Promised to the Crusader. Anne Herries

      ‘She is but exhausted,’ Zander said. ‘I pushed her too hard, but I feared Newark still hunted for her.’

      ‘He is not a good man,’ Anne Stornway said, a thin smile on her lips. ‘He asked for my hand when I was but thirteen, but my uncle and brother sent him away. I am five and twenty now and past the age of marriage, but if the earl asked me a thousand times I would not take him.’

      Zander nodded grimly, carrying Elaine into the comfortable chamber that Anne led them to. The tester bed was hung with silk damask and the covers were fine Frankish velvet, woven in Rheims. Her pillows were of linen cases stuffed with goose feathers; it was the finest linen to be found in all Christendom, as were the sheets she pulled back so that he could place his precious burden down. For a moment he stood looking at Elaine as her eyelids fluttered and she cried out his name.

      ‘You are betrothed?’ Anne asked and Elaine heard their voices as from a distance.

      ‘We were once betrothed,’ Zander said and threw back his hood. ‘How can I ask a gentle lady to look at this every day of her life?’

      ‘If she loved you, she would seek only to ease your pain. I have unguents that would ease you. I shall give you some. Your servant may treat you, for the wound is healing, but needs something to ease it. I should be glad to offer you my cure, Sir Knight.’

      ‘You are kind, lady,’ Zander said. ‘I have lived with the pain for months. I can bear it—at least until I have time to rest.’

      Anne bowed her head and turned away. Unlike Elaine, she knew better than to argue with a man of his ilk; she had learned as a young girl that it was better to appease than quarrel, though he hadn’t noticed there was a tiny flame of anger in her eyes.

      Elaine moved her head on the pillows and her eyelids flickered. Zander looked at her and moved away from the bed.

      ‘I shall leave you to tend her,’ he said to Anne, walked away and left, closing the door behind him.

      Anne gazed after him a moment and then shook her head. Men were such fools. There was no understanding them. And this one roused such feelings in her that she had difficulty maintaining her air of calm, but she must—she must for otherwise she would betray herself.

      She moved back to the bed just as Elaine started up in fear. Again she called Zander’s name and looked about her, tears on her cheeks.

      ‘I dreamed he came to me…’ she said. ‘I dreamed he came back—but he was not the same.’

      Anne sat on the edge of the bed. She reached out to touch the younger girl’s face. Anne could feel only pity for this young woman.

      ‘Hush, lady. Lord Zander is not far away. He is anxious for your safety—but he is a man. They do not understand us or our needs. No man is worth a woman’s tears, believe me.’

      Elaine blinked the tears away. She pushed herself up against the pillows, looking at her curiously, for there had been bitterness in her voice. ‘Who are you, lady? I have not seen you before.’

      ‘I am sister to Philip, Lord of Stornway. In King Richard’s absence he is Marshal here and tries to keep the peace between the warring barons, but ’tis a thankless task. Most are too stubborn and too proud. My brother is sorely troubled by their lawless behaviour. I wish that the King would return and bring some order to this land.’

      ‘You speak truly,’ Elaine said and this time the tears would not be stopped. ‘The Earl of Newark gained my uncle’s trust and then tricked him. He took all that was my uncle’s—and would have had me, too, had I not run away.’

      Anne listened to her tale to the end and then nodded. ‘So Lord Zander came to your rescue, but it hurts you because he is not as he was?’ Elaine nodded, noticing the odd look in Anne’s eyes. ‘He has suffered things you could not even imagine, lady. My brother has spoken to returning knights before this. He has told me some of what he heard, but some he hid from me—though I guessed what he would not say. Lord Zander needs time to recover, to heal inside as well as out. One day he will be himself again. He should allow me to help him cure the wound to his cheek, but he is too proud.’

      ‘I fear that you are right and I hope that he will find peace one day.’

      ‘Only God can heal what ails him. My brother finds comfort in the Good Lord and so must we all.’ Anne crossed herself piously, but her eyes avoided Elaine’s, as though she would hide her innermost thoughts.

      ‘Amen to that,’ Elaine said. ‘My faith never wavered. I always believed that God would bring him back to me—but now…’

      ‘Now your love must be stronger,’ Anne said. ‘You must fight not only for his love, but for his soul. Restore him to his faith and he will be the man you love again. His physical scars may remain, but they will fade and are as nothing to the loss of his soul.’

      ‘How wise you are,’ Elaine said and smiled at her. ‘I must wait and see what time will do.’

      ‘As we all must. Now I must go, for my brother needs me to order his house when we have guests. A servant will come to bring food and drink.’

      ‘I am simply tired,’ Elaine said. ‘I shall sleep well this night, for I know we are safe. Even the Earl of Newark dare not attack the King’s Marshal.’

      ‘Not here in this stronghold for we are too well protected, but he might if he found us unprotected—that man is more evil than you know. I think there is little he would not dare.’

      ‘I know well of his misdeeds,’ Elaine said. ‘My serving woman had a sister and she was sent to serve the Earl of Newark’s first wife. When that gentle lady died at her vile husband’s hands, because she gave him a daughter and not the son he craved, she ran away. I found a place for her with my aunt so that she could be close to her sister—but I do not know what happened to her when my uncle was tricked into surrendering the keep.’

      ‘Then you must take great care—Newark is a vengeful man. Sleep now, lady, and I shall wake you in the morning to break your fast in good time, though your journey should be safer now, for my brother will send an escort with you. If Newark defies them, he will bring the King’s wrath on himself.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Elaine sighed as Anne went out and lay down, closing her eyes.

      ‘Zander,’ she whispered, tears upon her cheeks as she drifted into sleep. ‘Zander, please come back to me…’