“Yes, as well as can be expected. Where is Stephen?”
“Below, with the others. The castle was easily captured once the wall was down. The maid and your mother-in-law wait below with John Bassett, but we cannot find Judith.”
“She is there,” Gavin said coldly. “See to her while I find Stephen.” He pushed past Raine and left the room.
Raine stepped inside. At first he didn’t see Judith. She sat on a chest at the foot of the bed wearing a man’s tunic. Her bare legs hung below the hem. She looked up at him with tearful eyes. She was a forlorn-looking creature, and his heart went out to her. Raine clumped across the room to her, his leg still heavily bandaged. “Judith,” he whispered and held out his arms to her.
Judith didn’t hesitate to seek the comfort of his strength. Sobs tore through her. “I killed him,” she cried.
“Who?”
“Walter.”
Raine held her tighter, her feet nowhere near the floor. “Did he deserve killing?”
Judith buried her face in his shoulder. “I had no right! God—”
“Quiet!” Raine commanded. “You did what must be done. Tell me, whose blood is on the wall?”
“Arthur’s. He was Walter’s vassal.”
“Come now, don’t cry so much. All will be well. Come below, and your maid will help you dress.” He didn’t want to know why her own clothes lay slashed on the floor.
“My mother is well?”
“Yes, more than well. She looks at John Bassett as if he were the Messiah come again.”
She drew away from him. “You blaspheme!”
“Not I, but your mother. What will you say when she lights candles at his feet?”
She started to reprimand Raine, then smiled, the tears drying on her cheeks. She hugged him fiercely. “It is so good to see you again.”
“Always, you give more to my brother than to me,” came a solemn voice from the doorway.
She looked up to see Miles, his eyes as much on her bare legs as anything. She had been through too much to blush. Raine let her down and she ran to hug Miles.
“Has it been bad?” he asked as he held her close.
“More than bad.”
“Well, I have news to cheer you,” Raine offered. “The king summons you to court. It seems he has heard so many reports of you from your wedding that he wishes to see our little golden-eyed sister.”
“To court?” Judith asked.
“Let her down!” Raine said to Miles with false annoyance. “You hold her too long for brotherly affection.”
“It’s just this new fashion she wears. I hope it will set a trend,” Miles said as he set her on the floor.
Judith looked up at them and smiled. Then her tears began again. “It’s good to see you both. I will go and dress,” she said as she turned.
Raine swept his mantle from his shoulders and enveloped her in it. “Go then. We will wait downstairs for you. We leave today. I don’t want to see this place again.”
“Nor do I,” Judith whispered, not looking back but carrying a vivid image of the room in her mind.
Chapter Twenty-One
“YOU KNOW OF THE CHILD?” STEPHEN ASKED GAVIN AS they walked side by side in the Demari castleyard.