Once He Loves (Medieval 3)

He sat up, pulling her against him, his mouth hard on hers. She gasped at the suddenness of his passion, but a moment later had relaxed into his kisses with perfect contentment.

“I love you, my angel,” Ivo whispered against her lips. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” she replied.

At that moment, Ivo knew his happiness was complete.

Chapter 16

Briar pushed away her crust and cheese. Breakfast was no longer a meal she enjoyed, but it was necessary to take a few mouthfuls of something, to settle her roiling stomach. She glanced about her at Lord Radulf’s household, which was barely stirring after yesterday’s celebrations.

Radulf and Lily were still abed, but Ivo had risen early to go with Reynard, Ethelred, and Sweyn to search an area of the city where runaways were wont to gather. Briar had been left to her own devices. Not that she minded, for while Miles roamed free they were not safe. She wanted Ivo’s brother captured as much as anyone.

Radulf had decided that both Briar and Mary would be safer under his roof, and Mary had gone to the cottage with Jocelyn and Odo to fetch some of their belongings. It was only after she had gone that Briar remembered she had not asked for Mary to bring her sword, hidden under her bed. She had carried the sword with her, sometimes concealed under her clothing, since she left Castle Kenton two years ago.

She did not intend to leave it behind now.

Besides, it had been a gift from her father, and so was precious to her. Nay, she could not leave it in the dwelling by the Ouse to be stolen. It would take her but a moment to ride there and fetch it, and then she and Mary could return together.

Briar glanced at her crust again, but could not face it. There was no time like the present. Mayhap Ivo would be there when she returned. At the thought of Ivo, her body softened and burned, and she found herself smiling.

He loves me.

She hugged the knowledge to her heart, feeling supremely optimistic. Aye, he loved her, and all would be well. Radulf would find Miles and destroy him, and she and Ivo would live long lives without fear of what Miles might do.

Full of happiness, still smiling, Briar rose and went out to the stables to find a horse. In moments, she rode out into York.

Her cloak did not seem to warm her as it should. The day was bitter cold, the sky a steel gray without pity. The Ouse reflected the colorless sky, while a few dippers, their feathers ruffled, floated disgruntled upon its surface.

Smoke trickled from the sagging roof of her old home. Mary had lit the fire, then. Briar hurried to dismount and tether her mount, thinking how warm it would be inside. The door opened to her touch, swinging back in the dim and shadowy room.

A shape sat on a stool by the fire, hunched, dark, silent. The hairs rose on the back of Briar’s neck, and she stumbled back, gasping. And then her mind recognized Odo, and she gave a surprised laugh instead.

“Odo?” she said, moving into the room. “Where are Jocelyn and Mary?”

But of course Odo did not answer her. He had not spoken in two years, since he had been taken ill on the morning after Anna’s murder, and it was unlikely he would do so now.

Briar walked toward her bed, lightly touching Odo’s shoulder as she passed. Her sisters could not have gone far, or they would not have left Odo by himself. Briar had time to collect her sword and a few of her other belongings, and be rea

dy for them when they returned. And perhaps she had time to stand a moment, and remember all that had happened in this place, the small griefs and the larger ones, as well as the happiness she had shared…

“My brother’s wife.”

She did not even hear him arrive, just his words ringing in the silence. So smug, so satisfied, so victorious. His voice came from behind her, in the doorway, blocking off her only escape.

Miles.

Briar froze. Her heart gave that heavy thump. She knew she was in the presence of evil, and with only Odo to protect her. Slowly, gathering all her courage about her, Briar turned to face him.

He was standing just inside the room, and his smile told her the worst. He had been waiting for her, and he was planning to enjoy this.

“Do you know, I have been watching you from across the river,” he said, as if he wanted her to hear how clever he had been. “I have been watching you and my brother. Kissing, cooing like doves. I’ve seen everything. He was playing at protecting you, playing at being a knight. But he isn’t much good at it, is he? He never was.”

“Ivo will be here soon,” she said, as if he hadn’t spoken, and to her amazement her voice hardly trembled at all.

He grinned. “I doubt that, my brother’s wife. He is caught up with important matters. He is looking for me, but as usual he is looking in all the wrong places. By the time he recognizes it is you who is missing, it will be too late, you will be gone.”

“Gone where?”