Page 116 of Bride of Fire
“Indeed. But then, to have somehow made his way inside the keep,” Jenefer mused, “hiding right under the noses of the mac Giric clan…”
Alicia gave Morgan a nervous glance, then replied with sweet condescension, “With all due respect, lass, you weren’t there.”
Jenefer ignored the comment, pacing pensively before the window. “Was it just the English lord by himself? Or did he have his men with him? How did he manage to steal you out of the castle while you were kicking and sceaming?”
Alicia’s fury was palpable, but she gave Morgan a trembling smile. “I don’t wish to talk about this now.” She lifted quavering fingers to her brow. “I don’t feel well. Will you come up soon, Morgan?”
“At once,” he said.
With that, Alicia withdrew from the window.
Jenefer was unprepared for the venomous glare Morgan shot at her a moment later. He wasn’t vexed with Alicia. His anger was aimed ather.Sharper than any arrow, his betrayal pierced her heart.
He stepped near, looming over her like a raging dragon, and spoke through clenched teeth. “How dare ye speak like that to my wife?”
“What?” For a moment, hurt left her speechless.
“Ye don’t know what she’s been through.”
Her pain was quickly replaced by outrage. She narrowed her eyes at him, muttering, “Neither do you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he hissed.
“It doesn’t make sense, Morgan. None of it does. And you know it.”
“I don’t know what battle ye think ye’re wagin’, lass, but I won’t allow ye to attack the woman I…my wife…in that way.”
She met him, eye-to-eye, both of them aware of the subtle change he’d made in that statement. He’d meant to say “the woman I love.” And he hadn’t.
“Fine,” she said.
She sensed it was time to leave the field of battle to recover for the next. Despite Morgan’s stubborn defense of his traitorous wife, Jenefer knew her words would haunt him and make him question the truth. Meanwhile, she’d do everything in her power to protect him—and Miles—from Lady Alicia’s treacherous ways.
“I won the match,” she reminded him. “I’m keeping my longbow. And I’ll be commanding your archers.”
She could see he wasn’t pleased by the outcome. But he was a man of his word.
“Ye’ll betrainin’my archers. Command o’ them is still mine.”
Morgan trudged up the stairs to his bedchamber on leaden legs. He was displeased that Jenefer had upset his wife. He’d hoped to get Alicia to reveal the name of her abductor today. Now, because of Jenefer’s prodding, his wife had likely taken a step backward in her recovery.
But that wasn’t the only thing niggling at his brain.
Jenefer’s questions had been sensible. If he’d felt anything but relief over seeing his wife alive again, he would have asked them himself. And now they gnawed at his sense of reason like a rat at grain.
Godit the midwife may have facilitated Alicia’s abduction. True enough, she’d disappeared at roughly the same time. But she couldn’t have carried her out of the castle. After all, Godit had been the one to inform Morgan that Alicia hadn’t survived. She’d handed him their newborn infant. And she’d never allowed Morgan to see his dead wife. Which meant…
Someone else must have spirited Alicia away. Someone strong enough to silence her protests. Someone capable of conveying a new mother—desperate to save the bairn torn from her womb—out of the keep.
So howhadher abductor managed to infiltrate his household? And how had he slipped out again?
Why had he left the bairn behind?
Surely whoever took Alicia must have known she’d be more compliant with her child in tow. The bairn was Morgan’s firstborn son and heir. The abductor could have demanded a hefty ransom for the lad’s return.
But he hadn’t.
There was something Morgan wasn’t seeing. But until he could get the name of the villain from Alicia, there wasn’t much he could do.
