Page 48 of Hers To Command
“Granted—but it could be. And Roald’s related to the queen, as are these ladies. You’ve always professed to dislike and distrust Eleanor.”
“So I do. The ladies’ relationship with Eleanor is a distant one, much less close than that of Roald.”
Ranulf stopped petting the dog and looked at his friend. “Even if there’s no overt sign of enmity from the king, you do realize you’ll probably never be given an estate by our sovereign after this?”
Henry slouched further down in his chair. “A knight should not concern himself with personal gain.”
“I appreciate that’s how it’ssupposedto be,” Ranulf replied. “Knights who are already wealthy and have estates can afford to take such a high road, but you and I are not rich, nor do we possess estates—and now, it seems, you’ve made it doubly difficult to get one.”
Henry regarded his friend with a critical expression that was new to Ranulf, although it wouldn’t have been to the soldiers slumbering nearby. “I don’t see you trying very hard to win one.”
“Because I don’t particularly care. I’m quite comfortable at Tregellas, for the time being, but you—”
“How’s little Lady Bea?” Henry interrupted. “Still mooning over you?”
Ranulf’s jaw clenched. “We are not talking about Lady Beatrice. We’re talking about the trouble you’re causing by being here.”
“So I don’t get an estate from the king,” Henry replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve managed without one so far.”
Some of Ranulf’s impatience made itself manifest. “All right, then. We won’t discuss how this affects you. What about Nicholas, your sister Marianne and Merrick?”
Henry frowned. “What about them?”
“If the king thinks you’re against him, he may think they are, too.”
The worry left Henry’s face. “They can claim—quite rightly—that they had no idea where I was or what I was doing.”
Ranulf’s patience frayed still more at his friend’s nonchalant response. “No, they didn’t, and you didn’t consult with them before you chose to stick your nose where it didn’t belong.”
Henry kicked at a log in the fire, sending a shower of sparks into the air. “I’m not a child to have to consult with anyone about what I do or where I go.”
“No, you’re not,” Ranulf retorted. “You’re a grown man who should think before he does something—a concept you apparently cannot grasp. What if the king doesn’t believe they were ignorant of your involvement in this dispute?”
Henry scowled—another sign that something was amiss. “The king will believe what he believes—I can’t help it if he sees conspiracies everywhere, whether they exist or not. If he was really worried about rebellion, he wouldn’t listen to his wife so much.”
“Hush!” Ranulf chided, looking around to make sure no one had heard that fierce denunciation.
Henry got to his feet. “I won’t be quiet and I won’t sit here and listen to you, my alleged friend, criticize what I do. Such fine friends I have! Merrick accuses me of being a traitor and attempting to abduct his wife, and you have all but charged me with being no better than a selfish fool.”
The hall was not the place to continue this…discussion, so Ranulf grabbed Henry by the arm and pulled him into the kitchen corridor, where it was relatively private. “Let’s assume you don’t give a damn about your own future, or your family’s or your friend’s,” he hissed, “and talk about the ladies. What do you think will happen if you lose against Roald?”
Ranulf held up his hand to silence Henry’s potential protests. “You know as well as I that Roald is vicious, cruel, and unprincipled. He won’t kill them—they’re too valuable for that, but it doesn’t take a seer to guess they’ll suffer somehow for daring to defy him.”
“It’s because he’s already made them suffer that I’m here,” Henry retorted. “And wewon’tlose.”
“Oh, so you can foresee the future? You already know how the battle will go? Damn you, Henry, you ought to know anything can happen in a battle. You could get killed or maimed. Your men might be outnumbered and overwhelmed.Anybodycan lose. The outcome is in God’s hands, not yours, and we cannot know the will of God. What about the ladies then? And the garrison? De Sayres will probably kill anybody who took arms against him.”
“It can’t be the will of God that we lose. Justice demands that—”
“Oh, God, Henry, listen to yourself! Justice is decided by the victors.”
Henry glared at him, angry, hostile—not like the man Ranulf had known since boyhood.
“Shut your mouth and leave me alone,” he growled, turning toward the hall.
Roald grabbed his friend’s shoulders and pinned him to the wall.“Why,Henry? Why are you doing this? It’s obvious Lady Giselle isn’t interested—”
Henry swiftly brought up his arms to break Ranulf’s hold, then shoved him across the corridor so he hit the opposite wall.
