Cross by Demelza Carlton

Author:Demelza Carlton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lost Plot Press
Published: 2022-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

It was a week before Christmas when the supply boat finally arrived. Two weeks late, and Romein had begun to fear that he would be forced to spend the entire Yule season at the mill instead of at home with his family. So when he heard the sailors' shouts from the river as they tied up, he dropped his tools and raced outside to see for himself.

The men from the salt works pitched in to help unload, and they were soon trooping in and out of the mill, carrying sacks and barrels enough to see him through the winter. Julia stood just outside the door, staring, but then one of the men ducked his head and said something to her, and she answered him with a smile.

Curious, Romein moved closer.

Another man ducked his head as he stepped over the threshold with a sack over each shoulder. "Lady Julia," he said.

"Henk," she said.

These must be men from Veluwe, that she knew them by name. Yet they called her Lady Julia, not miss or mistress, as he would expect of anyone but the Bishop's wife, the lady of the estate herself. But Julia had said she had no husband, and he did not believe she had lied about that. So if she was not the Bishop's wife, then she must be his daughter. Romein had heard nothing about the Bishop having a daughter, only sons, but he'd also seen how she travelled as a man in company with her brothers, so it made sense that the Bishop wished to protect his only daughter as best he could. Sending her out to Veluwe, where no one would see her, until he meant to marry her off to cement some alliance or other.

That must be why she was headed home – answering a summons from her father, to obtain a husband she did not yet have.

His heart ached at the thought of Julia, handed over to some old man, like a Yule gift. Stuck in a loveless marriage, her brilliant mind confined to the great house of some lord as she was forced to lie with him, and bear his heirs. Just the thought of some stranger touching her...undressing her, caressing her, slaking his lust with her, when she deserved to be loved, and worshipped, and cherished...

God, what he would give to be allowed to do those things to her. For her, to her, with her willing consent, a joyous smile and...and...

At least Rosaline had chosen that fate. Julia had been exiled to Veluwe, and now she faced a worse punishment on her return. And for what crime? That of being born a woman, a daughter to that ruthless Bishop, instead of a son.

"I have strict instructions from your mother to stuff you into a barrel and carry you home, if you are not willing to leave the mill and your projects," the captain of the boat said.

Romein looked up, startled out of his dark thoughts about Julia. "What threats did my mother issue this time?"

Captain Balthasar grinned.

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