The memory struck Madelyne with the force of a gale wind and she could not help the smile that burst over her face. "Judith? 'Tis you?" Before she could speak further, she was enveloped by her childhood friend in an exuberant embrace and she felt tension ease from her body.
Judith stepped away, holding her by the fingertips, and appraised her bluntly. "Aye, Maddie, how you've grown into a beautiful woman! But we must do away with your clothing!"
Before Madelyne could protest that she had much too much with fussing over her dress, Judith spurred into action and began to issue firm, simple commands. "Fetch you my ribbons and girdles trunk, Mellie," she said to a maidservant who'd accompanied her. "Onda, I will need to see Mistress Blaine-send to her to see us before the midday meal. " Thus, each of the companions were sent away-including Tricky and Peg, who wished to accompany Onda on her mission-and the two women were left alone.
"At last," Judith said, casting her a bright smile.
"Please, sit," Madelyne found her voice and was determined to regain control over her future. She would gladly admit her deficiency in fashion and dress, and capitulate to those who knew better. But in other matters, she would not be overruled. Before she had a chance to speak and establish this, Judith waved a hand at her as she plopped onto the bed.
"I trow, 'tis most difficult to think up excuses to send them away that they do not wonder why I should be so urgent in the matter. 'Tis just that I wished for a moment alone with you-as you are guarded by that little dragon-to speak on these long years. " Her face, beautiful in its own right, softened from the smile into one of quiet sadness. "Dear Maddie, you cannot know how ill I felt when I learned you'd been drowned these ten years past. And you cannot know the hope I felt when Gavin shared that he'd found you yet alive. "
At the mention of Gavin, Madelyne felt an odd wrench in her stomach and she stood abruptly. This beautiful woman, with the red-gold beacon of a head and sparkling green eyes, was the one he'd told her to seek if she needed assistance. She spoke of him with familiarity and warmth, and though she shouldn't care, Madelyne couldn't keep back the unhappy thought of what Judith of Kentworth meant to Gavin of Mal Verne.
"Lord Gavin told me I should seek you out should I need assistance, but I did not know that it was you of whom he spoke," she replied carefully.
"How did he come to find you? How did you come to be alive?"
Madelyne gave a simple version of the escape she and her mother had made ten years earlier, careful to repeat the tale that Lady Anne had perished some years after reaching the abbey. "Lord Gavin came upon the abbey which had been our refuge, and after the sisters treated his wounds and those of his men, we released them. " She thought it best not to refer to the trick she'd played on Gavin. "'Twas only a fortnight later that he returned with an order from the king demanding my presence at court. " She looked questioningly at Judith. "I do not know why his majesty has ordered an audience with me. "
A flash of surprise flitted across Judith's face. "King Henry has requested your presence? But Gavin told me-" She stopped abruptly and bit her lower lip. For a moment, she looked uncertain, and Madelyne watched her steadily, her heart freezing.
Then Judith clapped her hands together in chagrin. "'Tis always my loose tongue that puts me into the fire!" She shook her head, and a thick coppery braid swung around, falling over her shoulder.
"What did Lord Gavin tell you?" Madelyne asked with a calmness she did not feel.
Judith sat upright on the curtained bed, still gnawing at her lower lip. "He came to me to ask if I recalled the markings on your wrist," she gestured to Madelyne's left h
and, the wrist barely exposed by the tight sleeve of her undertunic. "'Tis how he came to recognize you, if you did not know. "
Madelyne inclined her head, trying to subdue the churning in her middle. "What concern was it to him?"
"Your father and Gavin of Mal Verne are sworn enemies," Judith told her, her eyes wide and solemn. "Gavin has vowed to crush Fantin de Belgrume, and he has the support of the king in this. "
"King Henry has given his permission that Lord Gavin should kill my father?"
"Nay, not to kill him-'though, in truth, methinks Gavin would not hesitate to do so should he have a permissible reason. His majesty wishes only that de Belgrume, who has waged reckless war on other barons to steal their lands, should be brought under control. "
It suddenly became clear to Madelyne how she'd been manipulated. "Lord Gavin has brought me to the king to suit his own purposes then," she said flatly. "The king has not requested my presence-'twas only to suit Mal Verne that he has done so. "
Judith must have seen the coldness that settled over Madelyne's features, for she reached out to touch her friend's hand. "Maddie, Gavin does not mean you any harm-"
Madelyne drew away. "I do not know that. I do know that I'm here against my will, having been taken from the sanctuary in which I sought refuge-in which I was happy-for years. In this world, this man's world, I lose the freedoms I had in the abbey: the freedom to write and read, to manage my own affairs within the abbey, and the freedom to answer to no man except the king-who knew me not until Lord Gavin blazoned my presence to him. "
She wrapped her arms around her waist, fighting the fear and anger that swarmed her. She had been a fool to believe the man meant her no harm. . . a fool to consider that a man might have more than his own interests at heart. Lady Anne had warned her over many years. . . and every word her mother had spoken had flown away in the presence of Gavin of Mal Verne.
"I am to be used, then, to bring my father to heel-or to his death. " Her voice was dull and her mind numb. "Then Lord Gavin spoke true when he named me hostage. I am to be a tool, a carrot to dangle in my father's face. " All hope of returning to her private, simple life at the abbey disintegrated, and she stood abruptly, moving to look out of a small arrow-slit window.
"Madelyne-" But before Judith could finish her sentence, a rap sounded at the door, followed by the announcement that the maidservants had returned.
Madelyne turned to answer it, pausing with her hand on the leather strap. "For what reason does Lord Gavin seek such destruction of my father?"
For the first time, Judith's eyes shuttered and her face lost its inherent glow. "He seeks to avenge a wrong he believes your father has done me, and to atone for Gavin's own perceived sins toward me. And. . . for the other cause he has to hate your father-you will have to ask Gavin yourself. "
Although Madelyne pressed her for more information regarding Gavin's relationship with her father, Judith did not feel she should divulge more details. She would do nothing to promote Gavin's own feelings of guilt.
She made certain to remain in Madelyne's chamber until dinner, so that she could escort her proud friend to the hall where the meals took place. She'd been pleasantly surprised that Gavin had arranged a private chamber for her, but vexed that he had not visited his charge since leaving her there the day before. Thus, Madelyne had not ventured from the room, and had relied on her maids Patricka and Peg to procure bread, cheese, and wine for her meals.
"You must be starved!" she exclaimed when she learned of Maddie's simple fare.