"You cannot do this," she said frantically as she felt the ground tremble from the stamp of Rogan's men's horses. "Rogan will run you through."
"I cannot believe that your brother would be that stupid. The king would have him drawn and quartered. Now be still and smile at him. Are you not glad to see him?"
The man is crazy, Zared thought, absolutely crazy. If she had been strong enough, she would have carried him to safety, but as it was she could only stand beside him, her heart pounding in her ears, her body trembling, her hands and feet cold from fear, and watch her brother approach.
Rogan rode at the head of what must have been three hundred men, and she wondered where they had all come from. Some of them she recognized, but most she did not. She tried to straighten her back, but it seemed to be made of gelatin.
Rogan and his men rode straight for the front of the house, their horses trampling over the pretty walkways and the flowers and the shrubbery. In spite of the seriousness of the situation she found herself frowning. Rogan would not think flowers meant anything in life.
"Good morn to you, brother," Tearle said cheerfully. "Will you come inside and eat with us?"
Rogan, atop his horse, his red hair making him look angry even when he wasn't, looked even bigger than Zared remembered. "I have come for my sister," he said in a voice that Zared had always obeyed.
She started to pull away from Tearle, but he held her fast.
"We will be ready soon," Tearle said. "Our garments and household goods are being packed now. But come and rest with us while we wait. I have ordered a half dozen cows killed, and they will be set to roasting soon. Your horses must be hungry, too."
Zared looked up at her brother and knew that Tearle must sound as insane to him as he did to her.
Rogan ignored him as he looked at his sister. "Mount and ride."
Again Zared tried to obey, but Tearle held her.
Rogan drew his sword. "Do you force her? I will kill you now."
At that Tearle released Zared, thrusting her behind him as he reached for the small knife at his side. Zared jumped between the men.
"He does not hold me," she said as loudly as her powerful lungs would allow. "No man holds me. I am free. Oh, Rogan, do not kill him. I have come of my own free will. Do not harm him."
She looked from one man to the other and knew in that instant she had insulted both men. She knew that Rogan had thought that she was honorable and that the only way she would have gone with a Howard was if she had been forced, but now he knew that she was not honorable, that she had betrayed the ancient Peregrine name. And she had insulted her husband by, in essence, saying that a woman must fight his battles for him.
It was Tearle, as she knew it would be, who made the first move toward peace. He sheathed his knife. "I do not wish to fight you. We are related now, and I wish this feuding to stop. You must come and eat with me, and we will discuss the future."
Rogan sneered down at him. "How many men do you have hidden in the house, Howard? Do you plan to take us once we are inside and befuddled with drink?"
"We can eat outside and drink water if that is your wish," Tearle said.
At that there were many groans from the men behind him.
"He will not attack you," Zared said. "He believes in peace." She said this with some wonder in her voice. How could one think of peace when looking at three hundred armed men?
At that Tearle put his hands on her shoulders. "I think you should leave us. Your brother and I have matters that we must discuss."
Zared turned pale at that. "I cannot leave the two of you alone."
Tearle looked up at Rogan as he sat on his big horse. "Your brother may hate me, but he is not a fool. He knows that if he kills me and takes you, now that you are my legal wife, then my brother will wipe what is left of your family from the face of the earth. Is that not right, brother?"
"I am not your brother," Rogan muttered, but he looked at his sister. "Go. I will not kill him—not now. Ready yourself to return with me."
She nodded at her brother, then took one more look at her husband and went back into the house.
"What are they doing now?" Zared asked Margaret.
"The same as before. The men are eating, and your brother is sitting at the table in silence, but he is listening. Lord Tearle is doing all the talking."
"Yes, yes, I know that he is a talker. He could talk until a dead man would leave the room to get away from him." She remembered the way Tearle had been able to twist everything she had said to him so that it was to his advantage. "My brother is not so easily led as I was," she muttered to herself. "Rogan will not agree to what a Howard says."
"Yes, my Lady Howard," Margaret said softly, making Zared grimace.