Knight Triumphant by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham [Graham, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

Igrainia stood upon the parapets, looking over the field. Word had come that there had been a battle. That the lesser Scots had routed the great army of the Earl of Pembroke. Edward was spitting with fury, raging that he was the only man who could lead his army to victory.

She had found a certain freedom—within the walls of Langley. And she had realized that, with careful planning, she could escape.

But she wasn’t certain that she wanted to do so. There was danger in escape. Here, at Langley, the “outlaws” were courteous and respectful. Eric was gone. She had written the letter he had “suggested,” and his men had apparently been left with word that she was to have the run of the castle—with a guard in tow at all times, she was certain, but in the past few days it seemed that they had grown lax. There might be many opportunities for escape. Merchants had begun to arrive here with their wares, with carts that rambled back through the gates before dusk. Farmers, milkmaids, servants, others, all came and went.

There was a way.

Jennie urged her on daily.

Rowenna pointed out the courtesies she received, and how she was loved by the people when she walked through the courtyard, how they looked for a word from her, smiled when she smiled, came running to do her slightest bidding.

She had come to love Langley.

But she would have escaped . . . to be free. Except that there really was no escape, because to leave here, she would have to seek help eventually from the English. And go to the king. And he had determined that she would be married to Robert Neville, and . . .

He had been Afton’s kin. But it disturbed her that he was so desperate for Langley, so desperate for a quick marriage. He was not like Afton. Afton had loved books and learning, and the art of reason. In all the arguments regarding the prisoners, Robert had been irate, indifferent to the fate of the women and children, as determined as Sir Niles Mason that the men be executed. Most men would have accepted the king’s decree that all such traitors should perish, but something about the way Robert Neville seemed to relish the judgment disturbed her. Just as his eagerness to claim what had been his kinsman’s holding. And wife. Especially since her revenues in England were so great.

She didn’t dislike Robert Neville. But it had made her uneasy, the way he would touch her at times, a hand on her shoulder, too fervent a kiss in greeting, a chance brush as they passed in the hall. She had never mentioned it to Afton. And at the time of all the illness and death at the castle, she had not thought of anything but the darkness and the pain.

So now . . .

She was certain that she had found a means of escape. She had used the greatest tactic against her enemy—obedience. They were lulled.

Yet her only escape would be to a greater, perhaps more dangerous, imprisonment.

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