Page 132 of Bride of Fire
She felt more at peace now, holding him safely in her embrace. And yet a mix of unexpected emotions washed over her, squeezing tears from her eyes.
Deep love and deeper sorrow.
Sorrow for what would never be.
Though Alicia had fled, she was still Morgan’s wife, still Miles’ mother.
It wasn’t fair.
Morgan deserved more than to be wed to a woman who would betray her husband, abandon her child, and commit murder.
Damn her eyes!Jeneferwas the one who loved them. Who deserved them.Shewould have been a faithful wife and a loving mother…if only she’d had the chance.
Amor vincit omniawas a bloody empty promise.
Love conquered nothing.
For the first time in her life, fierce and fearless Jenefer du Lac wept herself to sleep.
Chapter 58
Morgan let a whole day go by. He peered out his bedchamber window this morn at the ominous iron-colored clouds. A brutal storm was coming.
As foolish as it was, even after two days, he kept expecting his wife to return. Not that he would have taken her back. She was no longer the Alicia he’d known.
A soft knock sounded at his door.
“Come,” he replied.
It was Bethac. She’d wisely held her tongue for the past two days, as had Jenefer and Feiyan. This morn, the maidservant busied herself with silently straightening the bedlinens and stoking the fire.
“She’s alone out there,” he said, nodding toward the forest. “And a storm is on its way.”
He’d been Alicia’s husband for two years. In spite of everything that had happened, looking after her was second nature to him.
“She made her choice,” Bethac replied.
“She didn’t even take a cloak.”
When he turned to her, he saw Bethac struggling with her ire. Though his faithful old maidservant had hidden it well, she’d never approved of Alicia. He understood why now. Apparently, Bethac had better instincts than he did.
“She’ll be just fine,” she answered through thinned lips. “She’s a sly fox, that one, always findin’ a way out.”
He nodded. That was probably true, considering her gift for deception.
“Besides,” she added, “from what I hear, she has much more to fret about than the rain.”
Secrets were hard to keep in the mac Giric clan. By now everyone had likely heard about the murders. But he supposed it was just as well. His first priority was protecting his son. In her present state, and considering what she was capable of, he dared not let Alicia come anywhere near Miles.
Bethac answered the second knock on the door.
It was Jenefer. She had Miles. The wee lad looked at home in her arms, as if he had always belonged there. The bairn, blissfully unaware of the trauma that had unfolded around him, lit up when she transferred him to Morgan.
Morgan’s heart melted as he gazed into the lad’s innocent, smiling face.
He glanced at Jenefer, half-expecting the warrior maid to arch her brow, crowing that she’dtoldhim his wife was a liar and a cheat and a traitor.
But she didn’t. Instead, her fiery eyes were softened by compassion and shared sorrow. She said not a word. She didn’t need to. And her silent empathy touched him more than words could say.
