Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [69]
“Cursed right, Silver Dagger!” Tudvulc could hold his peace no longer. “Elyc, may the gods blast me if I flaunt my rank in your hall, but think, man!”
“Just so.” Elyc rose to face the lady. “Well and good, then, woman. You will be turned over to Gwerbret Coryc of Caenmetyn to pay the full penalty for these heinous crimes. Tieryn Dwaen has come here with armed men to escort you back to his liege lord for that purpose. In the morning, I’ll give you over to his charge and offer him whatever aid he needs to return you to your lawful punishment.”
Mallona burst out weeping, throwing her head from side to side, writhing and sobbing as she desperately tried to look at Davylla. With tears running down her face, Davylla rose and approached her husband, kneeling at his feet and clasping his knees.
“My lord? Only one thing I would beg you. Don’t throw her into that prison house. Let her have a chamber for the night.”
“For your sake, my lady, I’ll do that, and besides, no matter what she’s done, she’s noble-born.”
The chamberlain stepped forward and bowed.
“My lord? I know a little room that can be barred from the outside, and I’ll have the shutters over the window barred, too.” He glanced at Dwaen. “Does that suit His Grace?”
“It does, my lord, and my thanks.”
Elyc himself went with the servants, and Rhodry followed, to make sure that Mallona’s temporary prison was a secure one. When Sevinna rose, Dwaen joined her, smiling as he laid his hand on her arm.
“Well, my lady, I’m afraid it won’t be much of a wedding procession, but will you come home with me when I ride?”
Sevinna glanced round and found her uncle glaring at her.
“Perhaps I’d best go to my father’s home first, my lord, and you can fetch me there.”
“Very nicely put, lass.” Tudvulc turned the glare on Dwaen. “Still hasn’t been a word said about the blasted dowry or your marriage gifts, eh?”
Gathering her skirts around her, Sevinna swept off to join the other women, who were waiting for her near the staircase. For a long moment they stared at her, pale faces, reproachful eyes, soft trembling mouths.
“My lady?” Sevinna said to Davylla. “Think of me what you will, but Mallona was a spider in your glove, not a friend. I only spoke against her for your sake.”
“So it seems. Why did you ride off like that?”
“To keep her from poisoning me. I’m the one who exposed her ruse to trap Jill.”
“She never would have!” Babryan broke in. “I don’t believe it. She’d never have hurt you, and she didn’t poison that lover, either!”
“Baba, don’t be a dolt,” Wbridda snapped. “Or do you think she confessed like that because it was good sport?”
Babryan began to cry, then turned and ran for the stairs.
“I never liked her, anyway,” Wbridda hurled after.
With a sob, Babryan raced upstairs, turning round the spiral and disappearing. More slowly, the others followed. When they reached the guest chamber, they found the door barred. From inside they could hear weeping.
“Baba, darling,” Davylla called out. “Now be sensible and open that door. Sevvi and Bry have to sleep, too, you know.”
The weeping stopped, but there was no answer. Davylla knocked and ordered and begged as well, but the only reply was a furious “Go away! I hate you!”
“Ah, well,” Davylla said at last. “There are plenty of beds in other chambers. Here, perhaps it would be best, anyway, if you two shared a chamber nearer my own. I have plenty of nightdresses, too.”
“She’ll be better in the morning,” Wbridda agreed. “We can talk to her then.”
Although Sevinna hated to leave Babryan alone with her wounds, there was no getting her cousin to open the door, and she allowed herself to be swept off by Lady Davylla. As soon as she was lying in a comfortable bed, she fell asleep without any worries for either present or future, but all that night she dreamt about Dwaen.
Since Jill and Rhodry had been given a chamber of their own, Jill was planning on sleeping as late as courtesy would allow, but the gray of first dawn still filled the room when she