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An Excerpt From: WINDDREAMER
Book Six of the WindLegends Saga
© Copyright CHARLOTTE BOYETT-COMPO, 2007.
All Rights Reserved, New Concepts Publishing
CHAPTER ONE
"I forgot to give you this," Rylan said.
Conar cinched his saddle, then looked at the bottle in Rylan's hand. "What is it?"
"That cook at Boreas forgot to pack this in your saddlebags, so she told me to give it to you. It's ale, I believe."
"Keep it. I no longer have a need for spirits."
Rylan shrugged. "Suit yourself. I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." He uncorked the bottle, took a healthy swig, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He grinned and whistled. "Strong stuff!"
"It's a bit early in the day to be swigging down ale, anyway," Conar joked.
Rylan's face turned belligerent. "Don't be telling me my business! You aren't my keeper!" He lifted the bottle to his lips once more and stomped away.
Conar's brows drew together into a frown.
"He's nervous, Conar," Roget quipped, looking after Hesar. "He doesn't usually drink before sundown."
"See that he doesn't start doing it now. We need more than clear heads this day. We need healthy bodies, as well."
"I'll talk to him." Roget looked over his shoulder, searching for anyone nearby, then lowered his voice. "Brelan's already gone back to Boreas. He said he'd join us as soon as he could."
"I hope his trip will prove unnecessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Something didn't ring true with Duncan."
Roget put a comforting hand on Conar's shoulder. "I think he's a bit envious of you."
Conar snorted. "There's nothing to envy! If I could, I'd stay close to Boreas myself." He glanced at the tall mountains. "I'd rather be going anywhere today than the Monastery."
"So would we all, my friend."
* * * *
Liza stuffed her saddlebag, then rolled her blanket and strapped it to Seafarer's rump behind the saddle. Her worried mind centered on her children. She barely heard the conversations around her, or the creak of saddle leather as men readied to leave. She paid little heed to the nervous joking or ribald comments being hushed as men pointed her way. Her thoughts, instead, dwelled on a conversation she'd had at Boreas only the day before--
When she had arrived back at the keep from Ivor, she'd gone immediately to see her children. It had been a long time since last she had been with them, and even though she trusted Gezelle to care for them, she felt a heavy pressure in her chest as she prepared to bid them each another farewell.
Cory's silent tears affected her the most. "But why do you have to go?" he asked, and she went to her bedroom, quiet and weeping.
On the morning of the day she was to leave, she sat in her room, staring at the miniature portraits of her children on the table by her bed.
"I will guard them with my life," Gezelle assured Liza as she sat beside her.
Liza could do nothing but nod. Her sadness overwhelmed her. When Gezelle's arms went around her, she leaned her head against the other woman's shoulder. She covered her quivering mouth with a trembling hand, desperately trying to stifle her sobs.
"What's wrong, Milady?"
An undercurrent of fear drifted around Liza's heart, but she couldn't explain why. Something apart from the coming fight with Tohre disturbed her peace of mind, but she had no idea what it was.
She eased off the bed and went to the window, looking at the courtyard. Workmen were tearing down the whipping post where so many Serenian men had met their painful fates, where her love had been so cruelly flogged. "I've something of vital importance to ask you, 'Zelle," she whispered.
Gezelle joined her mistress by the window. "Anything, Milady."
For a long moment, Liza said nothing, only stared down as the men felled the central beam of the whipping post. She took a ragged breath as the axemen began chopping away at the thick wood. "I want you to promise me, on the lives of our children, mine and yours, that if something should prevent me from returning, you will love and care for my children as though they were your own."
"You need not ask, Milady, but--"
Liza held up her hand. "There's more." Her eyes fused with Gezelle's. She held the woman's hand. "Promise me you will see that Conar remarries and provides them with a good woman to be their new mother." She shook her head as Gezelle made to protest. "Promise, Gezelle! Promise you will tell him of my wishes."
The former servant nodded. "I--I promise."
"And swear, on all you've ever held dear, on your love for him, that if the woman he chooses is not the woman I would want mothering my children, you'll see her dead and buried and another in her place, no matter how much Conar might love her."
