Page 85 of The Captive Knight
“And yet today, you stand before me, offering to cede the castle back to France.”
Aliénor pressed a hand against her heart. The skin vibrated against her palm. Why would Jehan surrender the castle? Had the prince found him a rich wife?
“I cede it to you,” Jehan said, “and your father the king, upon my own free will. And with it, I offer to pay homage.”
A shivering whisper of surprise shuddered through the hall as her thoughts raced in a thousand directions.
The regent said, “Does your liege lord, the Prince of Wales, know what you are offering me?”
“He does not.”
“You defy him.”
“I do, Your Grace.”
“And how am I to trust a man who breaks a solemn vow?”
“Because I break this vow in order to right a wrong. There is one, single condition to my offer.”
Aliénor’s fingertips started to tingle and she realized Blanche was gripping her hand like a vice.
“This condition,” the regent said, “no doubt involves the heiress to the castle, the lovely sister of the brave, crippled Gascon boy Thibaud has told me so much about.”
The regent had not spoken her name, but heads turned nonetheless, skirts rustled, sword sheathes jangled, and she felt the heat of the perusal of those around her like the blaze of torchlight upon her face.
“Everything I do today is for the lady.” Jehan lowered himself to one knee and held out his sword, flat between his outstretched hands. “Your Grace, I offer you the castle, my loyalty, and my sword—everything I possess—in return for my heart’s one and only desire: Aliénor de Tournan, as my wife.”
***
As Jehan’s proclamation echoed in the rafters, Aliénor stepped back, and then stepped back again. She ignored the whispers and stares as she pivoted on one foot and headed toward the front door of the great hall. She wasn’t sure what propelled her away from the ceremony—shock or instinct or just the need tobreathe—but she didn’t stop in the courtyard. She passed kitchen maids chatting as they pulled water from the well, stable boys dozing, and men heaping hay into troughs for the horses, increasing her pace to a run as she headed toward the castle portal.
Outside the cool tunnel, the sun warmed her hair, braised her cheeks, and stoked her thrumming excitement. The air smelled of warm grass and recent rain, and she knew she was standing on it only when she felt moisture soaking through her slippers.
She turned her face to the sky. Had she imagined what she’d just seen? Was she dreaming? Certainly she must have misunderstood what was said. Or had Jehan really just offered himself up as a knight to the king of France?
A clatter of hooves upon paving stones made her swirl around, but the rider leaving the castle was not Jehan. At the sight of her, the knight stopped, his mount kicking up gravel so fiercely that a shower of stones sprayed her leather-clad feet.
Guy de Baste said, “I see by your expression, my lady, that this news was as much a surprise to you as it was to me.”
Words were impossible, she could barely think.
“It’s a pity our plans have gone awry.” Guy de Baste’s reluctant smile held no humor. “But I suspect you won’t mourn me, eh?”
Indeed, she would not. The force and clarity of that singular thought knocked the fog from her senses. She had been numb since Sir Guy had made his offer, but as the numbness dissipated she realized she would never have vowed before God to be this man’s wife. She was no longer the girl she’d been before Jehan stormed into her life. She would never again consider offering her hand without offering her heart, as well.
Even a convent would have been better than a loveless marriage.
“The regent is generous,” she said. “Perhaps he’ll suggest another dispossessed heiress, or a rich widow.”
“Rich widow or not, sweet Aliénor, none will be as lovely as you.”
Gallant to the last. She granted him a smile. “I wish you great fortune, Sir Guy.”
“And to you.Adieu, ma chou.”
Sir Guy kicked his horse and headed along the path toward where the gate opened to the bridge across the river.
But she didn’t follow the path of his passing, for when Sir Guy moved away from the portal, another silhouette stepped out of the shadows.
