“What are you going to do, Joan?” Judith asked as she watched her maid run a comb through her brown hair.
“I will find Lord Gavin,” she smiled. Maid and mistress were taking on a more equal role. “I will see you tomorrow, and I’ll have news of him then.”
Judith hardly heard the door close behind her maid. She thought she was too worried to sleep, but it was not so. She fell asleep almost instantly.
Walter and Arthur stood at one side of the great hall. The tables had been cleared and the men-at-arms spread straw-filled mattresses on the floor for the night.
“I don’t trust her,” Sir Arthur said under his breath.
“Trust her!” Walter exploded. “How can you say such a thing after you’ve seen her? She is a delicate flower of a girl. She has been beaten and so mistreated that she fears the slightest frown.”
“She didn’t seem so frightened when she demanded better quarters for her mother.”
“Demanded! She could never demand anything. It isn’t in her nature to do so. She was merely concerned for Lady Helen. And that is another example of her sweet nature.”
“Such sweet nature obtained a great deal from you tonight. Look at how she had you nearly admit there was no written agreement of marriage from her father.”
“What does that matter?” Walter demanded. “She doesn’t want her marriage to Gavin Montgomery.”
“And what makes you so sure of that?”
“I have heard—”
“Heard! Bah! Then why did she come here? She cannot be so simple that she believes there is no danger for her.”
“Do you imply that I would harm her?” Walter demanded.
Arthur stared at him. “Not while she is new to you.” He knew Walter well. “You must wed her before you bed her. Only then will you truly own her. If you take her now without the church, she may hate you as you say she hates her husband.”
“I don’t need advice about women from you! I am the master here. Have you no duties?”
“Yes, my lord,” Arthur smirked. “Tomorrow I must help my master show our defenses to our prisoner.” He walked away just as Walter threw a wine goblet at his head.
Judith woke very early, while the room was still dark. Immediately she remembered Joan saying that the morning would bring word of Gavin. She threw back the cover hastily, and put her arms through the sleeves of a bedgown of cinnamon brocade from Byzantium. The brocade was woven with lighter flowers in the fabric and was lined with cream cashmere. The straw pallet where Joan was to sleep was empty. Judith clamped her teeth together in anger and suddenly began to worry. Had Joan left her, too? Had Arthur discovered Joan in some act of spying?
The door opened almost silently, and a heavy-lidded Joan tiptoed through the shadows. “Where have you been!” Judith demanded in a tight whisper.
Joan’s hand flew to cover her mouth to still the shriek gathering there. “My lady! You gave me a fright. Why aren’t you in bed?”
“You dare to ask me why I’m not in bed?” Judith hissed before recovering herself. “Come, tell me of your news. Have you learned anything of Gavin?” Judith took her maid’s arm and pulled her to the bed. They both sat cross-legged on the thick feather mattress.
But Joan’s eyes didn’t look directly into her mistress’s intense golden stare. “Yes, my lady, I found him.”
“Is he well?” Judith pressed.
Joan took a deep breath and rushed into her description. “It was hard to find him. He is well guarded at all times and the entryway is…difficult. But,” she smiled, “as luck would have it, one of the guards seemed to like me quite well, and we spent a lot of time together. He is such a man! All night he—”
“Joan!” Judith said sharply. “You are hiding something from me, aren’t you? What about my husband? How is he?”
Joan looked at her mistress, started to speak, then dropped her face into her hands. “It is too horrible, my lady. That they could do such a thing to him is beyond belief. He is a nobleman! Even the worst serfs are not treated as he is.”
“Tell me,” Judith said in a deadly voice. “Tell me everything.”
Joan lifted her head, fighting tears and the turning of her stomach. “Few of the castlefolk know he is here. He was brought alone, during the night and…thrown below.”
“Below?”
“Yes, my lady. There is a space below the cellar—little more than a hole dug out amid the foundations of the tower. The moat water seeps across the floor and things…slimy things…breed there.”