Free Fire Song by Roberta Gellis

gift of such value—”
    “Curse you for a stubborn donkey.” William laughed. “I am not giving you any gift. Do you think I intend to turn Marlowe over to you tomorrow? All I intend is to provide a good master for my lands after I am dead. Any arrangement I make with my daughter is my business, not yours.”
    “Well, I do not see it in that light. If the profit comes to me, no matter when, then I must buy the right to—”
    William stood up abruptly. “Aubery, I do not wish to argue such a stupidity. I wish to go and sit with your mother. All I wanted was to explain to you what I am doing and why so that you would not fall down dead with shock when you learned you would be responsible for Marlowe. I am rich enough, having been marshal of Richard of Cornwall’s lands for near ten years, to give that sum to Alys. The only reason I have not bought more lands myself is that I have had no reason to do so—and, in truth, I am too busy with Richard’s property to want the burden of any more of my own.”
    “I-I do not know,” Aubery muttered, torn by the joy of knowing that Marlowe would be his home for the rest of his life and the fear that he was grasping at what was not rightfully his. “Can I not pay something ?I know you do not need the money, but… Have you spoken of this to my mother?”
    “Yes, and she is almost as idiotic as you, but not quite. It took me only half the time to convince her. What is wrong with the two of you? You act as if I were handing you a bagful of vipers.”
    For the first time Aubery smiled. “No, you are handing me something I fear I want too much. I cannot help but feel it is wrong. And as for my mother, she loves Alys. Well, I do, too. Is she not my sister? Neither of us would take from her. William…” The name was a caress, a substitute for the word “father”. “Are you sure Alys would not wish to keep Marlowe? There is another way. I could oversee the lands for her. I swear I would not neglect them.”
    “I do not fear you would neglect the lands if they were Alys’s,” William replied, smiling also. Aubery’s answers reaffirmed what William knew already, but they were still good to hear spoken aloud. “I did, actually, give some thought to leaving the land that way, but it will not serve. Raymond will someday be a direct vassal of France—his father is, after all, some years older than I—and thus Marlowe might come into contest. I do not say it is likely, but… I would not like to think that these lands could be adjudged to the king to hand to whomever he saw fit.”
    “Good God, no!” Aubery exploded, getting to his feet as if he were ready to defend the property.
    William felt like laughing but remained suitably grave for fear of hurting his sensitive stepson. “Good. I will go up to your mother now, and between us we will compose a suitable letter to Alys and Raymond. Do you wish to come up?”
    “No.” Aubery flushed. He was afraid that he would look as though he were gloating while the matter was discussed. “If you and she permit, I would like to join you and my mother for the evening meal. Now I think I should ride over to Hurley and talk to John. If he does not like this plan—”
    “Then I will box his ears,” William said, laughing. “I absolutely refuse to explain to even one more person.”
    But William was not worried. John was neither greedy, nor did he seem to carry the deep scars Mauger’s acts had left on Aubery. John looked much like Elizabeth and seemed to have inherited her placid but merry nature. He would be delighted, William was sure, to know that his brother would control the fortress across the river from his own property.

Chapter Four
     
    Fenice had limped into Aix several days before the arrival of the letter Alys wrote from Blancheforte asking her father-by-marriage to find an excuse for Raymond and herself to come home. The gate guard hardly spared a single glance for the tired lay sister who passed through the small