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Now Edlyn stiffened. He’d just been given as ruthless a reproach as she’d ever heard Lady Corliss give, and when she offered him his own way, he claimed it wasn’t enough.
Yet he gave an explanation, which was more than she expected. “I’ve been too long from the battlefield, and I need to claim my new lands before autumn. I need to go as soon as possible.”
“I’m not going without my children,” Edlyn said. About this, she allowed no room for debate.
Lady Corliss was more concerned with the validity of the marriage. “Banns are necessary. I would not have you discard Lady Edlyn and claim an improper ceremony.”
“Then call them three times today and let us wed before the sun sets.” He stood, depositing Edlyn carefully on her feet. “Else I’ll take Edlyn with me without the ceremony.”
Lady Corliss hesitated, then bowed her head. “It shall be as you solicit.”
Taking Edlyn’s chin in his hand, he leaned toward her. “Stop glaring at me like that. Our marriage will be propitious, you’ll see. Now be a good lass and get cleaned up for our wedding.” He straightened and dusted his hand over her head. “You still have weeds in your hair.”
“I do hate you.” She said it flatly, with the intensity of one who had never laid claim to such emotion before.
He heard it, she guessed, because he blinked. “But why would you?”
His obtuse confusion made her want to scream, but she didn’t. She controlled herself enough to answer, “Because you think you’re doing right.”
He corrected her. “I know I’m doing right.”
She did scream then, just a little. How could she talk to a man like this? He was even more pigheaded than Robin, and she hadn’t thought that was possible.
Robin. She stilled and drew a painful breath. “I won’t say aye.”
“What?” Lady Corliss asked.
“When?” Hugh looked confused.
“At the wedding ceremony. I won’t agree to become your wife.” Both of them stared at her stupidly, as if she were some tame house cat who’d suddenly spat in their faces. “I’ve done that already—been the wife of a warrior.”
“Of course you have. Who else would you wed?” Hugh demanded. “A man of the cloth?”
He didn’t understand. He’d never understand, and she would just weary herself trying to explain, so she added, “You’re rebelling against the king, and I have no wish to be branded the wife of a traitor again.”
Lady Corliss gazed at him from top to toe as if she could discern the slant of his loyalties by his appearance. “Are you a traitor?”
For an answer, Hugh walked to the huge Bible that sat on the corner of her desk. Putting his hand on it, he said, “I swear I am not a traitor to the king.”
He was staring at Edlyn, but Lady Corliss answered. “That’s that, then. You’ll have to wed him, Lady Edlyn.”
Was he a liar as well as a scoundrel? Edlyn would have said yes only a few moments earlier, but Lady Corliss had a fine sense for those who lied, and she had readily accepted Hugh’s vow. Was he a traitor? She didn’t really care. “I will not,” Edlyn said. “He’s a warrior.”
If Lady Corliss understood Edlyn’s statement, she showed no indication. “Wed him or not, you cannot remain at the abbey. Your presence has created dissension and turned our thoughts away from our service to God.”
Edlyn’s guts squeezed tight with pain, but panic drove her. “I’ve been on the road before.”
“And your sons will have to remain here, safe from your influence.”
Briefly, Edlyn fought comprehension, but when she understood, she cried, “You can’t take my sons!”
“But I can. They are already under the care of our monks, and a woman such as you cannot be allowed to raise children.”
Lady Corliss didn’t believe in Edlyn’s disgrace. Edlyn knew she didn’t. But she would enforce God’s will, regardless of Edlyn’s desire, and she wisely chose the weapon to wield.
Would she throw Edlyn out of the abbey? Would she take Edlyn’s sons away from her?
Edlyn knew the answer without a doubt. Hostility and despair mixed in equal parts, but she bridled her defiance, bowed her head, and whispered, “It shall be as you wish.”
