Velvet Song (Montgomery/Taggert 4)

“I don’t remember Alyx saying anything about that.”

“I don’t think she did—directly, anyway. But she did mention that later she told the King stories about her life in the forest. I heard King Henry had her dress as a boy once to prove she’d actually done it.”

“You think Alyx told King Henry about how some of the people had been unjustly treated?”

Gavin smiled. “Sometimes Alyx is so innocent. With her background I doubt if she had any idea of the power she held. Men have killed to be able to hold the King’s ear for as long as she did each day. If she’d had an enemy she could have sent him to the gallows.”

Judith gave her husband a speculative look. “Or she could have saved several hundred people. By any chance were more pardons issued?”

Gavin grinned. “Raine was allowed to pardon anyone he thought fit for forgiveness. According to Jocelin, Alyx sang songs of Raine’s loyalty and honor until King Henry was ready to declare him a saint. She twisted things until it seemed Raine was doing the King a favor when he attacked Chatworth.”

“Clever girl! She can do so much with that voice of hers. The people know that it was she who obtained their pardons?”

“This man Jocelin made sure they knew. When it comes to singing praises, he’s as bad as Alyx. All of them sent greetings to Alyx and said they wished her well. The lot of them are as bad as Stephen’s Scots—the world is losing respect for its betters.”

Judith laughed at that. “We must tell Alyx she’s done some good and now we’ll start working on Raine. He must see that Alyx has not insulted him by going to the King.”

“I hope you can reason with him.”

“I pray that I can, too.”

Chapter Twenty-three

A MONTH PASSED and there was no word from Raine—and all correspondence sent to him was ignored. For the first weeks Alyx was sad but her sadness soon turned to anger. If his pride meant more than their love and their daughter, so be it.

Her anger fed itself for an entire summer. She watched Catherine grow, saw that the little girl had indeed inherited her father’s sturdiness.

“There’ll be no chance for a slim, elegant lady,” Alyx sighed, looking at Catherine’s chubby legs as she took her first steps.

“All babies are fat,” Judith laughed, tossing her son into the air. “Catherine looks more like Raine every day. Too bad he can’t see her. One look at those violet eyes and her dimples and he’d melt. Raine could never resist a child.”

Judith’s words haunted Alyx for days and at the end of the fourth day she made a decision. “I’m going to send Catherine to her father,” Alyx announced one evening as Judith was weeding the roses.

“I beg your pardon?”

“He may not forgive me, but there’s no reason Catherine should be punished. She’s almost a year old now and he’s never even seen her.”

Judith stood, wiping her hands. “What if Raine doesn’t return her? Could you bear losing both your husband and your daughter?”

“I’ll say I’m sending her until Christmas, then Gavin will fetch her. Raine will honor the agreement.”

“If he agrees.”

Alyx didn’t answer. She hoped with all her heart that Catherine would win her father’s heart, melt it.

Days later, when Catherine was ready to leave, Alyx almost changed her mind, but Judith held her shoulders and Alyx waved goodbye to her daughter, who was escorted by twenty of Gavin’s men and two nurses.

Alyx waited breathlessly for the next weeks. No message came from Raine, but one of the nurses wrote regularly, sending her letters via a complicated network arranged by Gavin through Jocelin.

The nurse wrote of the turmoil that had been caused by Lady Catherine’s arrival and how brave the little girl had been. Raine’s house, his men and Raine himself had frightened her badly. At first the nurse thought Lord Raine was going to ignore his daughter but once, while playing in the garden, Raine had retrieved Catherine’s ball and he’d sat a few moments on a bench watching her. Catherine had begun rolling her ball toward her father and he had played with her for an hour.

The letters of the nurse began to describe more and more incidents. Lord Raine took Catherine for a ride. Lord Raine put his daughter to bed. Lord Raine swears his daughter can talk, that she is the smartest child in all of England.

Alyx was glad to hear the news but she was unhappy at being so alone. She wanted to share the pleasure of their daughter with her husband.

In the middle of November, the letters stopped and it wasn’t until nearly Christmas that she heard any more news. Gavin came to her and said that Catherine had been returned and waited below in the winter parlor.

Alyx flew down the stairs, tears blurring her eyes as she saw her daughter in an elaborate dress of gold silk standing quietly before the fire. It had been months since they’d seen each other and Catherine took a step away from her mother.