Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [29]
In the resulting confusion, Jill could draw Vyna to one side.
“I’ve got some important news. Lord Beryn knows about your baby. He wants to claim him and raise him as his heir.”
Vyna froze.
“Can you bring yourself to give him up?” Jill went on. “You know that Dwaen would never let the lord take him against your will.”
Vyna laid the basket down and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
“He’d have everything in life this way,” Jill said. “Even a title, and you’d have a chance to find a man of your own.”
Vyna turned and walked blindly out of the kitchen hut, the baby swaying and bobbing on her back. Jill ran after her, catching up to her near the well just as Lord Beryn himself came hurrying over with a chunk of bread in his hand. Her head high, Vyna refused to curtsy; she stood her ground and let the lord look her over.
“I do remember you, truly,” Beryn said. “And that’s the baby, is he?”
“He is, my lord,” Vyna said. “My child.”
Beryn had a thoughtful bite of bread and went on considering her. He towered over her, a strong man still, gray hair or not, his narrow eyes utterly cold and not a trace of a smile on his face, but Vyna stared back at him with her mouth set like a warrior’s.
“You’ll swear the child is my son’s?” Beryn said.
“He’s mine first, my lord, but your son had somewhat to do with getting him.”
“A strong-minded lass, aren’t you?”
“I’ve had to be, my lord.”
Beryn finished most of his bread, then threw the crust away.
“Well, you’ll be better off in a dun than you’ve been in the kitchen,” he said. “After we’ve attended to this other matter, I’ll ride here and fetch you and the lad.”
“Me, my lord?”
“Well, think, woman! What am I going to do with a babe in arms? I’d only have to find him a nurse anyway. Might as well be you.”
Lord Beryn turned on his heel and walked back to his men. Vyna covered her face with her hands and sobbed aloud.
“Hush, hush,” Jill said, patting her shoulder. “There, see? No one’s even going to take him away from you. But I don’t envy you, shut up in that dun with his lordship there.”
“I’d put up with the Lord of Hell if I had to for my baby. He’s better than that, I suppose.” With one last sob, she wiped her face on her sleeve. “I’m more afraid of what everyone’s going to say about me than I am of him.”
“I doubt me if you’ve got much to worry about. Lord Beryn would take it as an insult if anyone mocked the mother of his heir, and I’ll wager no one insults his lordship lightly.”
Once the men had eaten, they changed horses, then rode out fast, determined to reach Beryn’s dun by sundown. A few miles down the road, they met a single rider, coming fast on a gray gelding. With a yell, Lord Beryn pulled out of line and galloped to meet him with the rest of his escort streaming after. A river of men and horses surrounded the rider and swept the noble lords into the eddy as well. Rhodry, of course, stayed close to Dwaen.
“It gladdens my heart to see you, my lord,” the rider said to Beryn. “I was riding to Caenmetyn with a message for you.”
“Indeed?” Beryn leaned forward in his saddle. “Then spit it out, lad.”
“Somewhat’s wrong with your lady. After you left, she was all upset, like, but well, we figured that she would be, with you gone off like that to face—well, trouble and suchlike.” He gave the gwerbret a nervous sidelong glance. “But anyway, in the middle of the night, that merchant comes to the gates on a foundered horse. Bavydd. Do you remember him, my lord?”
“Very well indeed. Go on.”
“And he says he has news from Caenmetyn, and so of course we let him in. We all thought it was good of him to ride so fast with the news for your lady. So anyway, Bavydd stays for a bit, and Lady Mallona tells us not to worry, because the malover’s gone in your favor. And so we cheered the merchant and then all went to bed. In the morning, the gatekeeper tells us that Bavydd rode out not long after we left the great hall, on a horse your lady gave him, to make up for his, like. But now the Lady Mallona’s shut