Page 17 of The Warrior's Innocent Captive

‘My father wasn’t a traitor,’ she said quickly.

Erik didn’t respond.

Her fists curled involuntarily. Since her father’s death she’d known that she was the only person who believed in his innocence. She’d hoped, rather than expected, that Erik would have regarded her father as innocent without her having to explain, purely because he’d come to know her.

She wanted Erik to know what her father was really like, not the man he was portrayed to be by all the malicious gossipers whose whispers followed her and Katherine on the rare occasions they walked around the fortress.

‘Do you believe he was guilty just because the King said so?’ She knew it was unfair to ask this of him. Lord Leofric had been found guilty of treason and to say otherwise was a crime against the Crown.

Erik rubbed his jaw. ‘I think...that a man can be put into an impossible situation. One where he has to make a decision that, no matter the outcome, will hurt someone. He may have to make choices that some would see as traitorous, but others would see as honourable. Sometimes it is not black and white, only grey.’

Linota stepped over a gnarled root. The trees were thinning out now, so they must be nearing the edge of the wood. Her time alone with Erik might nearly be over. For some reason it was important to her that Erik understood her point of view right now. She wanted him to know the truth about her family.

‘I don’t agree. I think there is only a right decision and a wrong one. Iknowthat my father was not guilty of treason. He was the loyalest, kindest man who ever lived. He was betrayed by his so-called allies who spread lies about him. The King believed them rather than my father and he was murdered.’

Linota had never spoken about her father before, not even to Katherine. But now the words were spilling out of her, ideas and thoughts she’d kept from everyone, feelings she’d kept buried for years.

Although no one spoke of Lord Leofric any more, she remembered the man who told her stories while she sat on his knee. She remembered how he had protected her from her mother, who was already showing signs of insanity long before his execution.

‘My father was a great man. He was not a traitor. It was the men who betrayed him who were guilty of treason, not him.’

Erik held a bramble aside so she could step through. ‘How can you be so sure?’ he asked. ‘You must have been a very young child when he died?’

‘He was hanged, Erik, before my eyes. I was not so young that I cannot remember every horrific detail of it. I can still hear the sound he made when the trap door fell away. I was ten years old, not a baby like everyone seems to assume.’

Erik stopped for a moment and leaned against a tree, a frown creasing his forehead. ‘I’m sorry, Linota. No child should have to witness such a thing.’

‘No, they shouldn’t,’ she said, sweeping past him, stopping a few steps away from the tree and gazing back at him. ‘My happiest memories come from when he was home and he would take me about on his horse. We would ride across the countryside, him holding me tightly in his arms. He would tell me the most fabulous stories. I can still remember them all and no one listening would doubt that he knew right from wrong. When I have children I am going to tell them every single one of his tales so that they know they must always make the right decision.’

Erik pushed himself away from the tree and continued walking. ‘Instead of dwelling on your father’s death, perhaps you should give thanks for your fortune at being loved by him. Some of us are not so lucky.’

It was Linota’s turn to stop abruptly. ‘You know who your father is?’

Heat washed over her as she realised what she had said. She had acknowledged that he was an unclaimed bastard. Although she didn’t have friends she knew this was not the kindest thing to say. Katherine would be disappointed in her if she knew.

Erik turned to her and his lips twitched without humour.

‘Aye, I know who he was. He’s dead now. Come on, I believe we’re nearly there.’

‘Who was he?’ Linota asked, curiosity getting the better of her manners.

Erik’s shoulders shook. ‘I’m not discussing that with you. Suffice to say he was not a good man.’

‘Why won’t you tell me? If he’s dead, it can’t do any harm.’

‘Can’t it?’

‘I wouldn’t tell anyone. I can keep a secret.’

‘How many secrets have you had to keep up until now?’ asked Erik, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Linota paused, her foot suspended in front of her. That was a good question. Other than her belief that her father was innocent of the crimes of which he’d been accused, she didn’t really have any secrets to keep. After her father’s fall from grace and the removal of the land and wealth from their family, Linota’s brother had gone to the Earl of Ogmore, with whom he had served as a page, and begged him to take in his sisters and mother. Ogmore had agreed in return for Braedan’s unswerving loyalty.

Linota was grateful to have had a home, something she had often repeated to herself over the years when the bleakness of her restrained circumstances threatened to swamp her.

Unable or unwilling to face people after their family’s fall from grace, their mother had kept the two sisters largely confined to their rooms for eight long years. Linota supposed that if she had any friends she would keep from them the truth that her mother was bordering on insane. It would reflect badly on her and Katherine and would likely hinder their chances of good marriages, something Katherine was particularly fervent about. She wouldn’t tell anyone of the beatings Katherine had endured or the near starvation the sisters had been through, but it was a moot point. She didn’t have friends or confidants other than Katherine who knew all anyway.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I haven’t had to keep secrets up until now, but I know that I can and I would keep yours.’

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