Darkspell - Katharine Kerr [62]
Bowing, Yvyr rose to speak.
“Most wise, my liege. I doubt me if even a single one of your vassals will grumble. Everyone knows that the Wolf lands form an important salient.”
“Good.” Glyn turned to Gweniver. “Well, there you are, Your Holiness. The matter is settled as you wished it.”
“My most humble thanks. My liege is most generous, and his councillors most wise.”
With a nod all round Glyn rose and ended the council. As Gweniver left, she realized that Dannyn was following her, but from a distance. She hurried down the corridor and the staircase to the great hall, but he caught up with her before she could reach the dais. The barely suppressed rage in his eyes was terrifying.
“I want a word with you,” he said. “Outside.”
“There’s naught that you have to say to me that you can’t say here.”
“Indeed? I think otherwise, my lady.”
Suddenly she felt the cold warning, telling her that she’d best let him have his talk before he made some kind of scene right there in the hall. Reluctantly she followed him out to the imperfect shelter of the overhanging roof of a storage shed.
“I’ve been thinking of what to say for three days,” he snarled. “I can’t wait any longer. I hear you’ve sworn a blood oath with Ricyn.”
“I have, at that. What’s it to you? We’ve sworn to share a grave, not a bed.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You’d best, because it’s true.”
For a moment he hesitated on the edge of believing her; then he smiled in a twisted sort of way. For the first time she realized that in his own harsh way he honestly cared for her, not merely lusted after her.
“Danno, look,” she said, softening her voice. “If ever I broke any vow I swore to the Goddess, I’d die the day after. I’m sure of it. She’d find a way to strike me down.”
“Indeed? What are you, then, a ghost from the Otherlands?”
“I have not broken my vow. And if you’re so sure I have, why aren’t you publicly proclaiming my sacrilege?”
“That should be cursed obvious.”
The soft way he smiled made her step back, yet he made no move toward her.
“It gripes my very soul to say this,” he went on, “but I love you.”
“Then my heart aches for you, because that’s a burden you’ll have to bear alone.”
“Let me tell you somewhat. I’ve never turned down a challenge when one was thrown my way.”
“It’s not a challenge, but the simple truth.”
“Indeed? We’ll just see about that.”
Over the next few days Gweniver felt as if she were doing a deadly dance to stay away from Dannyn. Whenever she came into the great hall, he would come over and sit with her as if he had every right to be there. Whenever she went out to the stables, he followed. Whenever she was on her way to her chambers, she met him in the corridor. He was setting himself to be charming, and it was painful to watch such a proud man trying to be courtly and seductive. During the day Gweniver took to spending as much time as possible with Ricyn. At night she would visit Nevyn in his chamber or shut herself up in hers with her maidservant for company.
On an evening when the wind moaned in the stone corridors, Gweniver went to Nevyn’s chamber to find that he’d acquired a couple of chairs. On his table he’d spread a cloth and put out a flagon of mead and three goblets.
“Good eve, my lady,” he said. “I’d like to invite you to stay, but I’ve got a couple of guests coming. I’ve been minding my courtesies and making friends out of Saddar and Yvyr.”
“That’s doubtless wise. No doubt they’ll resent your influence with the king if you don’t.”
“I had thoughts that way myself, truly.”
Gweniver had taken only about five steps down the corridor when she saw Dannyn, leaning against the wall and waiting for her. With a sigh she strolled over.
“Leave me alone, will you?” she said. “It’s miserably tedious to have you following me everywhere.”
“Ah, Gwen, please. I’m heartsick for the love of you.”
“Then go ask Nevyn for some physic.”
When she walked on by, he caught her shoulder.
“Get your hands off me! Leave me alone!”
Her voice was too loud, ringing in the empty corridor. His face scarlet with rage, Dannyn