“Did you drug your daughter and kidnap her?”
“Aye, I did. I feared for her. I wished to save her.”
“Save her from what, madam?”
“From you, sir, from you. I believed she should have a choice. Ask if she wishes to wed with you.”
“Merry, do you wish to wed with me?”
“I will wed whomever the king commands I wed.”
“Then tell me why you came to my chamber at night at Wareham.”
Her face went utterly blank. Then, “I never went to your chamber! That is an unconscionable lie, sir, unworthy of any man with honor.”
“I went to your chamber because I wanted to force you to wed with me.”
Everyone turned to the door to see Merry standing there, disheveled, wearing an old, cast-off gown, her hair tangled and coming out of its plaits, hanging down her back. She looked like a madwoman, her face scarlet with rage.
The king raised his hand for quiet. “What is this? You look like another Marianna de Luce de Mornay. How is this possible?” And he looked at them back and forth. “By all the saints’ mottled noses, you are twins. Twins. It is amazing.”
Merry threw back her head. “I am Marianna de Luce de Mornay, the heiress of Valcourt. I did not even know about this one pretending to be me until your guard outside the door nearly fainted when he saw me and demanded how I’d come out of this room without his seeing me.” She turned to her mother. “So this is the secret you told me my father kept, indeed the secret that many people at Valcourt know. You birthed twin girls and you took her and left me with my father.”
“No, the bitch lies! My twin? I have no twin, I have no sister. I am Marianna de Luce de Mornay, not this girl! Mother, tell them!”
Merry turned to face the furious girl. It was like looking in a mirror. “I did not even know about you. Did you know about me? Did our mother tell you why she kept you and left me at Valcourt?”
“She took you away, not me! I am the heiress of Valcourt, not you, you dirty little harlot!”
Garron said, “Sire, I believe I can solve this very quickly.” He looked from one to the other. “Which one of you can tell me how you escaped from Sir Halric.”
Merry stared at her sister, who stood frozen, her eyes darting to their mother.
Garron waited for his Merry to speak, for indeed, he knew to his soul it was her, but then he saw her dirty face change, grow slack, lose all expression. He saw she was looking at her mother, and that her mother was staring at her, her ice gray eyes intense, saw her lips moving. Merry began to sway where she stood.
“Merry, shut your eyes, now!”
But she couldn’t close her eyes, she couldn’t move, she simply couldn’t, and did she really want to? She stared and stared, and felt herself begin to fall, but it didn’t feel frightening, this falling.
“Merry! Stop it!”
Why was Garron yelling at her? Wait. This was wrong. Somehow, she had to turn her face away from her mother, she had to—
Garron ran to He
len and struck his fist into the side of her head. The blow lifted her off her feet and sent her flying backward to crash against a wall.
“Merry!”
He caught her up against him, buried his face in her hair.
She slowly felt herself coming together again, but where had she gone? What had her mother done to her? She looked up at Garron, at his beloved face, then down at her mother, who lay on her back, her beautiful white skirts billowing out around her, unconscious.
She said, “You wondered which of us could tell you how she escaped from Sir Halric. I will tell you, my lord. It was you who saved me from Sir Halric, Garron. You.”
The king said, “How did you get here?”
“She kept me in her forest tower but I escaped. She caught me again and imprisoned me at Meizerling. I escaped when your soldiers came to get her.”