Baron of Godsmere by Tamara Leigh

Author:Tamara Leigh [Leigh, Tamara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tamara Leigh
Published: 2015-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

His knees were sore, joints stiff. However, despite time spent with Father Crispin and at prayer, he could not keep his emotions from lurching each time his thoughts lit on Constance who should not be upon the barony of Godsmere…within the walls of Castle Adderstone…just down from the chamber that now belonged to Elianor and him.

Bayard halted before the solar’s door, considered his squire who had made his bed to the left of it, gripped the handle—and stilled as he questioned the wisdom of going in to his desirable wife. Not only was he determined to give her time to become accustomed to him, but the thought of consummating marriage to his second wife whilst the first slept so near was unsettling.

Telling himself his fatigue would quickly put him to sleep regardless of whether or not Elianor had taken her place in his bed or once more huddled on the pallet, he entered the chamber.

The glowing embers upon the hearth revealed she was not on the pallet nor the bed, though the turned back covers of the latter evidenced she had been there. Certain she must have lost her courage and curled up in one of the chairs, he closed the door and started toward them. She was not there.

“Accursed woman!” he growled and strode to the tapestry she had surely gone behind. Next, he cursed himself for leaving the door to the inner walls unlocked when he had earlier come through and overheard his wife and Verdun’s conversation. Not that Elianor could reach Agatha since the door that accessed the underground was locked, but she would try.

As expected, he opened the door to chill air. What he did not expect was darkness, certain she would have taken a candle with her. Guessing she must have heard him and put it out, he called, “Elianor!”

Silence.

“Enough!” he snapped. “Now!”

Still nothing.

Did he underestimate her again? Was it possible she had gained the underground? Or, thwarted, did she explore the passages in hopes of finding another means of reaching the witch? Of course, there were only two ways to access that cell—the stairs to the left and the cavern in the wood.

Being well-versed in Adderstone’s inners walls, Bayard did not return for a candle but briskly descended the steps. As he neared the landing, he halted. Elianor’s scent was here. More disturbingly, the scent that always called to mind iron and earth. Blood.

Gripped by fear of a sort he had known in a time so distant he could not recall the occasion, he caught a sound from below. Though faint, it was of breath.

“Elianor?” Cautiously, he descended the last steps lest he trod upon her. When he reached the landing and his foot nudged something, he dropped to his haunches and let his hands discover that to which darkness blinded him.

Knowing that how severely Elianor was injured depended on how far she had fallen and what part of her had taken the brunt of the fall, he cautiously worked his hands up

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