“We understand each other then. We care nothing for the other. I wanted your lands and Walter your person.” He stopped and looked steadily at her. “Though your person has intrigued me much of late.”
“And how do you expect to remove yourself from this tangle you have created?” Judith asked, changing the subject and turning the tables on him.
“Well you should ask. There is only one way open to me. I must see this annulment through to its finish. You won’t appear before the king, but you will sign a paper saying that you wish an annulment. It will be worded so that he cannot refuse the request.”
Judith came half out of her chair, another, stronger attack of nausea invading her. She ran to the corner of the room to the earthenware chamber pot and relieved her stomach of its meager contents. When she’d recovered herself, she turned back to Arthur. “Forgive me. The fish last night must have been tainted.”
Arthur poured a goblet of watered wine. She took it with trembling hands. “You carry his child,” he stated flatly.
“No! I do not!” Judith lied.
Arthur’s face hardened. “Shall I call a midwife to examine you?”
Judith looked into her goblet and shook her head.
“You cannot ask for an annulment,” he continued. “I’d not thought of a child being conceived so soon. It seems we sink deeper and deeper into the muck pile.”
“Are you going to tell Walter?”
Arthur snorted. “That idiot thinks you to be pure and virginal. He talks of love and life with you. He doesn’t know you are twice as clever as he is.”
“You talk too much,” Judith said, her stomach once again settling. “What do you want?”
Arthur looked at her with admiration. “You are a woman of intelligence as well as beauty. I would like to own you.” He smiled, then turned serious. “Walter will find out about your loyalties and the child. It’s only a matter of time. Would you give a fourth of the Revedoune lands if I were to take you out of here?”
Judith thought quickly. The estates meant little to her. Was Arthur a surer chance than waiting for Stephen? If she refused Arthur, he could tell Walter and all their lives would be forfeit—after Walter finished his use of Judith. “Yes, you have my word. There are five of us. If you see all of us safe, one quarter of the lands are yours.”
“I cannot guarantee all—”
“All of us or no bargain.”
“Yes,” he said. “I know you mean it. I must have time to arrange matters. And you must go to the dinner table. Lord Walter will be angry if you’re not there to simper by his side.”
Judith wouldn’t take his arm as they left the room. He knew she liked him even less for turning against his master, and this made him laugh. The idea of loyalty to anyone other than oneself amused him.
When the door to Arthur’s room closed behind them, the chamber appeared to be empty. For several moments it was shrouded in silence. Then the slightest of slithering noises could be heard from under the bed. The old woman inched from her hiding place with great caution. She grinned as she looked again at the coin clasped tightly in her hand.
“Silver!” she whispered. But what would the master give to hear what she had just heard? Gold! She didn’t understand all of it, but she’d heard Sir Arthur call Lord Walter stupid, and she knew he meant to betray his lord for some land the Montgomery woman owned. There was also something about a baby that the lady would have. That seemed very important.
Judith sat quietly by a window in the great hall, wearing a light gray undertunic and a dress of dark rose Flemish wool. The sleeves were lined with gray squirrel fur. The sun was setting, making the hall darker with each moment. She was beginning to lose some of the fear that had invaded her that morning after her talk with Arthur. She glanced at the sun with gratitude. Only one more day, and Stephen would return and everything would be all right
.
She had not seen Walter since dinner. He had invited her to go riding with him, but hadn’t appeared to take her with him. Judith assumed that some castle business kept him away.
She began to worry when the sun set and the tables were laid for supper. Neither Arthur nor Walter appeared. She sent Joan to find out what she could, but that was little enough.
“Lord Walter’s door is sealed and guarded. The men would answer no questions, though I tried every persuasion.”
Something was wrong! Judith knew it when she and Joan retired to their chamber that night and heard a bolt thrown across the door from the outside. Neither woman slept much.
In the morning, Judith stood dressed in a severe gown of dark brown wool. She wore no ornament or jewels. She waited silently. The bolt was released and a man, dressed in chain mail for battle, boldly entered her room.
“Follow me,” he said.
When Joan tried to come with her mistress, she was pushed back and the door rebolted. The guard led Judith to Walter’s chamber.
The first sight she saw when the door was opened was what was left of Arthur chained to the wall. She turned her face away, her stomach heaving.