me.” She pursed her lips, likely recalling unpleasant memories.

“Thank you.” Ceylon waited until she was sure Uric was out of earshot. “Uric,
um, lord Uric mentioned something about Maude’s other victims? What did he mean
by that, do you know?” When Anne just bit her lip, she prompted, “Did Maude
mistreat others around the castle? Is that why they hated her so? Because if so,
I don’t feel right in keeping all of her estate. Truly, it was a great deal to
take from Maude just for--”
“Don’t trouble yourself on that account,
mistress,” Uric’s cool voice cut into her speech. “Maude knew better than to
take her wrath out on anyone here. And in the future I’d appreciate it if you
asked me your questions. In private.”

Ceylon flushed beneath her mask, unaware he’d come up beside them and ashamed
to be caught discussing ... well, it hadn’t been anything scandalous, had it?
“I’m sorry.”

“Fine.” And that was the extent of conversation for the next three hours,
other than the usual inquiries after her welfare.

It was the blood on the road that finally broke the silence.

Chapter 6

It hadn’t snowed in two days, and there was no drift of snow to cover the
scarlet stains on the blanket of white. Uric and Roland rode ahead to join the
outrider and reined their horses in before they could obliterate the spot. They
looked at each other.

“Stand ready,” Uric ordered his men, and rode ahead, alert for danger.

Just around the bend they found the bodies. Two dead men and a horse. Odell’s
horse.

One mitten flew to her lips. Ceylon felt the blood drain from her head. Where
was Odell?

Roland dismounted to examine the scene. “Cold, but not frozen,” he said as he
rolled one man over and examined the gaping edges of his throat.

Ceylon gulped and shut her eyes tight. It was a moment before she dared open
them. Still, she’d already seen the worst, and it stayed with her in the
darkness of her mind. The other man had been pierced through the eye. Gruesome,
but quick.

The mercy of it didn’t make her feel any better.

“Odell?” she croaked.

After circling the area and the horse, which had been felled with an arrow to
the heart, Roland nodded. “He stumbled off ahead. Dog tracks follow him, and I
see bite marks on this one man. Did he find a pet while he was at Murdock’s?” he
muttered to himself. “Looks like these two were on foot.”

“He was stupid to travel alone,” Uric said flatly.

“What did you expect?” Ceylon snapped. As if his pride would allow him to
stay after Roland made his contempt known. How she’d love to enlighten Roland
with a few facts! “We’ve got to find him!”

“There’s a farmstead just ahead,” Uric told her. “Ride on.”

The farm was surrounded by weathered wattle fences. A plume of smoke drifted
out of the sod roof of the stone dwelling.

“Odell!” Ceylon rushed forward the moment she spotted him.

His split lip made his smile as ironic as it must have been painful. “Lo. Saw
the wreckage, did you?”

The farmer and his wife looked relieved to see them. “He won’t let us tend
him. Said you’d be along in a bit to clean him up.”

One swift look around the dirty hovel convinced Ceylon of his good sense.
“I’ll—” she broke off with a hiss as Odell turned his head slightly. There was a
human bite mark on his cheek. “No,” she whispered, fearing the worst.

His eyes glistened, and he hid it by ducking his head. “Come, Dog,” he said
to someone under the table. A scruffy collie heeled as Odell limped toward the
curtained off doorway to the only other room.

“Boiled water, soap and a basin,” Ceylon told the farmer’s wife. “Anne, I
need my pack.” She took the oil lamp with her to the tiny bedroom. As soon as
she had her supplies she told Anne to stand watch on the other side of the
curtain. “I don’t need onlookers,” she said sharply to the others. Worry made
her tense.

Odell groaned as he sat down. “My arm slowed me up, and I took a bad tumble
when my....” His voice broke. “horse was shot down.” He swallowed. “Dog here
saved my hide. He got the one I didn’t. Gave me time to stab the dirty bugger in
the eye.” He flinched as Ceylon gently cleansed the bite. There was silence for
a moment before he answered her unspoken question. “He didn’t,” he said gruffly.
Beat of silence. “But he tried to.” This time when his eyes welled he didn’t
fight it.

“Shh....” Ceylon gathered him to her bosom and rocked him, her own pain
squeezing her throat. “Sh....”

* * * *

Ceylon dosed him heavily and stood guard while he was loaded into the two man
sleigh with Anne. Their warmed robes and bricks were placed around him. Ceylon
rode with Uric. It was another two hours until the next town, the last before
Queenstown. They didn’t even consider staying at the farm any longer. It was no
place to stay, not with the town so close.

“He’s shivering a great deal.” She bit her lip. “Shock, I think.”

“It’s normal,” Uric assured her. “Happens to me after every battle. Just the
body shaking out, and down.” He was careful how he phrased his next question.
“Are you certain he wasn’t....” He wasn’t certain a boy would admit to such a
thing, even to a healer.

“Yes. He wasn’t. He would have told me. And there are other signs.” A shudder
wracked her. “I’ve had to deal with such before.”

“I’m sorry.” And he was. Sorry there was evil in the world. Sorry he couldn’t
shield her from all of it. And most remorseful that she hadn’t given him the
right to soothe her in the best way a man could. Both of them could have used it
right now.

“He misses his horse. He loved him, Uric.” She sniffed.

He tightened one arm around her, drew her back into the shelter of his larger
body. “I know, sweet one. I know.”

Uric shut the door behind him, sending a curl of cold to swirl around
Ceylon’s ankles. “It’ll be a cold trip tomorrow, but quick enough. Three hours
and we’ll be in Queenstown.”

Ceylon shivered and drew her lap robe up closer. The guest parlor was drafty
even with the fire going. “How cold is too cold to travel?” The closer they got
to Queenstown the more she wouldn’t mind a delay. She was just now beginning to
thaw.

Anne patted her knee sympathetically and resumed her knitting. “Don’t fret
dear. It’s only a few hours to town and then you won’t have to travel again. No
doubt her majesty will offer you a position at court after you cure her
sisters.”

Although she appreciated the vote of confidence, Ceylon wasn’t nearly as easy
with her upcoming visit. Still, she smiled as if nothing were wrong.

Uric gave her shoulder a little squeeze and whispered in her ear, “I promise
it will be all right.”

She looked up and gave him a worried smile. “I’m sure you’re right.” Eager to
change the subject, she asked Odell, the last occupant of the room, “What will
you do when you get to Queenstown?”

The young man, who reclined on the only couch at Ceylon’s insistence, stared
at the ceiling a moment more. “Why, visit my dear mother, of course.” Heavy
brooding laced his answer. “And attend to a small matter of business.”

“Perhaps you would care to join me after you’re done? I could use an
entertainer around the house.” Not that she had a house to keep him in. They’d
be staying in Uric’s townhouse for a time, since he assured her it was better
than the cramped quarters she might be offered at the castle, if less
prestigious. Nor could she imagine the elegant bard installed permanently in her
little place back home. Still, she wanted Odell to feel he had a place to
go.

“Your kindness speaks well of you, mistress, but if all goes as planed I will
soon be traveling again.” His eyes grew dreamy, and he murmured something that
sounded like, ‘a sailing away’.

“Where to?”

“Someplace warm. I need some time to thaw in the sun. Did you know there are
isles where the people bask in the sunshine and do nothing all day but eat
coconuts?”

“Sounds deadly dull,” Anne said.

He just laughed. “Believe me, I’ve more than earned a little laziness. A
chance to dream.”