Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch

Author:Sophie Keetch [Keetch, Sophie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Published: 2023-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

31

ALYS WAS PACING my chamber in front of an agitated Tressa when I flew in.

“Tressa,” I gasped. “Get a page. Tell them to find Sir Bretel and send him urgently to Lady Morgan’s chambers.”

“Of course, my lady.” Sure-footed, she fled.

Alys slipped an arm around my shuddering shoulders. “What on earth’s happened?”

“Uther…he’s betrothed me to someone, sold me for men, swords.”

“Betrothed!” she exclaimed. “To whom?”

“The knight with the boar standard. Yet another northern King, negotiating an alliance to avoid war.”

“It cannot be legal. You haven’t consented.”

“Consent is the least of his concerns.” The thought spoken aloud made my senses spin. “It gets worse. I told them about Accolon—not who he is, but that I love someone and I’m compromised. I thought it would stop this so-called marriage, but Uther said he’d kill him. Then he said you’re not sworn to me, that he’d make you tell him who it was by force. I’d rather die than let him threaten you. So I took it all back; I had to. But I know he’ll act in some way, soon.”

Alys tightened her arm around me. “And Sir Bretel?”

Before I could respond, there was a knock at the door, and the man himself appeared. He dipped his sandy-blond head. “Lady Morgan, I am at your service.”

“Sir Bretel, thank goodness.” I beckoned him in. “I want you to make arrangements for Lady Alys to return to St. Brigid’s Abbey. Leaving today, if you can. It is imperative she reach there in safety and comfort, so she will need a band of your most trusted knights.”

“Of course, my lady. I will arrange it personally.”

“Iesu mawr!” Alys rushed forwards, putting herself between us. “I apologize, good Sir Knight, but there’s been a mistake.” She glared at me. “I’m not going.”

I glanced at Sir Bretel, but he had politely withdrawn to the doorway. “You must, dear heart,” I said in a low voice. “Uther has already promised you harm.”

“Let him do his worst. I’m not leaving you alone in this.”

“But Alys—”

“I’m not going.” Suddenly, her shoulders dropped and her stubborn brow cleared. “I…in truth, I’m not sure I even want to go back. For reasons far beyond all this. I know you might have a different future, where I don’t fit. But I will stand beside you for as long as I can. Will you let me?”

Stunned, I put my arms around her. “Of course, you mad Welsh heathen. And you will always have a place by my side, if you wish it. But I can’t guarantee us any kind of life.”

“You don’t need to. Whatever happens, wherever it takes us, we should forge our own path.” She held me tighter, then called out to the doorway. “Sir Bretel, if you’d be so kind.”

Sir Bretel strode back over to us. “My ladies?”

“Witness something, if you will.” Alys took up my hands and turned us to face one another, as if we were about to be wed. “I wish to swear an oath of loyalty to Lady Morgan of Cornwall, so I will truly be a woman of her household.

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