Gezelle stared at her. "Milady, do you know what you ask?"
"I know very well. I also know there are women who would sell their souls to Raphian to have Conar McGregor. Such a woman would stop at nothing to get her claws into him. Should something happen to me, his powers will be greatly diminished. Occultus has not dared to tell him that, but I know it. Without me, he'll be vulnerable to women who'll use their evil wiles to gain his attention."
"Surely you know he'd not wish to marry again, should you leave him, Milady," Gezelle protested.
"But I want him to, my friend. He's not a man to be alone. He may not realize that for a long while, but eventually he'll take a lady to wife if just to have someone be a mother to his sons. I'll have no woman hurt my children simply because she wants Conar in her bed!" She jerked on Gezelle's wrist. "Swear to me you will not let some woman wreck my children's lives!"
Gezelle must have viewed something in Liza's eyes that frightened her, perhaps had even glimpsed a part of what Liza, herself, saw, and suddenly looked as if she would scream. "Please don't go!" She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around Liza's legs. "I beg you! Don't go!"
Liza put a loving hand on Gezelle's head. "From the moment we are born, my dearest friend, our fate is sealed. We can not change it any more than we can change the course of the tides." She shivered uncontrollably, then threw back her head, her lips trembling with hopelessness. "We can not alter what is destined to be. Promise you will do as I have asked." Her voice broke as she slid to the floor beside Gezelle. "Please don't let me leave this keep without knowing my children are safe in your hands."
"But how? I can not--"
From the pocket of her riding breeches, Liza withdrew a small, clear vial of scarlet red liquid. "This is distolus of Maiden's Briar. It is extremely poisonous. A single drop in an open wound can cause harm. Applied to the skin over several weeks' time, it will kill."
"Milady, I--"
"Six drops, Gezelle," Liza said, her face set and cold. "Six drops stirred into the woman's face cream will see her dead in less than a month. The larger the amount, the less time on this earth she'll have."
Elizabeth A'Lex placed the vial inside Gezelle's palm and closed the woman's fingers around it. "Promise you will look to my children's safety and Conar's happiness."
Gezelle eventually nodded, accepting the charge her lady had given her. "There is one thing, though--"
"What, dear friend?"
Her face crinkled with anxiety, Gezelle took a deep breath and slowly released it. Her voice went so low, it became difficult to hear, but her words poured directly from her heart. "You know I love him."
Liza understood. Comment became unnecessary.
The young woman who had traveled from Norus Keep as a lady's companion and had become a Queen's best friend, a Prince Regent's mistress, lowered her head. "I never gainsayed him my body, Milady. I gave it freely, and took great pleasure from his."
"Conar is a wonderful lover."
As if gathering her courage, Gezelle looked up. "It was never my intent, nor his, to ever betray you."
"I know."
"He was so lonely when you left him. So hurt. He used me to ease that hurt, and I understood. It was never anything more." She shook her head. "Or rather, not for him."
Liza put her arms around her friend. "You are very dear to him. He told me all there was to know about his times with you. He felt great shame at having treated you so. He still agonizes over making you abort his child."
Tears falling down her cheeks, Gezelle lowered her head. "Forgive me, Milady. Forgive me for every hurt I've ever caused you--"
Liza's arms tightened around her. "There's nothing to forgive. Instead, I would thank you for helping my love in whatever way you could."
"I promise, Milady--if the poison does not work, I'll cut her throat myself," Gezelle pledged, sealing the great friendship that had long ago formed between them.
* * * *
"Are you ready, beloved?"
Snapping back to the present, Liza turned to face Conar. She forced a confident smile to her lips. "Aye, Milord."
"Is something wrong?" He touched her cheek and smiled when she turned her face into his palm. His smile wavered as she cupped his hand closer. "Has something happened?"
"I was just thinking of our children, that's all. I miss them."
He sighed of obvious relief. "Is that all?" He drew her into his arms. "We'll be home before they hardly know we're gone."
Against his warm chest, against the fabric of his silken shirt that smelled of cinnamon oil and sensuous male, she pressed her cheek. "I hope so, my love, I truly hope so--"
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