Free The Protector by Madeline Hunter

years.”
    “Gurwant was not pleased when he met me.” She smiled thinly at the memory of his astonishment. “I was as homely then as now, and already unnaturally tall. I had learned nothing of grace and charm. At the betrothal it humiliated him to have to stretch up to kiss me.”
    “Girls often reach their height before boys. And you are not homely.”
    It was a chivalrous denial of the obvious truth, but it was kind of him to try. “I remember only one thing distinctly about his face. His eyes. They were pale blue, vacant and cold. The feast went on well into the night. Finally, the castle slept.”
    “What happened?” His voice came tight and low, as if he guessed the rest.
    “I remember being asleep, and then they were there. Gurwant and his father. His father held me down, his hand over my mouth. He told Gurwant that he wanted the sheets well bloodied so the betrothal could never be annulled.”
    Morvan placed a hand on her arm. His eyes burned and his mouth formed a hard line.
    “I fought them. Finally, Gurwant told his father that he couldn't. I thought he had taken pity on me. I realizenow that he didn't mean that at all. And so his father decided to do it for him. I was in my own chamber in my father's castle, but no one could protect me but myself.”
    “And did you protect yourself ?” It sounded like he hoped that she had.
    “Aye. I managed to move my hand to a table beside my bed where my dining dagger lay. I stabbed his father with all of my strength. In the back, below the shoulder. He never used his sword arm again. I caught Gurwant too, and sliced his face. And then, my mouth free at last, I screamed and screamed.”
    She could hear her quick breath and pounding heart. She could feel the terror anew, but she would never let it own her like it had that night. Not ever again.
    “My brother heard. He burst through the door with his sword. I kept screaming until my father found us, my brother's sword at Gurwant's neck, the sheets well bloodied indeed, but not with my blood. When his father could travel, Gurwant's family left, but without me.”
    “And the betrothal was annulled after all?”
    “Not right away, and not because of that night. My father had it annulled by the bishop two years later. By then the succession war was raging, and he wanted no ties to the French-allied barons. I think that Gurwant's father wanted my maidenhead because he guessed that when the old duke died the lords would split in their alliances, with the result that my father would not go through with the marriage and the Beaumanoir family would lose my rich dowry.”
    “Could they have bribed the bishop and had the annulment set aside?”
    “My brother thought of that. It is why Drago went to Avignon. He brought back a papal annulment. It cost him his life.”
    Morvan battled an explosive anger. His hand still lay on her arm and he felt her tremoring. Facing these memories, he knew, had cost her dearly.
    He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms and cloak around her. When he eased her head to his shoulder, his thumb felt the wetness of silent tears. She didn't resist, but lay against him, her hands on his chest.
    “You have the papal letter?”
    “Aye. I sent copies to Gurwant and to the bishop. I was sure that would end it for good.”
    With an honorable man, it would. But her brother's death had raised the stakes. She was the heir now.
    “Once he defeats us, he means to kill me. For what I did to his father and him.”
    He rubbed his cheek against her hair. “He does not plan to kill you, Anna. You are the key to his plan. He seeks to enforce his old claim, so the estate becomes his and his hold on it cannot be undone. If he takes the keep, he will declare the papal letter a forgery. While it is sorted out in Avignon, he will have you here. If he gets you with child, the annulment will not stand.”
    He could imagine what would happen if Gurwant got his hands on her. There was more than a lust for property