Page 54 of The Captive Knight
Clutching furs to her chest, she pulled her chemise from under the bed. She gathered it in her arms, a shield against the inevitable.
“There can be no wedding,frai.”
“Nonsense. There will be a marriage before dinner today.”
“The prince has put Sir Jehan under obligations.” She searched for the neck-hole of her chemise, holding furs close to her body until the linen covered her. “These obligations prevent him from making any other…attachments.”
Laurent switched his attention to Jehan, who came around the bed buckling his belt. “Tell me you will marry her.”
Jehan said, “I shall make arrangements.”
“See?” Laurent grinned at her anew. “I told you—”
“Arrangements,” Jehan interrupted, “for you to leave for the monastery this very day.”
“Afterthe wedding.”
“I will send two of my men to guard you.” Jehan’s words were low and calm, as if he were murmuring to an unbroken colt. “The roads are still dangerous.”
Laurent shook his head, his black eyes narrowing, and a look came over his face that made her heart falter.
Laury said, “You will marry my sister.”
A muscle moved in Jehan’s cheek. “If it were in my power, I would wed your sister this hour.”
“Thendo so.”
“The prince has arranged a betrothal with someone else.”
Laurent’s face went ashen-white. He took one step forward to seize a handful of Jehan’s shirt with a fist.
“It was my choice,” she said, swinging her legs out from under the covers before her brother did anything foolish. “Mychoice, Laury.”
“How could it have been a choice,” he argued, “when there is no alternative?”
“I could have refused him.” She stepped toward the men and clasped Laurent’s wrist, pressuring him to open his hand. “I offered myself of my own free will. I’d be lying if I pretended otherwise.”
“You,” her brother said, throwing the word in Jehan’s face, “promised to protect her.”
“That will never change.”
“This is your vengeance against my father. You’ve turned my sister into a—”
“Careful,” Jehan interrupted. “I won’t abide disrespect to her, even from her own brother.”
With one swift move, Jehan knocked Laurent’s grip away so sharply that Laurent’s wrist escaped her grip. Startled, she looked from one to the other, glaring hard at each other.
They both loved her. They both wanted the best for her.
“Come with me, Ally,” Laurent said in a soft, oddly calm voice. “There’s a convent alongside the monastery.”
“Go to the monastery with my blessing,frai.”She swallowed against the tightness of her throat. “I am staying here.”
He took a stumbling step back. Her ribs squeezed until she could hardly breathe. The look he gave her cut her to the quick.
She stared at her feet so she would not have to witness him leaving, though she couldn’t help but hear the drag of his foot as he headed toward the door. Whether she chose a convent or a leman’s bed, she supposed she’d always known she would lose one of them.
“Ally.”
She forced her chin up. Framed by the doorway, Laury gave her one last, inscrutable look.
“I always knew I would have to save you from yourself.”
