Daughter of the Forest (The Sevenwaters Trilogy) by Juliet Marillier

Author:Juliet Marillier
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2010-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

I became surer, as time passed and the moon waxed and waned, that there was a small and very effective net of protection around me that was tightly under Red’s control, as was all else in his domain. There was Margery, who soon became a friend. That was a novelty for me. I had never had a woman friend, unless you counted Eilis, whom I’d always thought rather boring and silly, although I could not fault her taste in men. Margery was sweet, but she was also strong, in a way that became apparent to me as day followed day, and she parried the other women’s comments with firm politeness, and continued with her small kindnesses to me. She was strong as she admonished the girl who said, only half joking, that Margery had better not let me touch her stomach, where the unborn child now grew large and heavy, lest I put a curse on it and it be born dead or deformed. She was strong as she asked Lady Anne, very courteously, if I might have another change of clothes and a good oil lamp for my room in the evenings. She began to talk to me about other things; about how much she had missed John when he was away, and her baby growing fast in the womb. About how eagerly they awaited this child, for she had once had another that had lived but a few moments in the world, and it was many moons now since they had laid their tiny daughter to rest under the great oaks. About how Red had not wanted John to go with him across the water, for, he said, a man should stay by his woman at such a time, and he’d do well enough with Ben by his side. How John had gone anyway, for he had been dreaming strange dreams, and he had misgivings about the whole idea, and feared for Red’s safety. And how John worried now that Red had abandoned the search half done, so his companion could come home in time.

It wasn’t as if nobody had tried to find Simon when he first went missing. Lady Anne’s brother Richard had instigated a search, and not in vain, for he had discovered twelve of his own men slain. But the younger son of Harrowfield was not among them. So, eventually, Red had decided to go and see for himself. And for his mother. Margery told me they had been relieved that the worst that happened to Red was splitting his leg open, and coming back with me. John had said he hoped there would be no more surprises. With Red you didn’t usually expect surprises. He was the strong, unchanging center around which the whole of this small world revolved. I began, gradually, to realize the magnitude of his decision to bring me back home.

The network kept tight around me. I was true to my promise, and did not venture out alone beyond the close environs of the house.

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